The LCA is studying our current
biblical understanding (hermeneutics) of women’s ordination. This will help us
understand the theological arguments of the issue and what God’s will is. There
is a group in action doing this, known as a dialogue group. This comprises of a
balanced representation for all sides of the matter, with a goal of reaching a
consensus within the group itself and across the Church.
There are two key texts that form
the argument against ordaining women. They are 1 Cor 14:33-38 “For God is not a
God of disorder but of peace – as in all the congregations of the Lord’s
people. Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to
speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire
about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is
disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. Or did the word of God
originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? If anyone thinks
they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that
what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. But if anyone ignores this,
they will themselves be ignored.”and 1 Tim2:11-15 “A woman should learn in
quietness and full submission. I do not permit a women to teach or to assume authority
over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam
was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a
sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing – if they continue in
faith, love and holiness with propriety.”
These texts have been studies by
the LCA’S Commission on Theology and Inter-Church Relations (CTICR), and there
have been several reports written in regards to their validity. There were
resolutions submitted to synod from both St Stephens Adelaide and St Peters
Lutheran Church Indooroopilly (both in favor of women ordination). In both of
their resolutions, they claim there was a report from CTICR saying that these
texts do permit the ordination of women. However, from there was a report was a
report published (also by the CTICR) after the one just mentioned which
indicated that the CTICR report supporting the ordination of women was
incorrect. So at the moment, those two texts are still maintained as a biblical
argument against the ordination of women.
The common arguments that are
used to support the ordination of women use a part of the Augsburg Confession, ‘practicalities’
for the church and in the world, and that many women are hurt when they have
been refused the office of the ministry. St Peter Indooroopilly argue that the
Augsburg Confession states “it is enough for the unity church to agree
concerning the teaching of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments”
(AC VII). The trouble with this argument is that it could be used for nearly
anything in the church, for instance homosexual marriage/relationships. It
could be argued that as long as the church properly teaches the Gospel and
administers the sacraments, these kinds of marriages or relationships are fine.
However, the bible explicitly states that God does not permit this (Leviticus
20:13, Leviticus 18:22, Romans 1:24-27 and there are more) and therefore it is
not allowed within the LCA.
The ‘practicalities’ argument is
about the number of pastors in the LCA. The idea is that if the LCA ordain
women they would be able to cover more churches around Australia. So it’s more
of a practical thing and not really considering if the act is correct or not.
This is like saying, that homosexuality is good because it means more children
are adapted. Children’s being adapted is great, but homosexuality is not.
The third argument is about many
women being hurt emotionally and spiritually when they are refused their
ordination. St Peter’s Indooroopilly stated that “women who are unable to
follow…the path of ordination have experienced significant pain and in some
cases a crisis of faith”. Some even told stories how they traveled overseas for
their training and spend large expenses on their courses and general life. Then
upon returning to Australia, were not allowed to be ordained, meaning they
would either lose their money, or have to live away from their families in
another country if they wanted to continue their work as a pastor. Unfortunately,
these arguments fall into a category called emotional fallacies. In other
words, it is emotional and fear of suffering that forms the bases for these
arguments. The difficulty about such arguments is that our feelings cloud our
ability to see the facts, particularly (biblical ones in this case) and as a
result, it is easy to become supportive of something that ‘feels’ right but is
actually a clouded judgment. In the life of a Christian, we could end up
supporting something that we want instead of what God wants for us. Some verses
that cover this well are Proverbs 14:12 and 16:2. An example could be suicide
where the emotional pain and suffering is enough to convince a person that
death is the only way to escape, and that there is no comfort in life. The sad
thing is that many do not even know that God is with them even in the darkest
of times (Psalms 139:7-12). In saying this, our emotions and feelings are a
gift from God and are not completely ignored when debating issues. It’s just
that we need to remember that we are sinful human beings, and therefore our
emotion can block us from seeing God’s will for us. Remember that the Church is
led by God, and that if what God says causes conflict within our hearts, we
must pray that God gives us a clean and pure heart (Psalms 51:10).
The last two arguments were constantly
used in the discussion at the synod and President Mike Semmler continually
requested biblical arguments to support women ordination. I must say that it
was overwhelming to see that many (but not all) of the delegates who spoke were
unable to base their arguments on scripture (both for and against). I guess
that identifies one of the reasons why the church is debating this topic and
have difficulty settling on a discussion. It shows that if we are lead by our
own human desires and not read God’s word on these matters, our arguments go
round and round, and until there is a proper understanding of God’s word, we
will not be able to properly reconcile the problem.
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