Thinking to Believe

I argue that Christians need to stop being fake and start being real in our preaching, worship, etc. 

Some think the Bible teaches that Christians should always be happy. I review the many people in the Bible who were quite distressed, and even despaired of life. 

Pagan ideas have crept into Christianity. When we try to manipulate God into doing what we want, or when we think our words have power, we are in the realm of pag...

In this miscellany episode, I argue that it is good and right for Christians to desire God's judgment on evildoers, and that we often put too much faith in authorities. Then I consider the question as to whether someone can be both pro-choice and a Christian. 

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It's the final episode of my Answering God's Critics series. I address three objections:

1. We are both atheists. I just believe in one less god than you.

2. Belief in God is akin to belief in Santa Clause.

3. There are too many hypocrites in the church. 

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The final episode in my sub-series on the question of women pastors and teachers! I address two final objections (women cannot receive the gift of teaching & Joel prophesied that women would be preachers) before considering how to apply the Biblical teaching regarding women today. Can women go to seminary? Can women write books on theology? Can women be politicians? Etc.

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Was Junia a male or female, and was this person just well-known to the apostles, or a noteworthy apostle? I argue that Junia is a female, but not an apostle (and if she was an apostle, she is only an apostle in the "missionary" sense of the word - and thus this does nothing to undermine Complementarianism). 

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Now that I have established my argument for Complemenatarianism, I am turning my attention to various objections raised by Egalitarians against this view. In this episode I address four objections:

1. Galatians 3:28 requires that we make no distinction between men and women in the kingdom of God. 

2. Paul speaks of women as laboring with him in the gospel, and thus women can e ministers.

3. Paul speaks of churches in the house of...

Does the Bible teach male headship? Yes. I examine Genesis 3:16 where God told Eve "your desire will be to your husband, and he will rule over you." I argue that it refers to the woman's desire to exercise authority over her husband rather than submit to his authority. I also make the case that female submission to male headship was not introduced in Gen 3:16, but part of creation order in Genesis 2. 

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Does the Bible teach male headship? Yes. I examine Genesis 3:16 where God told Eve "your desire will be to your husband, and he will rule over you." I argue that it refers to the woman's desire to exercise authority over her husband rather than submit to his authority. I also make the case that female submission to male headship was not introduced in Gen 3:16, but part of creation order in Genesis 2. 

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I explore the last two possible interpretations of 1 Cor 14:34-35, namely the view that Paul is prohibiting women from engaging in theological discussion/debate in the church, and the view that Paul is prohibiting women from engaging in the judgment of prophetic utterances. 

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I explored two more possible interpretations of 1 Cor 14:34-35: (1) the cultural/circumstantial view; (2) the absolute silence view.

I argued that the cultural/circumstantial views cannot explain all that we see in the text, and we would have to believe that Paul prohibits all women from speaking due to the sins of a few. We would also have to ignore Paul’s rationale for this. He said it was shameful, and it is the teaching of...

After dealing with possible understandings of Paul's reference to "the Law," I examined two interpretations of 1 Cor 14:34-35: (1) The interpolation view which holds that these verses are not Pauline, but were added to the text by a scribe early in the text's history; (2) The quote and refute view which holds that verses 34-35 reflect the Corinthians' point of view, not Paul's. 

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Did an extended recap of what I covered for 1 Tim 2, and then began my discussion of 1 Cor 14:33-35. I concluded:

1. Paul's teaching pertains to public worship.

2. "As in all the churches of the saints" in 33b is the start of the sentence that continues in v.34, and thus it's clear that Paul is not talking about a local circumstance but a universal church practice. 

3. Paul is likely referring to men and women in general, not hus...

I focus on Paul's second reason for prohibiting a woman from teaching or exercising authority over a man, namely the fact that it was Eve - not Adam - who was deceived by the devil. 

While Eve was the first to sinn, Adam was held responsible for the fall of mankind because of his headship role, showing that headship and submission were part of creation, not a result of the fall. 

I argue against the notion that Adam imprope...

I examine 1 Tim 2:13, where Paul provides his first reason for permitting women from teaching or exercising authority over males, namely creation order. Man was created first, then Eve, and thus Eve was created in a place of submission to Adam. Paul's reason was rooted in Scripture, not culture or historical circumstance. I demonstrate why a number of egalitarian attempts to make Paul's teaching temporary and non-binding today, fai...

I explore the two things Paul did not prohibit women from doing in 1 Tim 2:12 - teaching and exercising authority. I show why the egalitarian claim that "exercise authority" is talking about an abuse of authority is mistaken. 

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I begin my examination of the most important NT text on this topic: 1 Tim 2:11-14. I look at the meaning of "silence" and "subjection" in verse 11, and then start my exegesis of verse 12 by exploring two things: (1) Does the fact that Paul said "I do not permit" mean his teaching is not binding?; (2) Is Paul's teaching for husbands and wives in particular, or men and women more generally? 

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