Church

10. On this web page you deal with the question of women’s ministry, and let me say that it seems that you have solved the problem in a very perfunctory way, and you hold offensive ideas about women. If we believe that man and woman have the same dignity, how can you say that the woman must be submitted to man and she cannot hold the same positions held by man? Is it not much more judicious to set up equal relations between men and women, in mutual respect and estimation? How can you say, in 2000, that the woman must keep silent and be submitted to man because she was seduced by the devil more easily?

Dear Mr. …. my speech (based on the Word of God) concerns the role of women in the Church of God. I think I have explained well all over the site (because I have dealt with this topic several times in different places) what the woman can do and what she can’t do in the Church. However, I will repeat it briefly. The woman in the Church can pray and prophesy (if she has the gift of prophecy), obviously with her head covered with a veil, which is a sign of the authority to which she is subject (this authority is man), but she can’t teach. The reason is explained by the apostle Paul, and it is this: because it was not the man who was deceived in the Garden of Eden, but the woman. Obviously man also was deceived in the Garden of Eden, but he was not deceived by the devil, that’s the difference between the man and the woman. This is not an insignificant thing. The apostle Paul clearly states that Adam was not the one deceived, but it was the woman who was deceived.

I don’t think I hold offensive ideas about women; of course, many women agree with you, however what I teach is supported by the Word of God, which stands forever. You see, the woman not only is forbidden to teach in the Church, but also to have authority over her husband. It is unnatural for a woman to rule over her husband: it is a shameful behaviour that unfortunately we see very often in this society. The woman was created for the man (in that God made him a helper suitable for him); it is not man who was created for the woman. That’s why the woman must submit to her husband and obey him. Man is her head, and thus she must submit to him. However, pay attention to this: a Christian woman is not regarded by the Word of God as a sort of slave woman, whom her husband can command to do whatever he wants and toward whom he can behave as he wishes (I tell you this because I don’t want you to misunderstand my words). For in the New Testament there are some orders for the husbands as well, who are commanded to live with their wives with understanding, giving honour to them as to the weaker vessel, otherwise their prayers will be hindered and will not be answered by God (cf. 1 Peter 3:7). This shows that God is no respecter of persons. For the fact that He doesn’t hear the prayer of a husband who despises his wife or mistreats her, shows that before Him there is neither male nor female. Therefore, man is the head of the woman, the husband is the head of his wife, but if he disobeys God, He will be punished for his disobedience.

With regard to the words of Peter I quoted before, I would like to point out that Peter calls the wife ‘the weaker vessel’, which means that the husband also is a weak vessel, however the woman is weaker than man. Don’t you see this very clearly among believers as well as among unbelievers?

Therefore, to sum up, in the Church of God there is an order set up by God, and according to this order the woman must submit to her husband and to man in general for the above mentioned reasons. And I can tell you for certain that what God commands us to do is for our good, even if sometimes we don’t like His commandments and don’t understand them immediately. Many marriages break to pieces because the woman, wanting to achieve equality, refuses to submit to her husband and to obey him. If the divorces have terribly increased in number in these latter days, it is because of the emancipation of women, which is so celebrated by many people. I feel sick at heart in seeing some women who (because of their perverse ideas) behave toward their husbands as if their husbands were puppets in their hands. However, these women will bear their judgment.

Of course, many marriages break to pieces also because many husbands think they are allowed to abuse their wives, however they also will bear their judgement.

Maybe I am hated by many women, maybe many men despise me, because of my ‘position’ which is so radical and so ‘out-of-date’, but I don’t care; God called me to preach His Word and I have to declare His counsel, and not the counsel of the world. Whether you like or not, this is what God has commanded.

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