House Church Talk - Re: darkness & light

[jesusislord343 at juno.com]

On Wed, 12 May 2004 13:17:04 -0400 "terra king" <terra_king1 at lycos.com>
writes:
> --------- Original Message ---------
> >> There was a question I asked that was not answered.  Is it true that
those of you who believe women should be silent in the church refuse to
fellowship with us on lists like this one because women are
participating?  Are women from these groups forbidden to participate on
these sorts of lists or discussion boards, kept from where they could
encounter something contrary to what this theology?

> claire,at the web address 
> http://cacsi.com/Father/WhenCanYouthStopObeyingParents.htm jonathan
lindvall urges the parents of a rebellious adult child to cut him
completely off from the entire family. i cannot know but coerced silence
is likely happening if that's the mindset. 

Dear Terra,
Greetings in Christ's holy name!  You may rest assured that Jonathan
Lindvall is NOT overseeing an assembly which at all coerces the sisters
to remain silent in their corporate gatherings--far from it.  In fact, I
would view him as being one of the strongest and most outspoken opponents
of authoritarian-style control such as this, and which is seen commonly
today in the many clerically-dominated church organizations.  He makes
frequent reference to the scripture which says, "...nor as being lords
over those entrusted to you, but being *examples* to the flock" (I Pet.
5:3).  

In all fairness, what we have experienced, as a family fully convinced of
the straightforward reading of the scriptures for women to remain silent
in the whole church gatherings, is that families opposed to this teaching
generally are ones who will have nothing to do with us (and not the other
way around).  Many do not desire at all to hear out the reasoning of the
scriptural consistency which upholds the headship and submission teaching
of I Cor. 14:33b-38 and I Tim. 2:11-12.

I can well empathize with your concerns for males who dominate and damage
their families.  But in reacting against such awful abuses, the
temptation must be resisted to eradicate the distinct Biblical gender
roles altogether.  

In case you have never observed or been shown this, a pattern exists in
the New Testament in I Cor. 11 and 14, Eph. 5, Col. 3, I Tim. 2, Tit. 2,
and I Pet. 5.  Each one of these passages contains the distinctive
features of a) addressing the men and women in the churches alternately,
and b) presenting the themes of headship and submission as complementary
roles for the saints as created uniquely male and female to fulfill.  I
commend this scriptural search to you, to see whether these things are so
(Acts 17:11).

Terra, I must rush off again for now, but will leave you for now with
this thought to contemplate: What is it about women being silent in the
house church gatherings that makes it such a volatile issue for so
many--those families who once sat happily with the wife silent while the
"pastor" gave his sermon each week, will, now in the house church, have
nothing to do with a gathering where the wife remains silent WHILE THE
HUSBAND IS FREE TO SPEAK--what are the deep heart issues involved which
make this doctrine of the word of God such a source of derision?  My own
thought is that this challenging teaching (see vv. 36-38) in I Cor. 14 is
simply one of our Lord's all-wise means of bringing His beloved daughters
to spiritual maturity, in possessing the "gentle and quiet spirit" which
is "very precious in (His) sight" (I Pet. 3:4).

In Jesus Christ's grace, peace, and love,
Glenn S.
Heb. 10:14

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