The Slippery-Slope Argument
concerning women in leadership
The Argument: “If we say that all those scriptures about women—the ones that tell women to be quiet in church, to submit to their husbands, and that husbands are the heads of their households—are just addressing cultural issues of that time and are thus unrelated to today, then what’s keeping us from tossing out any old scripture with the same reasoning? We could say that homosexuality, murder, adultery, or fornication is okay. There are moral absolutes and we need to follow them. Not only that, but the Bible says that all scripture is profitable for reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. This means that these scriptures about women still have something to teach us today.”
Counterargument 1: This argument divides the understanding of these verses into two extreme groups: either these verses about women are moral commands for us today or we throw them out as culturally irrelevant. The various viewpoints on this topic are not this simplistic or extreme.
Counterargument 2: Saying that the Bible was addressing cultural problems of that day does not imply that these verses have no application for us today. For example: Paul suggested the Corinthians refrain from eating meat sacrificed to idols for the sake of the weaker brother. We don’t sacrifice meat to idols anymore, but that doesn’t mean these verses have nothing to do with us today.
Counterargument 3: This argument does not give supporting evidence that these scripture verses about women are indeed moral absolutes. To reach any agreement on this point, the two disagreeing parties would need to establish some sort of criteria or framework for deciding if something in scripture is a sin or not. I think if we ran women-leading through this criteria, we would discover it is not a sin. Ruling and subduing, like being fruitful and multiplying, seems to be a blessing that both men and women participate in, not a moral command for one gender. Thus, women who lead are in a different category than homosexuals, murderers, adulterers, fornicators, and children who disobey their parents…. See Romans 1:29-30.
Counterargument 4: Yes, 2 Timothy 3:16 does say that all Scripture is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness, but that does not mean that the Bible is an answer key to all our modern-day questions. If the Bible could be used in this way, we would not need a conversational relationship with God to determine what God’s will is. Thus, when the Bible talks about women, it isn’t necessarily acting as an answer key to our modern-day questions about women.
To read more arguments and counterarguments, click on the links below:
You are laughing at the LUDICROUS notion of aaallll daaayyy Lllooonnnggg. I understand that. I often laugh at things that others do not, and get some strange looks and comments for doing so. It has something to do with the melancholic’s amusement at the ludicrous and ironic. Its either laugh, cringe, scream or cry. An emotional coping mechanism of some sort.
Welllll, What if ... God designed women to be psychologically equipped to manage the little people, the household, etc and men to run and work the farm, so-to-speak, but not necessarily psychologically equipped to manage the kids allllll daaayyyy looonnnggg. The bible’s teaching is merely assigning responsibility to the gender most well equipped by God’s design to do the job.
God assigned the responsibility to lead to men, (for some reason), maybe actually equipped men psychologically, to lead.
The ‘community’ needs leadership. But what happens if the men shirk their responsibility? Someone has to take over for the good of the community. Enter the manager-equipped woman, (to the chagrin of the man).
If men would live up to their responsibility and, through social exercise, use and hone their God-given skills, they would eventually provide leadership and actually feel fulfilled in doing so. Women could focus on where their heart is, raising and teaching the next generation and actually feel fulfillment in what God equipped them to do well and with much success.
In the sixties the ‘buzz’ was to reverse roles and shoulder responsibilities we were not actually assigned by God. Neither have been able to create the community that God intended, are feeling frustrated, unfilled but refuse to trust God’s design and subsequent assignment of responsibilities.