<a href="http://wwnytv.net/72k/full-story.asp?uid=12059&area=home+page ">A sunday school teacher was fired from her job after 54 YEARS for being a woman.</a>
Lambert showed 7 News the letter, which states that church leaders adopted a scriptural approach to Sunday school teachers.
The letter quotes 1 Timothy 2:11 -14 of the New Testament: "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner."
The letter states that the church's Diaconate Board unanimously decided to dismiss Lambert, who has taught a 9:30 a.m. Sunday school class for adults at the church for 11 years.
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Some of the smartest people I have known have been women. It's the mark of a smart man to learn from them, but the mark of a stupid one to assert that they can't teach him anything.
I always get so upset over the way some people approach the Epistles. (For those not in the know, the Epistles refer to the books of the Bible in the New Testament between Acts and Revelations, and consist of a collection of letters written by early church fathers (Paul, Timothy, etc.) to church congregations in other parts of the world. The books are either named for the person who wrote it (Such as Timothy or John) or the church that it was written to (such as Corinthians or Romans).)
What these people fail to realize is that the majority of these books are the words of the individual who wrote it and not the "word of God."
In one book Paul expounds on how it is good for a man "not to marry," which is obviously his personal opinion since all Christians (even the fundies) define Adam and Eve as the first marriage , instituted and blessed by God. It's pretty clear that God doesn't necessarily share Paul's opinion in this matter, isn't it?
Just like Paul's opinion on marriage, this post refers to Timothy's opinion on gender roles. And it seems that Timothy was a bit of a chauvanist. (After all, Eve didn't exactly twist his arm back there in the garden, did she...?)
Perhaps this church should change their name to the "First Church of Timothy," since it seems like they think his opinions are Gospel...
g-21-lto: It wasn't just the pastor, it was the entire Diaconate Board that chose to do this. So either they've had a huge influx of fundyism, or this woman has really torqued them off somehow, and this was their way of getting rid of her (or both!).
They always seem to forget that Eve just went "Hey Adam, try some of this apple we aren't supposed to eat" and Adam went "Duh, okay!"
^Hell and that's even if you accept the arbitrary standards of what is cannon and what isn't.
Stuff like this just makes me sad. I am sure this poor woman will keep going to that church, thinking that its 'gawds will' that she should lose her job like that. Books like the bible have no place in modern society, except perhaps as warnings to the future generations.
Lord Zeruel,This is part of a jewish creation myth that did not make the cut.
If (Lilith) is part of a Jewish creation myth that didn't make the cut (thanks, McCulloch),I'd take that as a point in its favor.
Papabear, it's weird that they should do that. It's really not to their advantage to claim that he was NOT deceived; that implies that he disobeyed God's order completely willfully, without even the excuse of being tricked by someone else!
From what I remember, the Adam-and-Lilith goes something like:
If they have fired her after so many years with NO PROBLEM there must be something else, which they fail to say. It is just an excuse. Besides, if they believe such shit, why is his wife, who must remember humble and so on, and not HER HUSBAND?. They don´t deceive anybody.
Besides, it seems that these fundies who are so literal on the Bible don´t understand the differences between the word of God and the word of men, no matter how touched by God were. One, when that genocide and raping in Jericoh happened, IT WAS A MILITARY ORDER COMING FROM A PARTICULAR GUY, not a God-given command. It is included in the Bible but it is not the word of God himself, no matter how much the guy was blessed by God. Second, the only words coming from God is the one who the Bible claims came from God DIRECTLY to the prophet in question. So, any rules in the Deuteronomy and Leviticus, even if they must be observed, they are prescriptions made by men, so that they can change over the time. THAT´S WHY NOWADAYS JEWS AND CHRISTIANS DON´T REMAIN IN SECLUSION IF THEY HAVE THE PERIOD OR ILLNESS, FOR EXAMPLE. Let alone the Proverbs which Solomon collected(from which the fundies infer they can spank their children), moreover, they are not Solomon´s creation, as the name proclaims, but folk-belief. Why are they included in the Bible then?, because they date back to a prestigious time associated with prestigious people, but, please, ask any rabbi, you will be quite surprised. Finally, these words come from men who, like anybody else, have their hits and their mistakes, BUT THEY ARE NOT NECESSARILY COMMANDED BY GOD.
It is important, regarding what I´ve said before, that if really Timothy said that(and not one of his ankelings), he was heavily conditioned by his time. He was born in a society where women had no rights and he may be frightfull that the kind nature of Jesus towards women could scare potential male members. Bear in mind that Mithraism, one of the most influential Pagan religions in the Roman Empire didn´t admit women.
For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.
I'm so sick of the "he was first, therefore he was better" excuse. So all older siblings are automatically superior to their younger siblings, no matter what amount of intelligence, integrity, ability, or goodness they might have? I'm older than my brother and I'm female. Does that mean that I'm superior to him?
And I'd think that it'd look better for the fundies if Adam were decieved, because that would mean that he wasn't a stupid chump who instantly forgot about God's order the second that Eve offered him the apple.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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