Monday, August 21, 2006

Sunday School Teacher Let Go For Being Female

I could not believe what I was hearing when this came on the radio talk show I was listening to today! This lady, Mary Lambert, has taught in the First Baptist Church of Watertown, NY, for 54 years. But, now, her pastor, Rev. Timothy LaBouf, cited the biblical advice of the apostle Paul, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent." He says women can do anything they want to do - outside of the church.

I have a hard time with this, considering, in most churches, it is the women who are the most active. It is the women who attend more regularly and help do the things around the church. You will find many more women in church today than you will men, in most areas. One of the radio talk show hosts, who is a preacher, did not agree with this man. But, a woman listener called in and said she agreed with the dismissal of the woman. She said she once was a singer in the Baptist Church. But, she had changed churches, studied the Bible, and took it literally than women are to keep quiet in the churches, and are not to sing or teach. This sets women back hundreds of years!

LaBouf is on the city council in upstate New York. But, he says this will not affect his decisions on the council.

Mayor Jeffrey Graham, however, was bothered by the reasons given Lambert's dismissal.

"If what's said in that letter reflects the councilman's views, those are disturbing remarks in this day and age," Graham said. "Maybe they wouldn't have been disturbing 500 years ago, but they are now."
Modern day man wants to make women seem inferior. But, this was not the intention of Jesus. A study of his life will reveal that he had respect and love for the women in his life just as he did the men. I find no where in scripture where the Lord told women they could not teach in church. Have you found this scripture? If so, I would love to know where it is in the Bible.

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1 Comment:

twiga92 said...

I think the Scripture the pastor is referring to is in one of the Timothy books (the 'do not permit a woman to teach' etc.). I really don't know what to make of this Scripture passage. It's quite confusing. I have heard it said that the passage is referring to husband and wife. But it seems to me that a doctrine is being made out of 1 verse. How does the pastor explain the OT judge Deborah, or the women leaders mentioned in the NT (for example - Priscilla)? If a woman is supposed to be silent - why be in church at all?
I don't agree with the teacher being dismissed. I wish I could understand the Scripture passage better though.