11/26/23 - "Does God discriminate against women?"

I could just as well have pulled the pin on a grenade and tossed it directly into the middle of our students while screaming "DON'T RUN, JUST TALK ABOUT IT!"
This topic is particularly heated in our present culture, but the questions that we have looked at over the last 2 months have intentionally prepared us to have this discussion well. We started by affirming that we can trust the Bible, and that it serves as our foundation of truth as Christians. The last question we walked though (can I be a Christian and believe in evolution) was a sneaky "introduction to hermeneutics," that we will immediately put to the test with this question!

Just for clarity's sake, the Alliance of Reformed Churches official position is as follows - "We maintain that there are two theologically acceptable positions regarding the interpretation of ordained offices. One position ordains women into the ordained offices of the church. The other limits the ordained offices in which women can serve. We respect each other and each other’s congregational choices regarding the nature of ordained leadership."

Furthermore, the material we are using is intentionally designed to not lead us to a particular answer, so we are still very much in the “exploratory phase.” The majority of our students felt that this was an important issue and had an opinion, but few could explain where in scripture that opinion was grounded. Next Sunday I will have a huge powerpoint that tries to address the spectrum of beliefs surrounding women in ministry and the home in the most balanced way possible. I’ll make sure that it gets posted here on the website as well so that you can all take a look at it :)

The goal of these conversations remains building a Biblical foundation for our students, and encouraging them to talk to you while “rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). In my experience, wading into topics that dredge up deep opinions causes students to seek you out as parents, and better still, motivates them to read the Bible for themselves. If you ever have any questions about what is being taught or the methodology, I would sincerely love the opportunity to talk with you!!

As always, thanks for taking the time to check in, and have a wonderful week!