women and the bible

According to the Word, women are not to teach; therefore, should not preach. To read about this subject, please look at I Timothy 2:9-12 and I Peter chapter 3. Agape.

I believe that the Bible had a lot to do with the politics of it's time. My minister told me to take it in context, and not literally. When Paul wrote that women should submit themselves to their husbands and the husband was the head of the church (Eph. 5:22) he didn't know what he was talking about!!! This did not come from Jesus, it came from Paul, who hated women!

I do not thinK that is allowed in the Bible. I think women didn't have much rights during that time and I am so glad things are alot different today.

You make an informed response impossible when you state, "Please no bible bashing!=)". The Bible reflects the times it was written in and those times were not a good time to be a woman.

To be honest I have never read the bible and I do not know much about it at all, I am a total mushroom about religeon...

The longer I read many Christians view about women and many other issues, the more I notice the lack of Bible knowledge. Very obviously there are many churches that don't care about teaching true Bible interpretation. Because God's word was written down thousands of years ago and thousands miles away from modern day occidental civilization. In order to understand what God's teaching means here today, we need to pay attention what it meant then and there. Revelation's principles did not change yet their application to human life and society undergoes important cultural and historial changes. First: Contrary to what traduction into English language suggests, God did not create first the male and made female out of him. God created the human being as a dual being, including male and female (Genesis 1:26). Hebrew's "Adam" is not a proper name but means human being. Both of them are put in charge of Earth. This human being the Lord separated in two individual beings: man and woman (Hebrew vocabulary tells this clearly). Second: Scriptures are inspired by the Holy Spirit but the human authors expressed themselves according to their respective culture and education. Hebrew culture was a male dominated culture (not by the law, but according to the custom of the time as many sources and archaeological findings show). God's law for Israel protected women, as it protected the weak and the poor. There is also space for outstanding women to show leadership or selfdetermination (Miriam, Deborah, Jael, Ruth, Hannah). Third: The New Testament has a great predeliction for women. We see the cousins Elizabeth and Mary, the prophetess Anna, the women that followed Jesus like Martha, Mary and Mary of Magdala... Jesus treats women equal to men, the resurrected Jesus shows himself first to a woman. They are also among the disciples on the day of Pentecost. Fourth: Among Greeks and Romans, women didn´t have any rights. While the Jewish woman could receive a heritance to be independent, they passed from the hands of the father to those of the spouse. Matrimony was only a matter of economical and political family plans. Greek women were also mostly uneducated. When coming to Christ, they experimented such liberation that many of them interrupted their assemblies with their questions and exclamations. They were also unable to distinguish heresies and false teachings. All this is the background for understanding how the Bible speaks of some female questions. 21st century women, educated and independent, can be assured that God sees them above of all not as a gender but as inseparable part of the humanity he loves. In Galatians 3:28, Paul expresses this thus: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." I recommand you to read Rebecca Merrill-Groothius "Good News for Women" or "What Paul really said about Women" by John Bristow and "Women in the Church" which describes the urgency for a complete and equal female ministry. My own church (related to God´s Assemblies) teaches and practices full integration of women in every level of service and matrimonies where mutual respect and mutual love are the decisive factor.

As far as being obedient to our husbands, a lot of anti-religious people take that quote out of context. There's more to it than that: a woman is called to obey her husband as the Church obeys Christ AND a man must love his wife as Christ loves the Church, EVEN going so far as to lay down his life for her. It's an extended metaphor, this relationship between God and his people, expressed throughout the whole Bible as a marriage between a bridegroom (who loves his bride) and bride (who is not always faithful). I think it's very beautiful, though more idealistic than real.

The way I see it, in the Bible women have the right to do exactly what she's told. Not trying to bash but I don't see much in the way of respect for women as equals. Any reverence offered them is directly related to the whole child-bearing thing. If it weren't pleasure or procreation, I'm not sure they would have let the woman survive.

Depends on what "rights" you are talking about. We have many rights and some are the same as men, and some aren't. For example, it talks in the bible about a woman submitting to her husband. This doesn't mean you bow down to him and this does not mean that you are his slave. This simply means that he is the leader in your home. This means that you have a right to voice your opinion and you have a right to have say so in the family but the final decision is left up to the husband. The bible also talks about the man loving his wife like Christ loves the church. Talk about responsibility! Alot of people misread what all that means but another thing to keep in mind is that it says that a woman is to submit to her husband - NOT her husband should make her submit. Just like it says the husband is to love his wife - NOT the wife should make her husband love her. Sorry that was a bit of subject lol I am also not sure of the exact scripture to reference this but it also talks about the woman not be above the man - meaning they should not be a church leader. It's okay that they be teachers but the man will be the leader of a church and such.

Women's rights in the Bible were based on the customs and circumstances of the day. We now have to interpret them in light of current customs and circumstances. So when we read such things as "women must keep their heads covered in church" that was based on custom. That's what people did then. Paul was saying that women should not go against the customs of the day and bring a bad name to the new Christian church that was growing. So to use that to say women today need to wear hats or scarves in church would be wrong. The same with "women should keep quiet in church and if they have any questions, they should wait and ask their husbands when they get home." That was common practice then when women were out in society. They were to observe the same customs in church. That is not the custom in society now, so it changes what happens in churches as well. I don't see any reason why women cannot preach. I know some good women pastors and preachers. Most of the "rights of women" these days are determined by individual denominations or religious leaders rather than correct interpretations of the Bible.

I personally believe that women play a huge role in the bible and in life in general. The bible talks very much about a godly woman in the 31st chapter of Proverbs. I though personally believe that a women is not to be a preacher or paster. There is a verse that states that a woman is not to teach over a man. Now that doesn't mean that a woman can't minister to other women but just not to a man. I know I will get a ton of people responding to me but again this is what I believe that the bible says