Response to "Gender Has Little to Do With Someone's Capacity to Lead?"

       In this episode of “What Offends Lori Alexander Today?”, the winner is an Instagram post by Lisa Bevere: 

“GENDER is NOT the PROBLEM in LEADERSHIP; our challenge is a posture of PRIDE and a tendency toward PREJUDICE and judging others. These will BLIND SOMEONE who is otherwise a good leader. HUMILITY, EXPERIENCE, FAITHFULNESS, EDUCATION, and VIRTUE are just SOME of the qualities that QUALIFY LEADERS, but gender alone does not a leader make. Gender alone doesn’t QUALIFY a leader, so gender alone can’t DISQUALIFY one. 

For the record, I do not pastor, nor am I an elder or deacon, but I do often speak on Sunday mornings as a mother in the House of God, and ministering does not equal exercising authority over anyone; it is giving witness to what God is done. It’s sad that anyone one would imagine that I think that being a leader usurps our marriage roles. John and I have been married 37 years and raised a family together.”

Clearly Lisa believes in some level of gender roles, though obviously she is much less extreme than Lori. But, of course, this does not stop Lori from becoming outraged and unable to keep her opinions to herself: 

We have a problem here, women. I pray that it’s obvious to most of you. Gender is a problem in leadership. God has made it very clear that it’s men who are to be in leadership positions in the churches. God ordained men to be in all leadership positions all throughout the Bible with the exception of Deborah. 

No, God has not made it clear at all. To use Lori’s own standard, there is not a single verse that explicitly states that only men should be in leadership positions in the church. It’s interesting that even Lori must admit that Deborah is an “exception” to this supposed rule (though she isn’t the only one as Lori claims), and yet she brushes right past this as if hoping we won’t notice and think about it too hard. 

Women are nowhere called to preach on any Sunday as “a mother in the House of God” as Lisa does. It seems most female preachers want to leave out these verses: “Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church” (1 Corinthians 14:34, 35) and “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” (1 Timothy 2:11, 12).

Here is Lori’s typical double standard. Sometimes we are permitted to do anything as long as the Bible doesn’t directly forbid it, but other times we are not allowed to do a particular thing unless the Bible specifically says we can. She chooses which standard to enforce based on her own whim (and probably whether the verse in question applies to men or women). The Bible never forbids women to teach in church because of their gender or due to any man-made gender roles. 

       To briefly comment on the above verses: in 1 Cor. 14:34-35, the key phrase to notice is “as also saith the law.” Paul is not referring to any biblical law here (none exist), so he is referring to the Jewish and/or Roman laws of the time. It could not be more obvious that he is simply telling the Christians to obey the laws and customs of that time and place in order to avoid distracting people from the Gospel message. The takeaway for us is that we should do the same (within reason) according to our own time and place. According to Lori’s understanding, God is commanding us to obey the laws and customs of ancient Rome as if they had some sort of spiritual significance. 

       Regarding 1 Tim. 2:11-12, the same argument could be made. But it is also worth noting that the Greek word for “silence” is the same used in regards to the whole church (in the same chapter) telling them to live “quiet” lives. So this is not a literal silence (indeed, at other times Paul mentions women prophesying in church, which is difficult to do without speaking), but a reverent demeanor and avoiding calling attention to oneself. Additionally, when Paul says women must not have authority over men, he does not use the typical Greek word for authority (exousia), but rather “authentein,” which does not mean legitimate authority but dominating, even violent control of another. Paul is not forbidding all authority positions, but responding to a specific situation with which Timothy was dealing. In the Ephesian church, there was a female-led cult that taught that women were better than men. Paul’s point here is that men and women are EQUAL, not that men should be in authority over women. 

       In a reply to his wife’s tweet, Lisa’s husband mentioned how the daughters of Phillip in the book of Acts prophesied and proclaimed God’s word even though they were female. In reply, Lori has this to say: 

Concerning what Lisa’s husband said about the Evangelist Philip and his four daughters, this is what Gill’s Exposition of the Bible had to say about it: “which did prophesy (Acts 21:9); not explain and interpret Scripture, or preach in public assemblies; for these were not allowed women, neither in the Jewish synagogues, nor in Christian assemblies; but they were endowed with a gift of foretelling future events, as was promised such should have in Gospel times.” Women, it’s a dangerous but common practice to try to defend your choices by finding examples in the Bible while ignoring God’s clear commands to us in the Church Age.

It’s interesting how quick Lori is to elevate the words of a mere writer of a commentary over the simple words of the Bible itself whenever it helps support her own opinions. I have no idea of the quality of this particular commentary, but the author is wrong on the definition of prophecy (and the distinction is significant). He claims prophecy is “foretelling future events.” Prophecy CAN include messages concerning the future, but does not always. Prophecy, ultimately, is simply delivering a message to someone from God. And this is significant because Lori, the author of the commentary, and anyone else who tries so desperately to find justification for their sexism, somehow claim that prophesying (delivering a message from God Himself) is LESS authoritative than simply preaching a sermon! I would argue that it is far more authoritative. They simply decide from the beginning that women must not do anything authoritative, and then shape their reality according to this assumption; since women prophesy, prophecy must not be authoritative. This is completely backwards when it comes to understanding the Bible. 

       Also, doesn't Lori realize she's correcting a man? Isn't that forbidden in her view? 

In the homes, the husbands are to lead their families. Wives are to submit to and obey their husbands, yes, in everything, since God made the husband the head over the wife. God has called men to be the leaders all throughout His Word. Yes, Lisa, gender does matter greatly to God when it comes to leading.

What an interesting conclusion considering the fact that the Bible never appoints husbands leaders over their wives! Again, to use Lori’s mantra, there is not a single verse that commands this. The word for “head” in Greek did not mean “leader” at all, but “source.” Every time the Bible calls men the “head” of their wives, this is actually part of the command to husbands to love their wives. In that time and place, men enjoyed greater privilege and status, and the point was that men should elevate their wives to the level of equals and share that privilege with them, rather than using it to their own advantage and dominating their wives. You know, exactly what Lori thinks they should do. There is literally nothing in the Bible that says husbands are to lead their wives or establishing a chain of command. This is a made-up idea based on an assumption that Paul had the metaphors of 21st century English in mind while he wrote his letters. 


Link to the original blog: https://thetransformedwife.com/gender-has-little-to-do-with-someones-capacity-to-lead/