Biblical View on Women's Ordination – YouTube Dictation Transcript & Vocabulary

1.there's a privilege for me brethren and sisters to address you that is awesome occasion let us pray Lord send your spirit touch our hearts and whatever we do may it be to your glory and may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight O Lord and Savior Redeemer amen let me first of all stay that I strongly support the evolvement of women in God's work women have unique gifts needed to finish the work they can reach people man can never reach even though I cannot agree with the NAD request I truly am deeply sympathize with the NAD what is a dilemma the church is facing some years ago the annual council voted that women ordained as elders can perform all the duties of ordained ministers yet they cannot be ordained as ministers and of course the result is very unhappy no one really likes it and some accused a church of unfairness discrimination and injustice how can we now together solve this dilemma and yet preserve the unity of the church two options were cited by the NAD president first of all to reverse the decision to begin ordaining beginning ordaining women as elders second option was to request that each division have the freedom to attain women as ministers the NAD leadership has chosen the second option they sincerely believe that this is the way to preserve unity why cannot can I not support his request simply because the requests conflicts with three of our biblical doctrines first of all the doctrine of the church the doctor of the Holy Scriptures and the doctrine of the unity in the body of Christ in order to understand this fully we have to see the full implications of this request it's not simply a matter of laying up of hands actually we have good counts on the spirit of prophecy that women for special work can be laid up the hands laying up of hands and they can do a tremendous work no this issue is the ordination to what that's the issue and so the present request presents a major change if approved in the structure of church leadership it rejects it generally held 70 Adventists view that the Bible teaches clear differences in function between men and women within the church it assumes that the Bible allows women to occupy positions of spiritual headship in the church such as head of the local church conference president Union president of General Conference president now how are we going to evaluate this requests the validity the question is is this friends good news from Jesus what is now the test of our doctrine and practice the Bible clearly reveals in as a eight verse 22 the law to the testimony if they do not according to this words it's because there is no light in them now we as Adventist are very fortunate because about 100 years ago in 1888 we had a conference with lots of tensions and there the Lord revealed the Bible must be our standard for every doctrine and practice you notice that and practice it is the word of the Living God that is to decide all controversies including the one this afternoon and so we are dealing with a significant practice the practice of appointing ministerial leadership in Christchurch so therefore friends we are on good terms God's Word must be a focus we are a Bible Church now the question frequently is yeah the Bible doesn't say anything about it and we can just go ahead what we have to face now in the next few minutes is drastic question does the Bible speak to the question of right of women to occupy positions of leadership with full ecclesiastical authority and that is a phrase that the spirit of prophecy associates with ordination let me go back as a teacher in the history of our church the atmospherics they were strongly reform-minded and they support the reform movements such as the abolition of slavery women's right and the temperance but there is one reform movement that he opposed Ellen light rejected the women's right movement why the profit warrant that those who feel called out to join the movement in favor of women's right might as well severed at all connection be the third angels message why the spirit which attends the one cannot be in harmony with the other what the spirit descriptors a plain upon the relations and rights of men and women so does the Bible address this issue what are the Scriptures plain on this issue and so let us now look at our three major doctrines first of all they declares conflict with the doctor of the church let us look now on the dynamics what does the Bible teach on the relationship between men and women it teaches first of all through equality of nature and worth before God Genesis clearly reveals that in nature men and women are created to the image of God secondly in worth Jesus he feels that before God we are all exceedingly precious God shows no partiality because we're all one in Christ Jesus therefore friends that is neither Jew nor Greek there is neither slave nor free that is neither male nor female on this we all agree however our men and women the same in every sense what does the Bible teach and it is clear from the study of the Bible that the Bible teaches that they have the same value and standing before God but that they are different in their functional roles and the North American division request overlooks this fundamental Bible teaching first Timothy and Titus clearly presents this teaching which directly addresses our situation and let us look to the message of Timothy in the first book of Timothy chapter 1 because it is a timeless message for the church listen here up inspiration does in the first chapter Timothy was instruct to teach no other doctrine or give heed to fables which cause disputes rather than godly edification and so the Lord provided counsel how to rescue churches from division and heresy inspiration gave Timothy a plan not only for the first century but during the Christian era for the church until the Lord returns inspiration says again I'm writing these instructions to you so that you may know how you ought to behave in the Church of the Living God the pillar and bulwark of the truth let us now analyze in this book the principles of authority in the church you know in early Christians had something similar as we are facing today in certain places women interpreted the freedom of the gospel as a freedom to exercise the spiritual headship role in the church Paul's response was Swift I do not permit a woman to have authority over a man what does the Bible teaches specifically those chapters about God's great plan for spiritual headship there's three major biblical arguments first of all we look at Christ's creation order before the fall ball basis his first theological reason on Christ's creation order what is he saying a second is a Timothy it says here Adam was formed first Danny it's interesting that Jesus actions here had nothing to do with culture specifically secondly Christ's order after the Father his second theological reason is based on the order of sin Evan was not deceived but the women was this chieftain became a transgressor again brethren sisters it has nothing to do with a specific culture finally Christ order after the cross these are all distinction did the Old Testament that he's Institute are not canceled by His redemptive work God's Word pre claims clearly in Corinthians the head of every man is Christ the head of a woman is her husband and the head of Christ is