Response to "All the Reasons Why Women Don't Need to be Silent in the Churches."

       In a strange way, I almost appreciated this blog from The Transformed Wife. Most of Lori's blogs consist of nothing but assertions that whatever she thinks is correct and anyone who disagrees with her is simply wrong...and also hates God. But this time, she actually takes the time to acknowledge and address rebuttals to one of her favorite points: the mandatory silence of women in the church. If she would do more of this, her blog might even be very slightly more tolerable. Except, of course, for the fact that she is simply wrong, even when she attempts to engage in a more reasonable and intellectual discussion. 

       In this blog, she answers several comments that were made on one of those handwritten messages she posts here and there, which contained two of her favorite verses from 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Timothy 2 about women being forbidden to speak in church or have authority over men. 

       Her first rebuttal: 

Some said those verses were written to rebellious women in the churches back then, uneducated women, or because women were being oppressed and separated from the men. Are any of these true? There certainly are no Bible verses to support these reasons. In fact, in 1 Timothy 2, God goes all the way back to Creation as to why women are to “learn in silence with all subjection.” The first reason is that Adam was created first, therefore, he’s the one God ordained to be in authority. The second reason is that Eve was deceived. This washes away ALL of the cultural excuses why these verses are irrelevant for today.

As for the first half of this paragraph, it is absolutely a historical fact that women were not as well-educated in first-century Israel as the men. It is also a fact that women were segregated from men in public gatherings. Yet, Lori ignorantly dismisses these merely because they are not mentioned directly in the Bible! I suppose she doesn't believe George Washington was real either, since he too was not in the Bible? She doesn't even realize how absurd it would have been for Paul to waste time describing cultural customs to people who already knew all about them. We, however, must be at least somewhat familiar with such things in order to understand certain portions of the Bible. Lori, of course, will have none of this. She prefers we know as little as possible that would help us understand the Bible correctly. 

       As it turns out, when Paul tells women not to speak in church, he chose a very specific word for "speak." There are 30 Greek words he could have used, many indicating giving a speech or teaching. However, he chose the word "laleo", which means "converse." In other words, the women, lacking any experience of being in public, simply did not know how to act and were chatting with each other during the church service. Paul was saying "don't talk during the service!" Nothing more. The men, of course, didn't need to be told this because they already knew not to talk during the service (but they, too, would have been expected not to talk during the service, even though they were...gasp...men!). 

       The irony of Lori's understanding of this verse is that Paul's intent was the complete opposite of what Lori wants it to be! The most radical point he made to the original audience was the fact that he actually allowed women to be in the church service with men, and to learn alongside them! This, not the command not to have conversations, is what would have been shocking to them. Paul would roll over in his grave if he knew his words were being used the way Lori uses them. 

       In the second half of Lori's paragraph, she tries to dismiss the facts of history by pointing out that Paul mentions the creation order and the fact that Eve was deceived. But again, she shows her ignorance. Paul was writing to Timothy, who was dealing with a cult in Ephesus that elevated women above men by teaching, for example, that Eve was created first. He was simply correcting this. The problem with taking these words as an argument for male leadership (and female silence) is that these ideas do not appear in Genesis at all! The fact that Adam was created first in the story says nothing about him being in authority over Eve, since, if we carry this idea to its logical conclusion, the animals would have authority over Adam due to being created even before him! Lori does her best to sound learned and sophisticated, but until she accepts her own ability to think for herself (even though she's...gasp...a woman!) and not simply rely on whatever men tell her, she isn't going to get very far. 

       She continues with another rebuttal: 

Others gave this verse: “And it shall be in the last days says God, ‘That I will pour out My Spirit upon ALL mankind; And your sons and your DAUGHTERS shall prophesy, And your young men shall see [divinely prompted] visions , And your old men shall dream [divinely prompted] dreams ; Even on My bond-servants, both men and WOMEN, I will in those days pour out My Spirit And they shall prophesy” (Acts 2:17‭, ‬18). These were already fulfilled. “Daughters shall prophesy; fulfilled in Anna the prophetess, Luke 2:36, and in the four daughters of Philip, Luke 21:9.” (Matthew Poole’s Commentary). Other commentaries say it is that women and men would be filled with the Holy Spirit but it certainly doesn’t negate the verses about women being silent in the churches.

She doesn't really negate the point being made here. To prophecy is to speak a message given by God. This is exactly the kind of authoritative act Lori does not believe women are permitted to do, but apparently God thinks otherwise. 

“Can’t be right translation as, Anna the prophetess/priestess outside the Temple saw Mary bring Jesus and called him Christ. Isaac’s wife Rebekah was also a prophetess who shows great godly boldness where Isaac was silent. God also told Abraham to listen to his wife Sarah.” The Church was not even established at the time that these women were mentioned in God’s Word. The Apostle Paul is the one who set up the Church and explained in detail how it is to run.

About this third rebuttal, I'll simply say it's tragic that Lori thinks women have less freedom under the New Covenant, after Jesus set us free from the burden of the law! How much of the Gospel does she really understand? 

       Another commenter brought up the Hebrew word for "helper", "ezer", in Genesis (referring to Eve as Adam's helper). She pointed out that it is used only twice to refer to Eve in the Old Testament, but 16 times to refer to God. Ken himself answered this point, but he seems to have misunderstood (to be fair, the commenter herself was also mistaken in thinking "ezer" meant "woman" rather than "helper." Still, Ken displays his ignorance of the actual point by going on about how women are not as strong as God (duh) and that the use of this word does not negate what he thinks is the clear command of the Bible that women be subordinate. The real point, which Ken doesn't even address, is the fact that the word "ezer" cannot mean any sort of subordinate or assistant, unless we are prepared to believe God is our subordinate! 

Lori includes one final rebuttal: 

Finally, there is this verse that women think disqualifies all of these commands for women to be silent in the churches. “But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven” (1 Corinthians 11:5). A few chapters later in 1 Corinthians 14, the Apostle Paul gives clear instructions on how church services are to run. He speaks about men praying, prophesying, and speaking in tongues with an interpreter, then we are given these verses at the end of the exhortation which clearly prove that women are forbidden from prophesying out loud in the church gathering.

She then repeats the handwritten verse from 1 Corinthians 14 about women asking their husbands questions at home rather than in church. Once again, she doesn't really argue against the point being made, but merely doubles down on insisting that two highly specific and conditional verses override all others. Well, she is not convincing. She claims Paul gives instructions for only men to pray, prophesy, and speak in tongues, but the Bible never distinguishes between men and women in this way. She has imposed her own opinions on God. Lori would do well to study the entire Bible for herself instead of limiting herself to 4 or 5 verses that the men in her life have convinced her are the only verses a woman is allowed to deal with. 

        It's been rather entertaining watching Lori and her loyal followers bickering amongst themselves on Facebook about just what kind of speaking women might be allowed in church. Lori thinks women can sing but not say "Amen!" in response to the sermon. Some think it's okay for women to give announcements, others don't think women should utter a sound at all. So much for it being "clear", as Lori claims. And they're all caught up in this instead of reaching people with the Gospel and actually helping people. How sad! 

Link to the original blog: https://thetransformedwife.com/all-the-reasons-why-women-dont-need-to-be-silent-in-the-churches/