2033--feminism

            This is another rewrite of one of my two minute commentaries I posted in December, 2010, expanding the writing for a five minute time period.  This one expands #33 on feminism.

2033—feminism

            My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.  In the Old Testament, women such as Deborah, Abigail, Ruth and Esther are presented in scripture as positive examples of faith and godliness, even though Israel and the societies around were male dominated, to the degree that, at the time of Jesus, some rabbis debated with each other as to whether women were even human, and forbade women to hear them teach from Tanak.  This was part of why Jesus’ speaking to the woman at the well was difficult for the disciples to understand, and possibly a part of why Mary had a problem with Martha sitting and listening to Jesus teach instead of helping prepare for the other guests.

            The prophet Joel, in chapter 2 verses 28 and 29, wrote “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams; your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and My maidservants I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” Phoebe, Junia, and Priscilla, Aquila’s wife, are referred to by words describing spiritually gifted leaders.  Lydia had a church meet at her house, which implies that she was the wealthiest person in that church, which is congruent with the fact that she was a seller of fabrics that were only legal for royalty to wear.  In Romans 16, where Paul ends his letter by greeting believers he knew there, there were only a couple of fewer women than men mentioned.  The Bible shows that men and women were equal in God’s eyes when it came to receiving salvation and receiving the giftings of the Holy Spirit, including the leadership gifts.

            Obviously, as the church was forced into the world’s structure common to nations, militaries, and businesses, what is now call chauvinism marked that structure.  The Reformation did not change that.  At the informal level, which tends to be where the Holy Spirit works most greatly, there has been a history of believing women in leading roles in the foreign mission, anti-slavery, and suffragette movements. The stand for equal rights for women was largely a Christian thing from the founding of the church at Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 through the granting of the right to vote in the United States and Great Britain.  It needs to be pointed out that this was not necessarily reflected in recognition with the official church and denominational organizations of which these women were connected to.

            The world has rewarded men and penalized women for their gender through almost all of human history. In the early church, the world saw a new species with a different set of values even while the world was denying their right to exist, officially.  The early church saved female babies exposed by those following the tradition of infanticide in the area of Greece.  Eventually, the wealthy in the Empire trusted the Christians for caring for their money and children, because of their commitment before God to be honest, which, on the side, helped erode respect for the vacuous morality of the pagan myths at a practical level as much as the Greek philosophers’ criticism of the morality reflected in the myths was eroding it at the different level of Roman society.  The world oftentimes sees the now institutionalized church as just another social organization.  That’s part of the reason why it is rarely spoken about by today’s secular feminists, who only see an entrenched, male dominated organization, as opposed to scripture’s definition of a group of persons, male and female, young and old, of various races, ethnicities, and economic and social statuses, who have been made a new creation by Jesus, desiring, albeit not always succeeding, to follow the Spirit as He goes where He wills, and to be salt and light to a lost and dying world, and caring for the poor and downtrodden of all societies, races, classes, castes, and ethnicities as people made in God’s image and of whom He loves equally.

  I can be reached at simplechurchminute@yahoo.com or by phone at 757-735-xxxx.  You can see a transcript of what I just said along with references to more detailed work on this subject at my blog, tevyebird (spelled t-e-v-y-e-b-i-r-d) .blogspot.com, with the blog dated August 25, 2011.  For more information about organic church worldwide, visit www.simplechurch.com,  and about organic church here in the Hampton Roads area at www.hrscn.org. 

            An excellent book on a Christian-based feminism is Elaine Storkey’s “What’s Right With Feminism” (Eerdmans, 1985).  It is currently out of print, but it may well be found on sites such as half.com or amazon.com.  For a couple of years, as I write this, there is a hint that the publisher, may re-release it, or possibly one may find it in an online version. She also has a sequel, “Origins of Difference”, published by Baker.  As Storkey is a theology professor in Great Britain, the writings reflect dealing with the most traditional institutional church situations and deal with the most complex level of intellectual debate on this subject, i.e. some parts are not easy reading and deal with debating liberal theological positions.

2057--clergy-laity divide

            In December, 2010, when I posted 100 two minute commentaries on various issues that are connected by the common thread that they are practices within traditional, corporate Christian churches that do not have a basis in scripture.  One of those was #57 on the apparent division between clergy and laity as different castes within the Christian faith.  Below, I have added additional information for a five minute time frame.

2057—clergy/laity divide

            My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.  At the time Jesus walked the earth, all beliefs had priests, laypeople, temples, and sacrifices, and many cities and occupational skills were set up in a manner similar to a religion and actually acted as a belief to that city or group.  An example is Paul and the riot of the idol makers’ guild in Acts chapter 19, where a business trade and the city’s religion and its deviance and its profit centers are somewhat joined and confused.   When Jesus died, arose, ascended into heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in the people of his New Covenant, he made a chosen people with characteristics unlike anything seen before on earth.  He introduced to his followers spontaneity, worship and honor of God without structure and ritual.  Within each believer, male or female, Jew or Gentile, the desire was to honor Jesus with all that was in them, as worship was how one lived one’s life, as opposed to participation or observation of rituals by a separate caste of religious workers.  Leadership was informal, by experience, spiritual gifting from God, character, and obedience to the Holy Spirit.  Academic status and human certifications had nothing to do with it.

