"Oh, the little lady preacher from the Limestone church
I'll never forget her, I guess.
She preached each Sunday morning on the local radio
With a big black Bible and a snow-white dress. ~ Tom T. Hall
Every summer around this time, the national news media reports on the annual Southern Baptist Convention meeting.
Any good Southern Baptist should (and will) tell you that the Southern Baptist Convention exists only when the Southern Baptist Convention is convened. The rest of the year, it is a bunch of cooperating churches that send their monies to the Cooperative Program, which supports missions, colleges, et. al. In other words, each church is independent. Don't make me explain it again.
Southern Baptists are not a creedal people. They don't repeat The Apostle's Creed every Sunday morning. They repeat college football scores in the Fall.
So, all Southern Baptists don't (watch this next word) necessarily believe everything other Southern Baptists say they believe.
One time, and this is the truth, I was in a Southern Baptist church, and the preacher was preaching against reincarnation. A man stood up and said, "YOU ARE WRONG," and walked out of the service. It turned out that this gentleman had been a member of this church for quite some time. I've never met a Southern Baptist who believed in reincarnation before.
However, Southern Baptists have something called "The Baptist Faith and Message," which lists the doctrines Southern Baptists believe. To be in good with other Southern Baptist churches, churches must follow "The Baptist Faith and Message," or they can be kicked out of the "fellowship" of Southern Baptist churches. They write it in bold letters so nobody is mistaken.
Every so often, they try to "update" this "confessional." They want to make it appeal to as many people as possible while trying to be as Biblical (this is a big word in Baptist circles) as possible.
Therefore, when the Baptist Faith And Message is updated, it must come before the entire convention for a vote.
This year, in the Convention, the issue of the day was women pastors.
This, my friends, is a tertiary matter. By that I mean, there are issues which are essential the Christian faith. For example: God. It is essential for a Christian to believe that there is a God. It is also essential to believe in God to be a Baptist. I know that is real dogmatic.
Then there are matters which are secondary to faith. Example: Baptism. All Christian denominations (that I know anything about) believe in some form of Baptism. Some believe in Infant Baptism. Some believe in pouring. Baptists believe in "Believers' Baptism" in which people above the "age of accountability" are baptized by immersion (or drowning). We wouldn't say our Presbyterian friends were not Christians. They are just not Baptists.
Women in the pulpit is tertiary because there are compelling arguments on both sides of the issue. Really. I know people don't like nuance, but you could make a case for Women pastors. For example, throughout scripture, God utilized female leaders, such as the prophet Deborah, Phoebe (a deacon), and Priscilla (who taught the minister Apollos). Also, Inez Manis was a deacon in the Disciples of Christ church we went to when I was a child, so that's my momma you're talking about. (As a side note, I don't think Mom ever preached although it would have been on never joining the Columbia Record Club.)
On the other side, when the Bible talks about offices in the church, it refers to males holding those offices. It just does. (Note: I know this isn't very intellectual or deep.)
Both sides have their irrelevant parts to their arguments. On one side, there's talk about misogyny, "the old boy's network" and the issue with Pastors not keeping their grubby hands off of the female members of the church. Also, apparently, the nasty old conservative boys ran Beth Moore out of the convention.*
On the other side, it has been noted that denominations that have female pastors are generally liberal and before you know it, the Southern Baptist Convention will have kids carrying the Rainbow flag at the start of Vacation Bible School if we start allowing female pastors.**
Here's my conclusion. I'm with you fellers.
I that sounds "beta", but I'm ready to do anything that will shut down all of the Facebook posts that are TL/DR (too long didn't read).
I just wouldn't feel comfortable attending a church that has a woman pastor. That's just me. I've been exposed to several lady preachers from various denominations and I wasn't impressed. Maybe I'm capture
by toxic masculinity.
Or maybe, just maybe, I think it is something that is more influenced by contemporary culture than anything else. This current, unspoken misandrist philosophy that men are just a bunch of apes wearing cargo pants and the gals just have to tame them.
By the way, I remember a conversation my mom had with her friend, Sarah. Sarah was a Presbyterian and one of the smartest people I've met.
Sarah: "We've got a new pastor."
Mom: "Oh, yeah?"
Sarah: "She's a skirt. She's real smart."
Both took a long drag from a cigarette and then laughed.
*Beth Moore is a popular Christian writer who spoke at a lot of ladies conferences. People, especially the ladies, adore her. Well, one of her books had something in it that another preacher (not a Southern Baptist, by the way) said something wasn't Biblical and the Twitter crowd hounded her out of the denomination.
**The biggest weakness I see from the Egalitarian side is they pretend there is no such thing as Progressive/Liberal/mainstream theology.
