Women, the Baptists, and 2019

photo by Tjflex2 / flickr

One little girl was heard while praying, "Dear God, are boys better than girls? I know you are one but try to be fair."



At the latest Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Birmingham it sounded like Deja vu. Beth Moore, Bible teacher has criss-crossed the country leading Bible studies.  This past week she dared to speak “to a bunch of male Pastors” about sexual abuse. As a victim of sexual abuse she feels strongly that her denomination should speak out strongly this issue and work to solve this problem. 

But the Southern Baptist Convention is a mite concerned about any woman “standing before men in an authoritative role.” Hiding behind those old threadbare cultural texts they say: women have no right preaching to men. Some of these pastors don’t even want women teaching little boys—it’s a men’s job. Well—take the women out of the church and out of teachings Sunday schools and it would be pretty slim pickins. I don’t believe the men alone are going to come to the rescue on Sunday mornings at ten o’clock or eleven either.  But that’s not the point. 

The real point is everybody is equal in the kingdom of God. Ever read Jesus’ words and his attitudes toward women? I remember a time when the Virginia State President of the Women’s Missionary Union could not even give her report at the pulpit at the State Convention. She had to let her Pastor read it.

Since then we have opened up all kinds of places for women. They hold cabinet positions. We have had at least three women as Secretary of State the last few years. (Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Wright and Hillary Clinton.) There are a few CEO’s of Fortune 500 that are women. Several very talented women are running for President. And take the women out of the picture and it would be a sparse day. We just said goodbye to Rachel Held Evans who was a wonderful spokesperson for the gospel and for women’s rights in the church.

I recall the story about Lottie Moon, who wanted to be a Missionary to China. The officials said she could not do that. Their rule was that no single woman could serve as a missionary. Well, tiny Lottie Moon would not be deterred. Baptist woman passed the hat and raised $3,315 and spent her to China as a missionary. The Mission Board wrote her and said she could not teach men, or baptize or preach. I think they suggested that she come home. Lottie Moon wrote back and said, “What am I to do when men seek so insistently to learn from the Bible? Should I leave them in ignorance until a man shall arrive? What am I to do when our fledgling churches need leadership? Should I leave them in the hands of untrained new Chinese converts merely because these converts are men? I cannot and will not." She said when a man arrived shed would relinquish her role. No man came. 
Lottie Moon served her Lord faithfully for 39 years living and teaching in China.  She became a saint in Southern Baptist circles. And a Christmas offering in her denomination was named Lottie Moon offering. Since 1888 1.5 billion dollars has been raised for missions. These gifts financed half the Southern Baptist mission budget. 

The Southern Baptists have lost many members in the last few years. I predict with their 1950 threadbare rules will lead more and more women from their ranks. 

Folks it is 2019 and time for the Southern Baptist Convention to look long and hard at what the Scripture really means for such a time as this. (Maybe the Methodist church too.) Axe handles really do not float, we do not believe in “dashing the heads of little children against the stones” and whales don’t usually swallow folks. When the Bible was written the earth was flat. It had four corners. Biblical passages in the Old Testament decried blood transfusions. Some verses even called for the stoning of homosexuals. We don’t throw the book out—we just filter it through the eyes of Jesus. And it becomes alive—sharper than any two-edged sword.

The Church of Jesus Christ is far from perfect. But to hide behind the Bible to promote discrimination against women or anybody else seems to me to be a pathetic response to the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ.

photo courtesy of Class Film / flickr

--Roger Lovette / rogerlovette.blogspot.com