            How then did the church wind up with a structure like the other beliefs around it?  The apostles opposed it.  Third John verses 9 and 10 speak against a man who liked to have the preeminence.  Revelation chapter 2 verse 6 may also be a warning of such a division.  Our wanting official human leaders seems to be a human temptation, given that in the Old Covenant, God set up judges, but we see in First Samuel chapter 8 verse 19 that the people wanted a king, so God allowed it, with the warning that they would be unhappy with that choice later.  For many of us, the warning about preeminence guides some of us to avoid leadership, and others who are not careful about that and other warnings taking up an official leadership position on their own.

            There were elders, who meant experienced, mature believers, who were leaders with a group, but no one was over another.  Elder was not an office, as First Timothy chapter 3 verse 1 appears to imply. No word that means “office” is in the original Greek of the New Testament in that sentence.  Apostles, persons with a gift to start churches, did so and occasionally revisited those churches, and had others visit.  Also, we see Peter, Paul, and John sent letters, and the apostles and elders in Jerusalem sent a short letter than appears in Acts 15.  Those are examples of apostolic oversight. Notably, those letters weren’t sent to any head person, they were sent to all of the church.  Also, in opposition to the chauvinistic nature of ancient societies, the leaders were not necessarily male.  In Romans 16, Phoebe is mentioned in verse 1, Priscilla in verse 3, and Junia in verse 7 is called an apostle, which rankles certain people in authority today.

            Shortly after the legalization of Christianity by the Roman Empire, the church wound up with buildings, and people were needed to oversee those buildings.  Orators began to quote unquote convert, fill those jobs, then had a regular speaking place, and eventually formed a clergy class.

            The word laity comes from the Greek word laos, which meant people, which are God’s new chosen people by faith.  All believers belong to that class. Believers may have grown in maturity to function as elders, or be gifted in some way, but there is nothing in scripture that indicates that they were a separate class.  A clergy class was an idea imported from other sources.  The word clergy comes from the Greek word kleros, meaning an inheritance. Within the church, all believers, as a group, are the church, which is God’s house, the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit.  We are all, by faith, his inheritance.

            Today, we have some organizational church corporations that have supposed clergy class people who overtly admit to not believing the historic faith in Jesus, or avoid the subject to maintain their salary.

 You can reach me by email at simplechurchminute@yahoo.com or by phone at 757-735-xxxx.  You can read a transcript of what I just said on my blog, tevyebird.blogspot.com, at the blog entry for August 23, 2011.  You can find out more about believers in Jesus in this area being the church without corporation structures at www.hrscn.org .

For further background on this subject, including historical background footnotes, see Chapter 5 of George Barna and Frank Viola, Pagan Christianity.

Simple Church Minute 57--clergy/laity divide

57—clergy/laity divide

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.

            At the time Jesus walked the earth, all beliefs had priests, laypeople, temples, and sacrifices, and many countries and occupational skills actually acted as a belief.  An example is Paul and the riot of the idol makers guild in Acts 19.  When Jesus died, arose, ascended to heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in the people of his New Covenant, He made a chosen people with characteristics unlike anything seen before on earth.  He introduced to his followers spontaneity, worship, and honor of God without structure and ritual, but within each believer, male or female, Jew or Gentile, the desire to honor Jesus with all that was in them.  Leadership was informal, by experience and gifting, character, and obedience to the Holy Spirit. 

            How then did the church wind up with a structure like other beliefs?  The apostles opposed it.  Third John verses 9 and 10 speak against a man who liked to have the preeminence.  Revelation 2 verse 6 may also be a warning of such a division.  Our wanting official human leaders seems to be a human temptation.  In the Old Covenant, God set up judges, but one sees in First Samuel chapter 8 verse 19, the people wanted a king.

            There were elders, people of experience, but no one was over another.  Apostles started churches, and on occasion revisited churches, had others visit, and Peter, Paul, and John sent letters, which are examples of apostolic oversight.  Notably, they weren’t sent to the head person, they were sent to all the church.  The leaders were not necessarily male.  In Romans 16, Phoebe is mentioned in verse 1, Priscilla in verse 3, and Junia in verse 7.  Within a couple hundred years, Cyprian of Carthage taught clergy was needed to intercede, even though the Bible teaches we no longer need an intercessor.

            You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com.  For more info on organic church*, visit http://www.simplechurch.com/ or locally at (local website).

On the recording, at this time, it says, “house churches.”  While that phrasing is OK, to say “organic church” is better.  I comment on that in blip 94.