God thus priestly headship of the man in the home and in the church is still in effect during the Christian era now let us look at the qualifications for an elder overseer what are the requirements for spiritual headship now the dynamics of this chapter is magnificent listen how inspiration does it immediately after the admonition that women do not have the spiritual authority in the church Paul immediately points out who has the authority namely the elder of the church what are the characteristics an elder must be blameless secondly he must be husband of a life it doesn't say spouse of a husband he is to be of the male gender you know here the Greek word for husband is an heir which is always a man never a woman so to appoint a woman as an elder based on the Bible is unbiblical thirdly and this supports the whole argument and elder must be one who rules his house well having his children and submission with all reverence why for even man does not know how to rule his own house how will he take care of the Church of God you see the principle now brother and sisters successful home leadership qualifies for spiritual headship in the church this is not a cultural custom but in the Valley Road in principle as unto the Lord and so what is now the line of authority in the doctrine of the church remember what we have voted as the fundamental beliefs 11 that the church derives his authority from Christ who is the Incarnate Word from the scriptures without the written word so the authority structure is based on the Bible how does it work very simple Christ as the head of the church delegates his authority to the leaders of the church in harmony with the Bible then in harmony with his order of creation Jesus assigns the position of layout that would oversee it to man not to a woman and it aims at this divine plan for his church will result in the derailment of a mission-driven church my second reservation is that the request violates the doctrine of the Holy Scriptures remembering this doctrine says the Holy Scriptures are the infallible revelation of his will and the test of his experience free click pay people tell me all yeah Paul was biased in fluid areas culture the real question is friends can we trust the Bible writers yes because God is the author of the Bible and therefore the Bible is the infallible authority as a rule of faith and practice it's not affected by human prejudice or human pride the Bible therefore is trustworthy and unbiased now the question is how do we interpret the Bible simply the Word of God is infallible accept it as a treat we have it we have had plenty of counsel about the danger of modifying God's instructions that in the very beginning of the great apostasy was in seeking to supplement the authority of God died out of the church Rome began by and joining what God had not forbidden and she ended by forbidding what he had explicitly enjoyed through faith consistent doing just what God has enjoined not in manufacturing things he has not enjoined what we need as 7-day Adventist friends is submission to the Word of God not reinterpretation you know the friend we are a part of the remnant Church in the remnant Church is a movement at the end of time that is still to reveal the characteristics of the New Testament church even in the authority structure of church leadership my third reservation is that the request destroys the doctrine to the unity of the body of Christ our doctrine says simply through the revelation of Jesus Christ in the scriptures we share the same faith and hope and reach out in one witness to all did you see the connection between the revelation of Jesus in the scriptures five minutes please and the result of approving the request what is it it allows the use of two conflicting methods of biblical interpretation for seventh-day Adventists one methods follow the New Testament the Protestant reformers the Advent pioneers including Ellen White this approach favors a plain meaning of the Bible in its regulations for church leadership the other methods said to say follows the approach adopted by the Fallen churches of Babylon since 1844 there is new approach to the Bible they strongly influenced by the trends of today's culture mail spiritual headship is not political correct what are the effects of those two conflicting methods of biblical interpretation it establishes two conflicting theologies of church leadership one ordination will not have worldwide validity any longer and some fields will not recognize the leadership from other fields proving leads towards division not unity towards national churches not the world church and ultimately to Congregationalism for unity my friends for unity my friends seven the Adventist must follow the Word of God what will I do if this assembly approved a proposal remember God calls to unity in Christ I will stay in the church where else shall I go the messenger of the Lord states stay with the ship it will go through it may be damaged but I will stay with the ship there's no better place without it and you know the future for Bible believing 7-day Adventist is great let me share you a promise the great controversy where it says the Lord will have a people upon the earth to maintain the Bible and the Bible only as a standard of all doctrine and the basis of all reform the opinions of learned man the deductions of science decrees of decisions of ecclesiastical councils the voice of the majority not one or all these things should be regarded as evidence for or against points of religious faith before accepting any doctrine or precept we should amount a plane thus says the Lord in its support what about some of the arguments are you constantly here yes it is good for the unity so therefore approve it friends unity cannot be kept by a policy contrary to Scripture it brings confusion and drives people to independent ministries secondly some women techne I have a call from the Lord the Lord told me to lead out of the church and take charge of the whole church remember not every call or gift comes from God there's two spirits to see whether they are of God what about the argument of fairness and justice remember the Bible is our standard to judge what is fair and just we must follow the Bible nor the standards of society and so why in summary now why can I not support his request because he's out of harmony with three 7-day Adventist doctors first of all it conflicts with the doctor of the church by instituting an unscriptural structure secondly it violates the doctrine of the Holy Scriptures by not accepting scripted as it plainly reads and thirdly it destroys the doctrine of unity in the body of Christ by introducing an unbiblical practice that nullifies the worldwide validity of ordination remember friends in conclusion that we have always considered ourselves the continuity of the Protestant Reformation is that still so today when Luther the great reform of us confronted with a choice between human opinions and the Bible he said unless I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture I cannot and will not change my views friends from humble beginnings seventh-day Adventists have had the same conviction will they still continue as successors of the Protestant Reformation and bring it to a glare of glorious climax the actions of this afternoon will serve ly reveal the true spirit of this teaching in our church may God help us he is my prayer