Women In 1 Corinthians

Interesting topic, so I decided to do a little reading on it. There are NT manuscripts that go back to within 100 to 200 years of the time of Jesus, so they are actually very reliable. There are however, one or two cases, such as the end of Mark where early Christian scribes decided to clear up gaps or deficiencies. In the case of Paul's letters the manuscripts are very consistent with only one or two examples of differences. Verses 34 and 35 is one of those. Some early manuscripts didn't have it so it is possible that this was added later by someone with a vested interest in seeing that public worship be led by only males.However, it is still quite likely that Paul did write it. Obviously Paul's letters were culturally conditioned. He was writing to churches and societies that existed then which does not mean that we are not to take eternal truths from the Bible, but we have to be aware of the cultural setting at the time as well as be aware that we shouldn't build a theology around one or two verses.Look at Galatians 3:28.

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26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

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This is a fairly clear statement of the equality of all. Also when Paul says as in Ephesians 5;25;

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25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

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we have to remember not only that Christ died for the church but that also that Christ came to serve the church. In the end I see Paul saying that wives are to serve their husbands and husbands are to serve their wives.In 1 Corinthians Paul writes that women who pray or prophesy should not do so with their head uncovered, nor should men do so with their head covered. Obviously he sees both men and women taking part in the worship in this case.The culture at the time was largely male dominated and as a result the women in general were short-changed on education. This may have led to some problems in various churches. I agree that in the end the statement in question is an enigma and that we don't have all the answers.

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Everybody is entitled to my opinion.

I was going to agree with him until my wife informed that I didn't.

If you go back to post 19 in this thread you'll see that I already have responded with my views on this. I might point out though that there are men in all societies whether secular or religious to dominate women. I'm not sure why it is necessary to only point out the badly misinformed Christians.

Certainly the Atheists on this forum are quick to criticize wacky scientific ideas but I'm not sure how one Atheist criticizes the theology of another Atheist. I thought you guys didn't have any theology. Certainly I disagree with that post, but as I have already posted what I believe I'm not sure what you want me to do. I'm not into name calling or labelling. I think he is very wrong, which is obvious from what I posted earlier.

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Everybody is entitled to my opinion.

Just how do you figure that your kids are in any danger of living in a Christian theocracy? It's an argument where we won't come to any conclusion, but I contend that my views are mainstream. What do Atheists have to debate about. You guys tell me all the time that it isn't a belief, that it is a lack of belief. How do you argue over a lack of something? Edited by GDR, : No reason given.Edited by GDR, : No reason given.

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Everybody is entitled to my opinion.

I agree but based on what? I think that we are about to get shut down om this for going off topic and I agree it's my fault. Sorry

Christ chose men because that was the society He lived in. The gospels are replete with examples of Christ treating women as equals, whether it be the Mary and Martha story or the woman at the well.Christianity is a religion that has promoted the idea that the men and women are equal. We are to submit to and serve each other.

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Everybody is entitled to my opinion.