Monday 28 January 2013

Should women be Ordained?


 Revolutionary movements have taken root at a very fast rate and it's taking over everywhere, in earlier times traditions have always been subtly altered little by little in order to “suit the times”, but now it’s no longer so  subtle instead anti-traditionalist and liberal movements are coming from behind closed doors, speaking in hushed voices, now they speak openly seeking to destroy every ounce of establish  convention and to upset the natural order of things which could only lead to anarchy and chaos, the rules that were once seen as set ,rigid and vital to the maintenance of our orderly society  are now being tossed out the window in favour of relativism. Sad to say this attitude is not limited solely to the irreligious as it once was but now it’s creeping into churches all over the world, the rules that were once upheld as being set in stone are now called outdated and in need of reform.  I am of course speaking to the issue of ordination of women, a topic that has been the subject of controversy and debate in most of the world’s major Christian denominations.
                                

In November of last year the General Synod of the Church of England had a debate on whether or not women should or should not be ordained as Bishops in the Church of England after  long and  rigorous deliberation the Synod decided not to allow the ordination of female bishops. That vote was not very well received in the court of public opinion many especially the British media made every effort to vilify the Council,  accusing the Synod of being gender biased and old fashion, a sentiment  that was apparently shared by many in the Government including Prime Minister David Cameron (a conservative in name only), a man who calls himself a devout Anglican yet he also attacked the Synod stating that it was his own personal opinion  that women should be allowed to be bishops, he further went on to state he was very sad and disappointed at their decision,  but I really must ask Mr. Cameron since when was he a clergyman or layman? Since when does he have a vote in the General Synod, since when does the government have  the right to bully the Church into getting what it wants, if the General Synod votes to not allow women bishops then that should be the end of the matter unfortunately this is  not so and it’s not hard to see why, after all looking at it from a logical point of view there is a double standard in the whole process is there not, why allow women to be priest anyhow if they can’t become bishops? It does seem quite silly doesn't it.

Turning to the Catholics and the Orthodox Churches  , those two groups have a tendency to be more counterrevolutionary than any others, guided by the strict rules of Canon law which clearly states that only men can be serve as priest (sure women are ordained as Nuns, but that’s a whole different story), but even within those ranks there are still dissenting views as some would seek to upset the balance of power in favour of greater liberalization of the Church 
                              
Another group of  focus is the Seventh Day Adventist Church, a growing worldwide  movement it’s now the largest and most powerful religious organization here in Jamaica, the debate on female ordination has  been raging through its membership  in the world , at present the position put forward by the central body of the General Conference is in line with traditional and conservative principles but all is not well in paradise, In the summer of last year both  the Pacific and Columbia   Union Conferences of the church voted to break ranks with the  main hierarchy and  authorize the ordination of female pastors, regardless of the fact that they  were blasted by the  World Church body for going against both biblical writings and the traditional values as set forth by the church, they paid no heed to the reprimand. To make matters worse the debate is far from over as more and more conferences and unions are set to join them in their outright rebellion against the Church hierarchy.

 Those in favour of female ordination use arguments such as “God can  use anyone”, “Women were among the early church founders”, “The Holy Spirit can be poured out on both men and women as long the person is willing”  and all sorts of bollocks , sure God can use a woman to do his work but that does not mean it should be as an ordained minister, that's what the laity is for. Another claim put forward by the liberals is that banning female ordination is outdated, a relic from a patriarchal society with no place in the modern world , that stance is also a bogus one, I see no reason why God would explicitly forbid something in the ancient times  and then turn around and give license to it the modern age, human thinking may change over the centuries, God does not. some also claim that if women are allowed to rise to the highest ranks in the secular world, shouldn't the same thing apply to religion?, another ludicrous argument if you ask me,
                                                          
 All these arguments all have one thing in common, all they do is appeal to emotion and personal sentiments subject to one’s own narrow view of the world while at the same time ignoring both scriptural and  other non-canonical guidelines that clearly oppose the ordination of women, the very Bible itself which churches claims to follow has been quite clear from the days of the levitical priesthood to Jesus’ selection of his apostles that only men  should ever be allowed to serve as priest, of course women do have their roles to play too but NOT as ordained ministers. I find it quite ironic that the Catholics the only church known to openly make a case against sola scriptura, is actually acquiescent with the scriptures in this regard, while protestant churches openly defy the Bible’s instructions on female ordination yet claim that it is the only rule of their practice of faith, sounds a bit hypocritical doesn't it.

I see no reason why Christian churches should change their rules to be in line with temporal principles, quite contrary to the liberal argument that the church should “become more modern”, the Bible in Daniel  7 refers to The Holy Father as the “Ancient of Days” , or is the Church going to suggest that God himself should “get with the times” as well. A religion that has priestesses is not a Christian religion a fact well shown by centuries of history, God  himself designed a totally male dominated priesthood in Exodus 28 in order to separate it from the neighbouring pagan religions all of which were headed by high priestesses, Throughout the long centuries of Church history from the time of the apostles through to modern times male dominated clergy has always been the order of the day as was stated by  the apostle St Paul who said in 1 Timothy 2: 12 "I suffer not a woman to teach, or to usurp authority over the man. 

Church of England Debate over women Bishops

Seventh Day Adventist Debate on female ordination.

2 comments:

  1. Very interesting story indeed. I recently became ordained as a minister by the Universal Life Church and I am a female. While I did grow up Catholic, I decided that being a minister for the Presbyterian Church was a better fit for me. Good luck!

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  2. Universal Life Church? never heard of them, if your Church chooses to ordain women then so be it, but know that doing so is inconistent with both scripture and tradition, your argument abou it being a better fit for you was already addressed in the post (see the section concerning "appealm to emotion"), the fact is that no where in the old and new testaments was such an action ever sanctioned

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