THE EMERGING CHURCH PUSHING FOR WOMEN PASTORS
By Ken Silva pastor-teacher on Dec 7, 2011 in AM Missives, Current Issues, Emergence Christianity, Emergent Church, Features
Apprising Ministries wants you to know that a large part of the libertine legacy of the sinfully ecumenical neo-liberal cult operating within the Emergent Church aka the Emerging Church is its postmodern obfuscation causing confusion concerning proper Christian doctrine.
This has largely been done by looking back through the corridors of church history and dragging in anything that even remotely claimed to be Christian—heretical or not—and then questioning as to why said subject should not now be a legitimate form of the Christian faith.
While the issue of women being ordained elders and pastors has been debated within some of evangelicalism, up until now it’s remained more in the charismatic and Pentecostal fringes. The larger denominations had for the most part still maintained the proper Biblical position that women cannot be elders.
However, as one whose work in the Lord is to monitor Intel along the Internet Front and assess trends within the larger visible church, it’s my considered opinion this will be changing. You need to know that placing women in the pastorate is now going to be a real push by those influential within the Emerging Church.
Take for example the following tweet today from EC theologian Scot McKnight:
As we follow the link we come to McKnight’s Emerging Church comrade Dan Kimball‘s post praising Scot McKnight – new e-book “Junia Is Not Alone” about women and church leadership. In his typical EC maybe-I-do or maybe-I-don’t hold his views Kimball calls McKnight his “New Testament theological friend, guru.”
He then tells us what we already knew; McKnight takes a position in favor of women pastors:
No matter what your viewpoint is on this issue, this little e-book is worth a read. By the title, you can already know that Scot comes to an egalitarian conclusion. (Online source)
Kimball then shares his belief in the EC postmodern partyline:
I personally want to be looking at different perspectives of all types of issues to try and understand them. I don’t want to ever automatically suppose that my view I first learned in a church or in a denomination is always the one that has the most biblical backing to it.
(Online source)
Very people-friendly and pious, but that’s not the attitude of the Christian. As one involved in apologetics, counter-cult evangelism and Comparative Religion these past 24+ years I love discussing with people what they believe. Following love my neighbor as myself, of course I want to understand what they believe.
However, it doesn’t matter one iota what a church or denomination teaches or how sincerely they believe it; it matters what the text of the Bible says—period. I don’t have “to ever automatically suppose” anything. I only need to read what God’s Word says on a given subject; that’s where EC reps like McKnight and Kimball err.
To no one’s surprise, in attempting to make his case for women elders McKnight asserts a priori Junia was a female apostle:
In Junia is Not Alone, I will tell the story of Junia. Alongside her story, we will encounter others like her—women who had a wonderful voice, and then no voice, and who are experiencing a re-voicing. Now to the Story of Junia.
Junia Is Not Alone: How She Fits into the Bible
Junia, who had no idea she would someday be the subject of endless discussions, appears innocently enough in Romans 16:7 alongside her husband, Andronicus.[1]
Since this isn’t the main point of this piece I’ll simply point out that in his Junia Is Not Alone McKnight is, at best, being misleading in his treatment of Junia. The fact is, Christian apologist Matt Slick is correct when he points out:
The early church fathers are not in agreement about the gender of Junia. There even seems to be evidence that strongly suggests Junia was a male. Commentaries differ on the gender. Translations differ on how Romans 16:7 is to be rendered into English. (Online source)
Having studied this issue of women pastors for years I can tell you the arguments raised by the Emerging Church in favor of this unbiblical position are not new at all. However, to their core demographic in the younger sectors of the woefully uncathecized evangelical community they do appear to be.
The truth is, many of them have been used since the 1960’s when the secular feminist agenda slithered into apostate mainline and neo-orthodox colleges and denominations with their dead churches. Unfortunately, evangelicals are only now beginning to pay the price for years of allowing EC wolves to chew up their young.
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End notes:
[1] McKnight, Scot (2011-12-01). Junia Is Not Alone (Kindle Locations 54-61). Patheos Press. Kindle Edition.
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