Kerkzaken
Pray for Unity!
On women ordinationby Pastor E. Bruce Price - 12th August 2012
Our General Conference president has just issued a special plea for God’s people to pray for the unity of the church. For most of the first one hundred and fifty years of its existence the Seventh-day Adventist church has been greatly blessed as it enjoyed worldwide harmony and unity of its membership in carrying out the Gospel Commission. While some other major church denominations have been in decline, this church has continued to grow world-wide so that today it numbers over seventeen million baptised members and many millions more who claim to be adherents of the church.
However, this unity is now being threatened. We are being urged by groups and individuals within the church to be like the other denominations which no longer accept the authority of scripture for gender roles and demand that we now take an equal-gender attitude – including ordination to the gospel ministry of women as well men. This movement is losing patience with church governance and clearly sees the ordination of women as of more importance than the maintenance of church unity. We are now threatened with the fragmentation of Adventism where every member or group could do what is “right in his own eyes”.
This movement is not initially driven by Biblical arguments but by cultural changes in society and a desire to be 'politically correct'. It goes against the Bible warning of Romans 12:2 to not be "conformed to this world".
This action to fracture our unity on non-Biblical grounds will bring all of us to the test. To be silent at this time of crisis in our church will be an act of faithlessness to God and His church: “If God abhors one sin above another, of which His people are guilty, it is doing nothing in case of an emergency. Indifference and neutrality in a religious crisis is regarded of God as a grievous crime and equal to the very worst type of hostility against God.” 3T 280.3.
Other Denominations
The denominations which have accepted equal-gender roles have suffered enormous loss, discord, and confusion. By ignoring the authority of scripture concerning the different-gender roles of those in gospel ministry, they began to perform equal-gender ordinations. Then with the authority of scripture muted, they were urged to accept into membership those who are practicing equal-gender or same-sex relationships. This is being followed by the push for equal-gender/same-sex marriages and has resulted in equal-gender/same sex ordinations. Thus today we have in some of the formerly great Protestant churches, ordained female pastors living with their lesbian partners who perform same-sex marriages! It is becoming a familiar pattern.
Could this happen to Adventists? One has only to go to the websites of liberal and fringe Adventists to discover within our own ranks are those who are pushing for this wider acceptance of equal-gender relationships. They are strongly promoting same-gender ordinations knowing that this is the first step in the journey they want the church to take. Once the authority of scripture is over-ridden there is no limit to where a church can go and this is what we have observed in many of the other denominations and it should be a caution to every loyal Seventh-day Adventist!
What Does Scripture Say About “Equal-Gender”?
From the very first chapters of the Bible most Christians, especially Adventists have found the foundational doctrines of their faith. Here the truths of Salvation through a promised Redeemer, the Triune Godhead, a literal six-day Creation, the seventh-day Sabbath, the non-immortality of the Soul etc. are introduced. Here also is clearly outlined the role that God proposed when He created man and woman. They were to be equal in value but not in roles. Eve was created to be a blessing to Adam as his "help meet". Throughout the Bible men were given a role different from women. Men and women were created to have different emotional, physical and spiritual roles. That does not mean one is inferior to the other – just different! A young husband soon finds that he cannot satisfy the needs of his hungry baby like his wife can, but he does not feel inferior – his role as a male is just different!
In the patriarchal period men were considered the head or priest of the home. Then in the Church in the Wilderness, only men were ordained as priests to handle the sacred duties of ministry in the sanctuary. This was not in harmony with the culture of surrounding heathen nations who had female priests serving in their temples. God made Israel different! When Christ was on earth, “many women ministered unto Him” but Jesus only ordained men. In the upper room when a replacement for Judas was to be found many women were present among the 120 gathered there. But only men were considered for the position.
In the Early Church, only men were ordained, and they were strongly counselled that an elder/bishop/pastor/overseer should be a male, - never a hint of them being “female” – see 1 Timothy 3:1-5, Titus 1:5.
For the first one hundred and fifty years of the Seventh-day Adventist church, we followed the Biblical authority, and the example of the Early Christian church. Ellen White gave us a wonderful example of a woman in ministry, and she urged her sisters in the church to be involved likewise. She preached, conducted Bible studies, wrote, counselled, visited etc… but she was never ordained to the gospel ministry. She never baptised or conducted the ordinances of the Lord’s Supper. She recognised her husband as the head of her home and several times wrote "We women must remember that God has placed us subject to the husband" M.R. Vol 5.pg173. In Testimonies Vol.1, page 421 she opposed the "women's rights" movement of her day and stated that the scriptures were plain concerning the relation and rights of men and women. Thus while she encouraged women to be engaged in ministry she believed that only men should be ordained to the sacred office of the gospel minister.
We are strongly admonished by Ellen G. White in her book, "The Great Controversy" page 595: "But God will have a people upon the earth to maintain the Bible and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrines, and the basis of all reforms" and further "Before accepting any doctrine or precept, we should demand a plain,'Thus saith the Lord' in its support". Notice how she refers us to the authority of scripture and not to use her as our authority.
Today we have a new movement of "women's rights" ignoring the clear statements of the Bible and calling for gender-equality. It is putting our harmonious, unified church in jeopardy. God does not pronounce everything to be equal. When it comes to ordination, setting aside something or someone for a holy purpose He insists not on equality but on difference. This is the foundation of the Seventh-day Adventist church - and indeed it does make us different, - but it means we have to be that way if we are to follow Bible truth!
