Abuse: SBC P/8

                                                            Read Part One HERE

I have been sharing a number of posts with you on the subject of abuse in the Southern Baptist churches in the US. From these posts you have learned that abuse has been taken place for a number of years.

Southern Baptists still cling to the traditional belief that God is the author of an authoritative male headship in ministry and marriage. They believe that women must be under the authority of male pastors in churches and wives must be under the authority of husbands in families as we can see from the following statements:

"On Ordination and the Role of Women in Ministry.
Women are excluded from pastoral functions and leadership roles entailing ordination in order to preserve a submission God requires because the man was first in creation and the woman was first in the Edenic Fall (I Timothy 2:13ff.)"

And

"A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ."

Do you believe that this system of patriarchy opens the door for abuse of women? Please feel free to write a comment. You can do so by clicking on the link at the bottom of your email that leads to my blog Praying and Prophesying.

In my next posts I will share with you the views of influential men on the role of men and women throughout the centuries.