Technically, the Southern Baptist Convention doesn’t believe in female pastors. In reality, there are hundreds of female Southern Baptist pastor-preachers yet to be disfellowshipped from the denomination, thousands of women with the title “pastor” (usually with the word “children,” “youth” or “women’s” in front of the title), and it is becoming altogether commonplace to see women fill Southern Baptist pulpits as guest lecturers. The Southern Baptist pigeon-peddlers and money changers, Lifeway Christian Resources, sells, advertises, and promotes women pastors and preachers. And, it seems that all are excited about increased female seminary enrollment.
The Baptist “Press” reports a “remarkable” increase in the number of females enrolled in Southern Baptist seminaries. The BP quotes Southwestern Seminary Baptist President, Paige Patterson, with what has to be the most asininely absurd comment to be heard from leader since he defended enrolling Muslims in his seminary.
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Paige Patterson, in reporting to the EC Sept. 18, said female SBC seminary graduates are helping to fulfill a need in churches for “strong female Bible teachers.” He attributed the increased number of female students in part to the publication of high-quality theological resources for women by LifeWay Christian Resources.
Yes. Yes, let’s discuss the “high-quality theological resources for women by Lifeway Christian Resources.
Lifeway’s chiefest Cash Cow of Bashan is Beth Moore, who has become a full-blown charismatic, regularly revealing prophecies God has given her, and her Bible-twisting has growing increasingly incoherent. You can find Lifeway’s collection of her material here.
Lifeway promotes the material of Hillsong, Word of Faith, impastor, Christine Caine. This woman calls Joyce Meyer her “spiritual mother.” You can find Lifeway’s collection of her material here.
Lifeway sells the material of theoerotic siren, Ann Voskamp. In One Thousand Gifts, Voskamp writes about making love to God in erotic terms. You can find Lifeway’s collection of her material here.
Lifeway sells the material from Sarah Young, who wrote Jesus Calling – a book literally claiming to be direct, divine revelation of Jesus’ actual words. You can find Lifeway’s collection of her material here.
Lifeway sells the material of Priscilla Shirer, who regularly partners with Joel and Victoria Osteen and Joyce Meyer, and teaches direct, divine revelation. You can find Lifeway’s collection of her material here.
Aside from the gross theological problems of all these women (use our search function to find out what they are), all of these women have two things in common; they preach to men as well as women and they are Lifeway’s best-sellers.
It’s time to see if Paige Patterson is mentally fit for the function of seminary president. He’s well beyond proving himself spiritually unfit. If it’s true that Lifeway is to credit for women enrolling in seminary, this is a very, very, very bad thing. Lifeway is the one worming their way into churches to lead captive weak women (2 Timothy 3:6).
Patterson continues…
One of the things we have all been convinced of at the seminaries,” Patterson said, “is that one of the things we greatly need is a generation of female Bible teachers who really have their act together, who really understand the Word of God.
The seminaries may be “convinced” that they need a “generation of female Bible teachers,” but we ask the simple question: Why do women need to learn the Bible from women? If God has appointed elders to be “apt to teach,” and women are not Biblically qualified to be elders (read Timothy and Titus), then why must women learn the Bible from other women? Such a notion is to treat women like second-class citizens, giving them less qualified Bible teachers merely because of their gender. Blacks shouldn’t sit at the end of the bus, and women shouldn’t be excluded from pastoral Bible teaching just because of their gender. To give women teachers like Shirer, Moore, Young, Caine, and the like is to relegate women to eating hotdogs while their husbands dine on steak.
The notion that women should learn or need to learn from women is not an idea found in the Bible. It’s an idea found in marketing research of the Christian retail industry.
In the meantime, Southern Baptists should think long and hard about whether or not increased female enrollment in seminary is a good thing. Regardless of what the Baptist Faith and Message says Southern Baptists claim to believe about the complimentary roles of men and women, the fact is that many female seminary enrollees will not be content teaching only women – especially if it’s Lifeway’s products that have inspired their aspirations for service to the church.
For example, a Southern Baptist Church in Tennessee called its first female pastor in June of this year. Maybe the bigshots should rethink exactly what it is they’re celebrating.
