Create in me a new song – Conclusion

The explosive content. 

This is actually the heart of what I wanted to get at in this series. 

The mail clerk who asked me if there was anything potentially explosive in my box of books had no idea of just how explosive this concept of equality for women is. 

Baptists are afraid.  Men are afraid. 

• Afraid that if women compete with them in securing a church to pastor, there won’t be enough churches for them.
• Afraid that if women become pastors, the churches will be opened to homosexuals
• Afraid that Baptist women pastors will cause the denomination to become faith-healing Pentecostals.
• Afraid that their empire of books, literature and stuff will dwindle
• Afraid that families will be headed by women, and that the 1950’s ideal family will be destroyed. 
• Afraid that they will lose control over the church as they know it.

I wish I could tell them that they are wrong, but they are not.  These things will happen. 

There is a price to pay for Reformation. 

There is a price to pay if we do not Reform. 

As with all things, we cannot remain still and we must make decisions.  Change is going to happen.  And there will be problems because of these changes.

Women will become pastors, and families will suffer from having the mother away.  Families suffer now when the father is the pastor of a church and is called away at all hours of the day.  Fathers, children, and families will learn to adjust to this new reality in their life.  Just as we learn to adjust to any other reality in our life.  

We forget that the ideal situation is oftentimes just that – ideal.  But not real. 

Families have always lost mothers and fathers to death or separation while the babies were little.  Mothers and fathers have always put in long hours to keep the family fed.  

Women will get pastoral jobs that the men hoped to have, and most will be low paying jobs.  In fact, women will bring the salary down for all men when she begins pastoring, because churches will choose to pay less, and men will have to take it. 

Their empire will suffer as their books won’t make any sense any more. 

Yes, there will be churches that will find out that the woman they chose for a pastor is homosexual.  Just as churches today have found out that their male pastor is homosexual, just as churches have found their male pastors involved in an adulterous relationship, just as a male pastor molests his grandchildren, just a male pastor visits prostitutes.  The standard has already been set, not by women, but by the male pastors.  Few women pastors would ever achieve the disgusting heights that male pastors have already attained. 

We love our pastors and respect them. We still call male pastors because we know that the rotten few have not ruined the whole lot.  So it will be with women pastors.  We cannot judge them all by those that have disappointed us. 

Some women pastors will begin ministries with a Pentecostal flavor to it.  They already do.  Joyce Meyers is popular, and there are others.  Baptist women are very spiritual, and who knows how the Lord will lead when we accept his will in our lives. 

People like Daniel, who was the object of discussion in the more than 40 comments in the last post, will rise up and say “I told you so!” 

But what is the alternative?  The Reformation was explosive and brought about exactly the things they said it would.  People began to read Bibles and indulgences were exposed.  Many different denominations sprung up and the Catholic church was no longer the only voice that was heard. 

The old order was disrupted.  Strange religions sprung up.  Chaos happened.  But hadn’t you rather have this chaos than not have any choices?  We can’t imagine a time in our lives when we could not read the Bible for ourselves, but that privilege was hard fought.  People died, and people were burned at the stake over English Bibles, and getting the word to the people.  But being where we are now, we wouldn’t go back, would we? 

This past week, five Anglican priests left their church to become Catholic priests because the Anglicans had ordained a woman bishop.  a SLAP in the face of all women.  Saying it is better to unite with a church that demands celibacy (even though the Anglican priests were married), than to be identified with a church that ordains a woman.  And the Catholic church compromised their 1300 year tradition of celibacy for priests to include them.  They’ve been making this concession for over 30 that I know of.  All because of their acclaimed supperiority over women in the clergy.

Yes, it will be explosive. 

God is leading the way.  He will lead us into change. Yes, it will be hard.  But God made us strong, and He will be our leader. 

Create in us a new song where men and women are equal before God in the church and in the home.