How Can I Vote For Palin When The Bible Says "No" To Women In Leadership?

Since being tapped by John McCain to be his pick for vice-president, Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) has been railed against for being the wrong gender for the job. Not the least among the arguments that would disqualify her has been the contention that, as a woman who has a family and is still in the process of raising her children (one of whom has Downs Syndrome), she cannot possibly hold down the requirements of such an exigent position. Perhaps so. Perhaps not. Recently though, I was challenged with an outgrowth of this thinking that takes it a step further.

In a recent casual conversation about religion, politics, family matters and such, a dear friend says her husband wonders "...how can evangelicals vote for Palin since their own Bible won't allow a woman to Pastor a Church."

Specifically citing the Southern Baptist 'rules' about women in ministry, he apparently finds it at least antithetical, if not hypocritical, for Evangelicals to embrace Palin as a potential leader for our country of millions, http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/435468.aspx but not good enough to lead a local church of only a few dozen. It's a fair question if you're looking at Christianity from an outside, possibly agnostic point of view, so let's tackle it from a Biblical perspective.

First, do Southern Baptists really say that women cannot pastor a Church? Here is what was put on record just a few years ago:

June 15, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) -- The Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Orlando, Florida, approved a change in its Baptist Faith and Message statement to strengthen its formal position against female pastors.

Old: "Southern Baptists, by practice as well as conviction, believe leadership is male."
New: "While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture."

Apparently they do. On what Biblical Basis? Mike Baker, in an Associated Press article dated 10/2/2008, says this:

"...is based on the Bible verse 1 Timothy 2:12 in which the Apostle Paul says, "I permit no woman to teach or have authority over a man." Regarding family life, Southern Baptists cite Ephesians 5:22, "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord."

OK... what about women working outside the home. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, had this to say in a recent interview with the Associated Press:

"We don't go beyond where the New Testament goes. Public office is neither a church nor a marriage." and "...the Southern Baptists' position allows for a wife to work outside the home, so long as her husband agrees — and Todd Palin has long backed his wife's career in public service. "

Well then, it seems on the surface that the Southern Baptists (vis-a-vis, Evangelicals in general) do in fact prohibit women from being pastors, but will make allowances for working in the public sector provided their husbands have given their approval in advance.

At least that is their apparent position if you listen only to secular media and some far-right Christian leaders who, with the best of intentions, leave a great deal of credibility off the table in fully explaining what the Bible really says.

Now that we have listened to what the media, religious convention attendees, and a small group of male Church leaders have to say, let's take a close look at what God says in the Bible.

Does the Bible delineate and specify the roles of men and women? Absolutely, and rightly so. God created us so elementally different, that it is a short stretch at worst to assume He had different roles in mind for us in our families and Church life.

I have a favorite saying which goes something like this; 'A single truth, taught to the exclusion of other truths, can become a lie.' There is no more perfect example for this than the often quoted and sorely misrepresented Biblical directive for women to "submit" to their husbands in Ephesians, chapter five.

If non-Christians and lazy Christians who apparently don't read the Bible but rail against and misuse this teaching would simply read and consider the remainder of this chapter, they would see that God lays out a fairly demanding role for men as husbands as well. Then, taking only a cursory view of the first part of chapter six, add the role that is set forth for children, the "whole truth" of a Biblical and Godly plan for the family becomes clearer.

It's a plan which does in fact call for the man to "lead" the household, for women to respect that leadership, and for children to obey the greater knowledge of "both" of their parents, but without the idea that any member needs to become a doormat for the others.

Of course taking any one of the prescribed roles out of context without considering the roles of the other two is going to lead to a lopsided view of what the Bible really says. Men and women are different, and therefore in a Godly, Christian home, they have different responsibilities to meet a common end. One has only to read to see that there is no unfair burden placed on one versus the other unless the intent is to lie by omission as is often the convenient position to take.

Does the Bible allow for women who work outside the home? Of course. Proverbs 31, which famously extols the characteristics of a virtuous (Godly) wife, clearly speaks of a wife and a mother handling financial matters for the household as well as working to provide some of its income. While men (husbands) are charged with providing for their families, women are not excluded in any way from equal, if not in some ways greater, responsibility.

What about women in public office? Consider Deborah of the Old Testament, appointed a Judge over all of Israel. Appointed by men? No; appointed by God Himself. And she was married! Not unlike the Presidency in the United States, this was a position with the authority to call up troops, make decisions of national interest, and guide battle plans in times of war.

While you read Judges, chapter four, to learn more of her fascinating rise to power under God's hand, you will also learn of a little known but powerful woman of the Scriptures called Jael. These were women of the Bible fulfilling their roles as women, yet being raised by God himself to lead in the best interests of the people. With only a little homework, it is not difficult to find many more such stories of women who have held positions of great authority for God's purpose.

Now then, to Church leadership as a pastor. The apostle Paul makes some strikingly anti-woman statements in Ephesians, chapter five and I Corinthians, chapter 14 for example. Or so it would seem. In both cases, Paul is reinforcing God's directives and teaching the listeners who have fallen too far from them.

Remember that in the days of Paul, women did not traditionally have as much education as men, and that without benefit of day care, cars, and the ERA, there was simply no way that a woman could effectively pastor a Church. Yet women, particularly in Corinth, were attempting to wrest control for their own benefit and not for the benefit of the Church as a whole.

For this reason Paul's seemingly stern and sexist instructions to exclude women were a matter of practical common sense. That was then. Today the Church holds, generally, to a position of male leadership purely as a matter of Godly roles and responsibilities.

Paul's again stern language in I Timothy is offensive to many in this age of equality and non-gender deference but; if Godly men and women who choose to run a Christian home and follow Christ as the definitive example in all matters moral, ethical and spiritual hold true to their beliefs, men must lead. The roles set out for each member of a Christian family simply don't allow for a "crossing-over" of responsibilities.

There is no Biblical reason that Sarah Palin cannot succeed, with Gods blessings, as vice-president or even president of the United States. That is a matter between the Palin family and God Himself. There are however, scriptural premises on family, motherhood, fatherhood, and male provision for the home that preclude her in the same breath from becoming a pastor in the Christian Church.

God's order for a Christian home cannot be rewritten for our contemporary pleasure and appeasement. Where the home and the family are rooted in Christian principles, there is no allowance for women (and most men) to lead the Church. There are though, no Biblical restrictions on women serving in those Churches in positions of authority. Nor are there mandates in the Bible prohibiting women from working in, and indeed leading in, the public square.

I will be voting for John McCain this election not because of John McCain alone (and I do believe he is the stronger choice), but because of Sarah Palin as well. Her outspoken values and beliefs are more closely aligned to my own than any other candidate in my lifetime. I and my family welcome the opportunity for a Christian leader in the White House and find no Biblical prohibition which suggests that a woman cannot raise children and run a country at the same time, under God's direction.

Christians and thinking non-Christians must deny the benign arguments of those who take the Scriptures out of context and learn the truth for ourselves. To do otherwise is to abdicate our responsibility to the free will God gave each of us and relegate our place in history to a position just next to a parrot or a mule.

God Bless America!