Are The Southern Baptist Convention And Cooperative Baptists Merging?

IT SEEMS THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION AND THE LIBERAL COOPERATIVE BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP are not that far apart anymore.   About 25 years ago, Jimmy Carter left his long time affiliation with the SBC and joined the liberal Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.  His reasoning was that he could no longer agree with teachings of the SBC.

Well it seems that Jimmy Carter will soon have the whole Southern Baptist Convention in the pew with him at his Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.  I posted a blog last week about the liberalization of the SBC ("Churches Leaving The Newly Liberalized Southern Baptist Convention") and today I get an e-mail sharing the Cooperative Baptist "Fellowship Weekly" update. 

One of the key articles in this "Fellowship Weekly" report is that of a young lady, aka, Rev. Rebecca Caswell-Speight, who looks like she is still in high school -  and she is dissing John MacArthur and all conservative Baptist Christians for our challenge and rebuttal of Beth Moore's claim that, and I am paraphrasing, "John MacArthur and others conservative Christians like him are hateful because they do not believe that women should be pastors."    

And this young lady wrote a rather lengthy article refuting MacArthur and conservative Christians - and sharing how she was called by God to be a pastor while she was in college.  But in her rather lengthy rebuttal - not once did she show Scriptural proof or suggestion, nor did she even mention Scripture, that she has a right and a calling by God to be a pastor.

I was about to write a rebuttal to that article in the Cooperative Baptist "Fellowship Weekly" when I found this well written, Biblically based, answer to the question:  "What does the Bible say about women pastors?" on the GotQuestions web site.  Since it gives a Biblical answer to her non-Biblical diatribe against conservative Christians, I will just share that article.

Excerpt from GotQuestions (dot) Org article:

Yet another objection to this interpretation of women in pastoral ministry is in relation to women who held positions of leadership in the Bible, specifically Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah in the Old Testament.  It is true that these women were chosen by God for special service to Him and that they stand as models of faith, courage, and, yes, leadership.  However, the authority of women in the Old Testament is not relevant to the issue of pastors in the church. The New Testament Epistles present a new paradigm for God’s people - the church, the body of Christ - and that paradigm involves an authority structure unique to the church, not for the nation of Israel or any other Old Testament entity.

Similar arguments are made using Priscilla and Phoebe in the New Testament.  In Acts 18, Priscilla and Aquila are presented as faithful ministers for Christ.  Priscilla’s name is mentioned first, perhaps indicating that she was more prominent in ministry than her husband.  Did Priscilla and her husband teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Apollos?  Yes, in their home they “explained to him the way of God more adequately” (Acts 18:26).  Does the Bible ever say that Priscilla pastored a church or taught publicly or became the spiritual leader of a congregation of saints?  No.  As far as we know, Priscilla was not involved in ministry activity in contradiction to 1 Timothy 2:11–14.

In Romans 16:1, Phoebe is called a “deacon” (or “servant”) in the church and is highly commended by Paul.  But, as with Priscilla, there is nothing in Scripture to indicate that Phoebe was a pastor or a teacher of men in the church.  “Able to teach” is given as a qualification for elders, but not for deacons (1 Timothy 3:1–13; Titus 1:6–9).

The structure of 1 Timothy 2:11–14 makes the reason why women cannot be pastors perfectly clear.  Verse 13 begins with “for,” giving the “cause” of Paul’s statement in verses 11–12.  Why should women not teach or have (spiritual) authority over men?  Because “Adam was created first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived” (verses 13–14).  God created Adam first and then created Eve to be a “helper” for Adam.  The order of creation has universal application in the family (Ephesians 5:22–33) and in the church.

The fact that Eve was deceived is also given in 1 Timothy 2:14 as a reason for women not serving as pastors or having spiritual authority over men.  This does not mean that women are gullible or that they are all more easily deceived than men.  If all women are more easily deceived, why would they be allowed to teach children (who are easily deceived) and other women (who are supposedly more easily deceived)?  The text simply says that women are not to teach men or have spiritual authority over men because Eve was deceived.  God has chosen to give men the primary teaching authority in the church.

Many women excel in gifts of hospitality, mercy, teaching, evangelism, and helping/serving.  Much of the ministry of the local church depends on women. Women in the church are not restricted from public praying or prophesying (1 Corinthians 11:5), only from having spiritual teaching authority over men. The Bible nowhere restricts women from exercising the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12).  Women, just as much as men, are called to minister to others, to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23), and to proclaim the Gospel to the lost (Matthew 28:18–20; Acts 1:8; 1 Peter 3:15).

God has ordained that only men are to serve in positions of spiritual teaching authority in the church.  This is not because men are necessarily better teachers or because women are inferior or less intelligent (which is not the case).  It is simply the way God designed the church to function.

The young lady pastor (?) wrote, belittling John MacArthur's advise to Beth Moore to "Go Home!" and stop playing pastor:

I AM HOME, By Rev. Rebecca Caswell-Speight
https://cbfblog.com/2019/10/25/i-am-home/

Folks, we did not design the family - one man, one woman, and their children.  And we did not design the church.  Both were designed by God, for His purposes, and defined in His Written Word, the Bible.  That is our authority - not man's desires, feelings, or wants.  I will still follow the old saying, "God Said It ~ I Believe It!"  That has worked well for at least six millennia, why should man want to change it now?

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill 

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