Comments from my Uncle

My uncle and I have been penpals lately and I asked him to comment on some questions I had. One of them was about my blog posting about James looking for a new job and the comments surrounding that. The second was on some questions about women and the church that I have been pondering for some time. My uncle was brought up in the same church I was and went to the same college, but it 10 years older than me. I wanted his opinion just to see if I was crazy or not!

Here are his comments!

“Luke 3:14 is John the Baptist talking to occupying Roman soldiers. These soldiers were far from home and paid well compared to the people that lived in the land. But they still caused problems and extorted money from the civilians around them. John’s call to “be content with you pay” was in response to their questions of what they needed to do to receive God’s favor. Also, Hebrews 13:5 is about the only reference to money I can find in Hebrews. While it is very important to not love money more than God, wanting to make enough money to pay your bills is not a sin. The things to remember when looking at scripture is WHO is saying it, WHO they are saying it to and WHAY is going on that has made the message be spoken. Some verses are for a specific people at a specific time; especially the teachings about the authority of women. But also in teaching about tithing and giving there are specific applications and prophetic applications. Malachi 3:9-12 basically says that if you are tithing then you will be blessed. This is a specific and prophetic writing. God was the speaker here and that makes it applicable throughout time. I especially like the end of verse 10 where God says, “Try it! Put me to the test.” Just see if your tithing will go unnoticed. I think that is a far better section of scripture to apply to a church than a fragment of a conversation about being content with your wages. I also found in 2 Corinthians 8:12 where it says to give eagerly. To be glad in your giving and tithing is a blessing to God. The most important part of money is that it is not the center of your life. God should be the center.

As for the female authority in the church; the only Bibilical reason I can find for this is in 1 Timothy 2:9-15. Once again, this was written to the people of that time. Women were for the most part not educated. Those women were far more likely to teach false teachings and be seduced by worldly teachings that were contrary to God. They were also separated from their husbands during the teachings and would be yelling out questions to their husbands because they wanted to understand what was being taught. Paul lists several women who were at least deacons in their churches. I guess my own experience has been that a teacher is a teacher, male or female, it doesn’t matter. As an adult male, I have had many female teachers in my faith journey. I have made many mistakes in my life. Of course my mistakes do not invalidate my past encounters with God, they just prove the need for a constant and renewing relationship with Him.”