Handling scripture calls for a blend of humility along with the holy.  Too many people forget their humanity when it comes to interpreting scripture.  We are at best still people prone to sin even with God's presence living in us.  There are yet again two faulty approaches when it comes to dealing with scripture.  The first says that it is basically a human book trying to explain some sense of the divine.  We discount anything that comes close to the miraculous because our minds are closed to God acting that way.  The second just dismisses any intelligent interest in grasping what God is saying.  People like this will fall back on a few proof texts to defend a position unexamined.  Neither way is going to allow us the full benefit of working our way through what the Bible says. 

What honestly scares me about the latter approach is how often it is abused to define or defend ideas that really are not biblical.  Selecting a few verses to build a position is often the method used by those who become false teacher or leaders.  The uninformed really think they hear some new revelation from God while being led down a path of disaster.  You will also find churches that claim to be in the evangelical tradition that dwell on some pet topic for reasons that escape me.  Our very first church was breathed into life during a time of radical diversity.  The gospel provided a freedom never known before in religious thought.  God then moved their mindset beyond the local into the greater world which would take them by surprise.  Expanding the message of the gospel often calls for us to have old beliefs challenged by our God.  We will be called to move past our favorite verses into enjoying all that He says.

When you deal with a passage of some controversy just be sure it is there for a reason.  God did not just smooth out every difficult place in scripture.  Realize that people who truly love God and believe in the truth of scripture often reach differing conclusions with such passages.  My ideas may not be lockstep with anyone else but the issue is primarily about my approach to the process.  I believe God said what He wanted to say in scripture.  Sometimes what is said may be uncomfortable or even difficult.  This does not excuse me from wrestling with the text.  God's word may be less about my agreement and more on my action to obey.  Every believer must be submissive to God who gave us the Bible.  Each attitude must be grounded in humility and submission.  Scripture was never meant to be a weapon to attack other believers.  We need it to guide us and to build us up in the faith. 

Scripture does suggest that women are not meant to be senior pastors.  This is not a knock against women but a continuation of how God operates in the Bible.  It does not let us know what happens when the position is an assistant ministry role.  It also does not say women should never say anything in church.  The original words reflect the idea of women being open to teaching and maturity.  This is no doubt in response to false teachers who would influence women as they enjoyed their new freedoms in Christ.  Remember that both in Acts and other places that we do find women who teach or aid in leading local churches.  We also cannot escape how different the world of the first church was in comparison to ours.  Taking a verse out of context or ignoring cultural clues in interpretation are equally dangerous.  You may find an answer but it may not be anywhere close to being genuine.  This topic calls for real humility, patience and grace to those who may have strong opinions.  Being right in your opinion is never an excuse for acting wrong.

I can only hope all of this rambling makes some sense.  My prayer is that it gives you a reason to think or pray for yourself.  We live in a world of real evil so it seems logical to me that we not waste time at odds with other believers.  Looks like we will need another turn at dealing with this here on the blog.  Just remember that we began on Sunday so this is day four of our musings.  Please read one along with the others to get the full picture of what is being said.  Until tomorrow...

Bro. Trey