DeaconSouthern Baptists Vote to Further Expand Restrictions on Women as Leaders
Actual Christian here. This decision is not extreme, whatsoever, though I get that it appears extreme to non-believers and feminists. The thing to understand here is that Christians follow the Bible. And conversely, those who do not follow the Bible are not Christian. So let's take a look at a relevant Bible passage (1 Timothy 2:11-12):
Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
Now that's the word of God. It's eternal, unchanging, and dictates how He wills us to live.
It's definitely out-of-step with modern secular culture, and that's a very good thing from the Christian perspective. We are God's peculiar people (Titus 2:11-15).
I suppose I'm a former actual Christian, raised in the church, homeschooled K-12, not SBC but not unfamiliar with it. Point is, I know enough to know that modern Christianity is the accumulation of a series of compromises, concessions, and reinterpretations of the eternal Word of God over the centuries.
Interpreted literally, that passage also outlaws woman from teaching even Sunday School, much less my mom from Home Schooling me. Certainly I should have been in authority over her by the time I was, what, 13?
So basically, I appreciate and respect the perspective, but I'm not entirely buying it as a rational explanation for this.
Thank you for being respectful! I can't claim my interpretation of scripture is any better than yours or anyone else's. I get your point, truly. But my point is just that the SBC's decision is firmly rooted in scripture, and that makes it a pretty normal decision for a Christian organization to make. If you wish to interpret that passage differently, nobody's going to stop you, and I'm sure you're not alone. But at the same time, you can understand the SBC's perspective.
undefined> but I’m not entirely buying it as a rational explanation for this.
This literally could go for anything in the Bible. As the person said, the Bible is the word of God, Christians follow the Bible without questioning the word of God. It is, inherently, not based on rational, it is based on Authority.