Feeling abused
I am getting sick of feeling abused as I read letters to The Lutheran. Directly or by inference, many of those in favour of a male-only clergy ‘accuse me’ of being unfaithful to the Lutheran Confessions and the Bible because I believe we should be ordaining women.
I am a confessional Lutheran and I read, study, teach and preach the word of God, according to that confession, day in and day out. It governs not only my teaching but also my life. It is my only rule and norm.
I have not come to the conclusion that we should ordain women on the grounds of culture and I have no vested interest (no sisters or daughters). It is my Lutheran approach (hermeneutic) to the Bible that informs and undergirds my stance. My conviction that we should ordain women is based wholly and solely on Scripture.
When I am defamed for my stance on the ordination issue, it is unjustified, unfair and abusive. The Bible, which is so dear to us all, gives us God’s command to love our neighbour, but if that is too difficult then at least we might consider the Eighth Commandment and stop bearing false witness.
I pray for a time when we can put our arguments from the Bible and the Confessions on the table and assess them without defamatory comments about those who hold the opposing view.
© 2024 Lutheran Church of Australia 
Comments 2
I’m so pleased my husband suggested I should read your post David. I had read a few and I quite simply felt despondent.
One of my daily chores on our farm is to feed our free range pigs. In the bible this is the lowest of the low tasks. I’m not sure there are many Lutheran’s who refrain from eating bacon because it is quite clearly forbidden in the bible. Maybe I’m the only one.
My views are not based on popular culture but on what I felt called to when I was probably about 12. I felt called to serve God and can clearly remember wishing we were Catholic so at least I could be a Nun! Probably a good thing I didn’t head that way as God had the most wonderful husband picked out for me that wouldn’t have gone well with been a Nun 🙂 I would like to think that if a young girl within the Lutheran Church had the calling I had that they would be able to follow it within our church. God didn’t stop instructing when the Bible as we know it was bound. He didn’t just stop being relevant and real. He is awesome, and I’m sick of us restricting Him with our rigid, unchanging following of certain parts of the Bible as they have typically been interpreted.
The Lutheran Church is sadly at risk of being more like the Pharisees than the Disciples. Christ and Luther were rebels for God. I think if they walked into our church now they would wonder why on Earth we were so stale, ritualistic and stagnant. And then they would probably be thrown out for being rebels.
I realise there are many people within the LCA who think this is such a terrible topic even to consider. But I would say that if women can’t preach they shouldn’t be teaching Sunday School, because surely that is one of the most vital ministries within the Christian church.
I’ll close by saying that God has given all of us gifts. It’s a shame we restrict His plans by choosing to eliminate half of the population from being ordained.
Thanks again David.
Whoops! On re-read it sounds like I don’t eat bacon. But I do! I meant maybe all other Lutheran’s are following the Bible teaching on not eating pork…. but I don’t 🙂