Biblical “Difference” – not “Equality”!
No Christian denomination recognises more than Seventh-day Adventists that we serve a God who does not consider or set aside everything as "equal" but some things He chooses to make or ordain as "different". Those who love Him and obey Him accept this, - and this is what makes us Seventh-day Adventists:
Sabbath: God set aside and sanctified only the seventh day as being holy. He did not sanctify the first day of the week or teach that we must treat “every day alike” as being equal. This is a foundational teaching and practice of the Adventist church.
Baptism: We teach baptism is only for believers and it is to be performed by immersion. People who have been baptised as infants are asked to be baptised again according to the injunctions of scripture. There is only “one baptism” – we are careful to do this!
Emblems of Lord’s Supper: The bread and wine must have no taint of fermentation, which represents sin. To symbolise the sinless body and blood of Christ we use only unleavened bread and unfermented “fruit of the vine”. Other churches may feel it does not matter but to us it is very important because of the authority of scripture.
The Foot Washing Service: John 13:4-17. Jesus said He had given us an example that we should do as He had done. So we Adventists carry out His Biblical command even though other churches say it was just the culture of the day and there is no other Biblical reference for it being done. V. 17, “If you know these things, happy are ye if ye do them!” We agree!
Tithes: Leviticus 27:30 says that the tithe is “holy unto the Lord”. God does not look at our money as being equal. A tenth of it is “holy” unto Him, it is set aside for Him then we can use the other nine-tenths as we need. If we do not follow the Biblical injunction concerning the tithe being sacred, then we are considered as “robbing” Him, Malachi 3:8.
To the above list of what we do as Adventists could be added food and drink. Why do we do these things? It is because we believe not every day, baptism, ordinance emblem, money, food, drink etc… is equal in God’s sight. The Lord has made a difference with what He has set aside, sanctified and what He has not. We ignore these Biblical injunctions at our own spiritual peril and that includes who He has ordained to the gospel ministry.
Why Would the Ordination of Women Cause Greater Disunity for Adventists?
Many other churches do not claim to follow the Authority of Scripture as Seventh-day Adventists do. Some in those churches may oppose Women’s Ordination because of being brought up in a culture where only men had been ordained to the Gospel ministry. Thus they feel uncomfortable with a woman performing sacred duties in their church. However, for Seventh-day Adventists – it is a matter of what the Bible teaches about who should be ordained for this holy office, - and what happened to those throughout scripture who flaunted the injunctions God gave concerning what was holy and what was not!
Biblically knowledgeable Adventists know how dangerous it is to misquote scripture out of its context to support the ordination of those who God has not chosen. Korah led a rebellion against the leadership of Moses and Aaron. God had called and ordained these two brothers for their sacred responsibilities but He did not choose Korah and his friends. Korah felt this was unfair to treat people so unequally. Using scripture Korah claimed “all the congregation are holy, every one of them” Numbers 16:3.
Korah was quoting scripture from Exodus 19:6, “And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” What Korah was doing was to take it out of its context and ignore the next verse which clearly showed that in a kingdom of priests and a holy nation were still those who were specially ordained and recognised by God as “elders of the people”. The destruction of those involved in this rebellion with Korah over who is “holy” is one that those tempted to join in any rebellion pushing equal-gender ordination need to seriously consider – see Numbers 16.
What Korah, Dathan and Abiram did was clear insubordination to a divine institution. The General Conference in two of its sessions 1990 and 1995 voted overwhelmingly against the ordination of women to pastoral ministry. To ignore that is plain insubordination. The call to unity by our GC president Pastor Ted Wilson includes acceptance of the actions of these two sessions until it can be proved from the authority of scripture that these actions need to be rescinded by the world church in session at the next General conference in 2015. Could it be that those wanting to break rank now know there can be no scriptural authority to be found?
This is a very serious situation determining what God has or has not ordained as being sacred or holy. One cannot help but feel sorry for Uzzah , who in what he saw as an emergency laid his hands on the “holy” ark to save it when it was about to fall off the ox cart. But because he was not ordained to do this, it cost him his life, 2 Samuel 6:6-8. Even sincerity of purpose is no excuse or protection when insubordination is practised against the God of heaven.
In the New Testament, Ananias and Sapphira lied about money they had dedicated to God to be used for a holy purpose and lost their lives. Acts 5:1-6 tells how particular God is about what is dedicated to Him and what is not!
The Worldwide Push for Gender-Equality
On the weekend in the nearby city of Brisbane, huge marches were again held by the Gay and Lesbian community. Their demand was for the Australian government to recognise gender-equality and allow them to legally enjoy same-sex marriages. It was featured on the local, national and overseas TV news with the rally leaders shouting ever louder with almost demonic voices, “We must fight, fight, fight!” With these voices ringing in my ears, I then decided to switch to Hope Channel. There I found, our General Conference president with a panel, calmly pleading and praying for church unity on this very question of gender-equality. I closed my eyes and prayed with and for him, conscious of the fact that I was joining God’s faithful children around the globe to save His church in these last perilous times.
May God help us to uplift Pastor Ted Wilson in prayer and pray that the unity and harmony of our beloved church may continue, so we can finish the Gospel Commission and go Home!
PS. I wish to thank all who have shared their concerns, sent material, prayed, and urged me to share this email. I have also put it into a PPT. View and Download HERE.