322
submitted 5 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

From its towering white steeple and red-brick facade to its Sunday services filled with rousing gospel hymns and evangelistic sermons, First Baptist Church of Alexandria, Virginia, bears many of the classic hallmarks of a Southern Baptist church.

On a recent Sunday, its pastor for women and children, Kim Eskridge, urged members to invite friends and neighbors to an upcoming vacation Bible school — a perennial Baptist activity — to help “reach families in the community with the gospel.”

But because that pastor is a woman, First Baptist’s days in the Southern Baptist Convention may be numbered.

At the SBC’s annual meeting June 11-12 in Indianapolis, representatives will vote on whether to amend the denomination’s constitution to essentially ban churches with any women pastors — and not just in the top job. That measure received overwhelming approval in a preliminary vote last year.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 24 points 5 months ago

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

-Matthew 5:17

Christians interpret this as stating they don’t need to follow the Old Testament rules as Jesus has fulfilled them and has established a new covenant with his death on the cross.

[-] Aermis@lemmy.world 15 points 5 months ago

Yes. This. What was considered clean and unclean to eat was amended in Peter's vision in acts 10. So was clothing and much else of levitical law during jesus' gospel.

Even Paul's writings about women speaking above men needs to take into context that the church in Ephesus (modern day turkey) was led by young Timothy. The theme was pretty strict to reestablish a baseline of roles and law to apply to Ephesus, which was seen as very immoral, murderous and rebellious. I mean Paul says people should stay celibate and not marry because this can complicate a person's relationship with God.

Without going too deep, no, this doesn't mean women shouldn't teach because "god" demands women to be inferior/subjugated.

If that was so why did God use women as prophets and leaders?

[-] Buelldozer@lemmy.today 3 points 5 months ago

What Paul supposedly wrote in Timothy, if he even wrote it, was meant to address a problem occurring in that specific Church. As I was told that Church was being hijacked by one or two particularly wealthy and influential Women donors. As you pointed out Timothy was young and new to the work so he wasn't able to handle the situation and appealed to Paul for guidance.

Paul then supposedly attempted to smack down the troublemakers with some Doctrine in his response letter.

However there's long been contention that Paul either didn't actually write that line or that if he did the surrounding context was cut out in order to make it seem much farther reaching than it was meant to be.

While there's no way to really know the truth I personally find it impossible to believe that after the long and involved history that women had in the OT that the NT would suddenly require their total subservience. It simply makes no sense.

[-] Aermis@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

I agree that it doesn't make sense. There was nothing in Jesus's gospel that would imply such standards to take place in the church. It's even written that there is no man or woman, but all are followers of Christ. Equality.

[-] Schmoo@slrpnk.net 14 points 5 months ago

In my experience growing up southern baptist Christians only bring up that interpretation when convenient. The Old Testament is completely valid when they want it to be, and invalid when they don't.

[-] Stamau123@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago

Also explains why Christians work on the sabbath, because Jesus did

[-] Stern@lemmy.world 6 points 5 months ago

Christians interpret this as stating they don’t need to follow the Old Testament rules

Except for stuff like Leviticus 18:22 (the oft quoted anti-gay one) ofc.

Religious hypocrites will say the bible says X about things and pick some vaguely related verse or story to justify it. From the Curse of Ham justifying slavery to Leviticus 19:19 being used to justify miscegenation laws.

[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago

Not all branches have a hard on for Old Testament stuff that validates their regressive ideas, but yeah you’re right that many do, especially the evangelical thumpers

[-] whotookkarl@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

Which is a really weird interpretation considering the very next sentence in Matthew 5:18:

"18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished."

this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2024
322 points (99.4% liked)

News

23296 readers
1415 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS