AFTER ALL THOSE YEARS

Last week the board of deacons of a Baptist church in New York dismissed a teacher in the Sunday School because she's a woman. Apparently she was teaching an adult class (I'm assuming, it wasn't spelled out in the story) and the church has decided to take a literal interpretation of the Bible that forbids a woman to teach men. One of the news stories can be found here. http://news10now.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=76479

The double speak statement by the pastor can be found here. http://www.nnyinfo.com/firstbaptist/statement.htm  Double speak is my definition, because he sure as hell talks like a politition. My impression of the drama is that there is a lot going on that wasn't in the news story. The teacher is a long time member and the pastor is fairly new and I get the impression that there is a lot of tension between the old and new factions of the church and the verses from Timothy are stuck in the middle. Easier to sell than "folks we got some old fashioned fussin' and feaudin' goin' on here." Actually, there are fewer fights dirtier and more divisive than a church break up.

http://messageboards.aol.com/aol/en_us/articles.php?boardId=565158&func=3&channel=News+AOL+Managed&refresh=true And this link gets you to the chats on the subject. What strikes me over and over is all the sides trying to prove that their view of the world is the one and only correct one. And none of it has anything to do with what Jesus taught. If we could channel all that energy into what Jesus actually was teaching we'd get a lot further and be a lot happier.

Apologies for making this an entry of links. But, I think how the story is perceived will be personal. And better to let the story be told in its own words than my synthesis or description of the story.