The Evolving Arguments. Perceptive observers of the Adventist theological landscape will discover that the arguments for women's ordination have evolved, some overlapping, and others contradictory, during the past four or more decades. In recent times there has been a 180-degree change in some of the arguments that had in the past been advanced in favor of women's ordination.
For example, during the initial phase of the church debate, proponents of the practice argued that the Bible was either "silent" or "neither for nor against." But now, since women's ordination is believed to be a "moral imperative," it means the Bible is for women's ordination! The Bible is no longer to be seen as "neutral" on the issue of women's ordination; Scripture is now decidedly for it!
Also, proponents in the past admitted that there was no Biblical precedent for women serving in the roles of spiritual leadership as priests, apostles, and elders in Bible times. But now, under the "Spirit's leading" (or His work of "progressive revelation"), advocates are now preaching the "new light" that there were in fact women priests, women apostles, and women elders in the Bible!
Furthermore, because it was originally believed that the Bible was "neither for nor against" women's ordination, the decision was to be determined by each "culture" according to the "cultural readiness" of the respective divisions. In other words, women's ordination was to be settled by regional administrative "policy," but the decision was not to be binding on all. Yet now, since women's ordination is believed to be a "moral imperative," it would seem to follow that, sooner or later, the practice would be urged as binding upon all, with moves to encourage it in all areas of the world church.
In view of the orchestrated attempt to impose women's ordination on the Seventh-day Adventist Church , and in view of the confusing, sometimes plausible-sounding, arguments being advanced for women's ordination, it is important that we identify the crucial issues that are at stake and find out what the Bible has to say on the issue.
_______________
Endnotes
1. Christians must always welcome new light from God's Word, as long as the proposed new light does not contradict an established Biblical truth. For a careful summary of what Ellen G. White taught about "new light," see P. Gerard Damsteegt, "When Is a Doctrine New Light?" at the Web site: AdventistsAffirm.org.
2. In my Receiving the Word: How New Approaches to the Bible Impact Our Biblical Faith and Lifestyle ( Berrien Springs , Mich. : Berean Books), pp. 123-126, I have challenged revisionist reinterpretations of Adventist beliefs and practice of ministry (see also pp. 138-140, nn. 34-44 of my book).
3. See Samuel Koranteng-Pipim, Must We Be Silent?: Issues Dividing Our Church ( Ann Arbor : Berean Books, 2001), pp. 161-189. Cf. C. Mervyn Maxwell's "How Money Got Us Into Trouble," in Here We Stand: Evaluating New Trends in the Church ( Berrien Springs , Mich ,: ADVENTISTS AFFIRM, 2005); Laurel Damsteegt's "Shall Women Minister?", ibid., nn. 28-30.
4. See, for example, my Searching the Scriptures: Women's Ordination and the Call to Biblical Fidelity (Berrien Springs, Mich.: Adventists Affirm, 1995), my articles in Prove All Things: A Response to Women in Ministry (Berrien Springs, Mich.: Adventists Affirm , 2000), and part II of my book Must We Be Silent?: Issues Dividing Our Church (Ann Arbor: Berean Books, 2001).
5. The Welcome Table: Setting a Place for Ordained Women , edited by Patricia A. Habada and Rebecca Frost Brillhart (Langley Park, Md.: TEAMPress, 1995). The "fourteen prominent SDA historians, theologians, and professionals" who contributed essays to the book are: Bert Haloviak, Kit Watts, Raymond F. Cottrell, Donna Jeane Haerich, David R. Larson, Fritz Guy, Edwin Zackrison, Halcyon Westphal Wilson, Sheryll Prinz-McMillan, Joyce Hanscom Lorntz, V. Norskov Olsen, Ralph Neall, Ginger Hanks Harwood, and Iris M. Yob.
6. For a brief evaluation of the pro-ordination arguments by some of the authors in The Welcome Table , see my Receiving the Word , chapter 5, part 2, pp. 126-129.
7. During the discussions that culminated at the General Conference session in Utrecht , some voices heralded the ordination of women as elders and pastors as new light for God's church in the last days. For example, in a letter dated June 1, 1995, given out to delegates at the 1995 General Conference session in Utrecht, the president of a major North American conference, in support of women's ordination, presented new interpretations of "new light," "present truth," and "progressive revelation," arguing that "present truth" represents "truths that were not present in earlier times"i.e., "the prophets and disciples of old" were not privileged to have the "new light" that our (then) twentieth-century progressive culture needs.
8. The 20 scholars whose works are published in Women in Ministry are: Nancy Vyhmeister, Jo Ann Davidson, Richard Davidson, Walter Douglas, Jacques Doukhan, Roger Dudley, Jon Dybdahl, Denis Fortin, Robert Johnston, George Knight, Jerry Moon, Larry Richards, Russell Staples, Peter Van Bemmelen, Randal Wisbey, Daniel Augsburger, Raoul Dederen, Keith Mattingly, Michael Bernoi, and Alicia Worley (the last two were MDiv Students at the time the book was published).
9. The generic phrase "women in ministry," employed as a title for the book, can be misleading. For, the authors' goal was not simply the ministry of women in the church (which has never been opposed by the Adventist Church ), but rather ordaining women as elders and pastors. For an insightful background into how this book came into being and its serious theological and historical defects, see Mercedes Dyer, ed., Prove All Things: A Response to Women in Ministry (Berrien Springs, Mich.: Adventists Affirm , 2000).
10. See Vyhmeister, "Prologue," in Women in Ministry , pp. 3, 5, n. 1. Observe, however, that contrary to the church's official position in "The Methods of Bible Study" document ( Adventist Review , January 22, 1987, pp. 18-20), shortly after the publication of Women in Ministry , Robert M. Johnston (a Women in Ministry author), for example, argued for the use of the historical-critical method. See his "The Case for a Balanced Hermeneutic," Ministry , March 1999, pp. 10-12.
11. Source references from Women in Ministry for each of the following points, are provided in my evaluation of the book in Prove All Things , pp. 179-218; 287-312; cf. Must We Be Silent? , pp. 127-289.
12. Randal R. Wisbey, "SDA Women in Ministry: 1970-1998," Women in Ministry , p. 251. For my response to the unilateral post-Utrecht ordinations, see my "How the Holy Spirit Leads the Church," Adventists Affirm 12/3 (Fall 1998) :28-35.
13. Roger L. Dudley, "The Ordination of Women in Light of the Character of God," in Women in Ministry , pp. 400, 413, 414; Walter B.T. Douglas, "The Distance and the Difference: Reflections on Issues of Slavery and Women's Ordination in Adventism," ibid., pp. 379-398; Nancy Vyhmeister, "Epilogue," ibid., pp. 434, 435.
14. Vyhmeister, "Epilogue," p. 436.
15. See Prove All Things: A Response to Women in Ministry ( Berrien Springs , Mich. : Adventists Affirm , 2000). |