Rev. Lane Keister, Westminster (Philly) grad and PCA ordained has said well concerning the role of women in the church:
If there is any more pressing issue in the conservative church today, I am at a loss to find it. Consistently, even in the Presbyterian Church in America and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the issue of whether women should be allowed in ministry crops up just about every year in general assembly. A friend of mine recently said that it was only a matter of time before the GA voted to allow women into the ministry. I hope earnestly that he is wrong. I would be disappointed to have to leave the denomination in which I was baptized as an infant, and in which I grew up physically and spiritually (PCA). But the denomination would have left its moorings in the historic view of male headship as symbolized by Christ and the church, as well as any claim to see abiding principles in the Bible, rather than totally culturally determined “advice.” In this case, the slippery slope argument does work. Denominations that ordained women eventually ordain homosexuals, since Romans 1 and Leviticus 18 also become culturally relative. It is impossible to stop on such a slippery slope, as so many denominations have more than adequately demonstrated. Let us rather seek to be faithful to God’s Word. (emphasis mine)
Read his full posts on the subject here.
November 7, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Les, do you think he would be correct to leave a church because they allow women “into the ministry?” I assume here he means allowing women to become ordained ministers, not allowing women to be in ministry at all. (I would suggest that he be more specific in his wording)
November 7, 2007 at 2:47 pm
I precious little time to reply today. More tonight.
But from Ron Gleason, PCA pastor for many years, here is a q/a in an interview:
“MD: Once this kind of decline [in sound theology]sets in can it be reversed?”
“RG: Theoretically, yes, but historically the answer has been no. Of course it depends on the degree of decline, but once you’ve started down the proverbial slippery slope, it’s next to impossible to find the brakes. I’ve been accused of holding to “domino” and “conspiracy” theories, but more often than not I’m correct not because I’m so insightful and profound, but because there is a history that can be traced. When I was a student and later a pastor in Holland I watched a solid Reformed church gradually disintegrate. How did that occur? It began with wanting women Deacons. Two years later, the issue was women Elders. The next year is was female pastors. When I left in 1984 it was the ordination of homosexuals. Ironically, the same pattern followed me to Canada where in a very short expanse of time the Christian Reformed Church followed suit.
Liberals are tenacious and conservatives are cowards, always wanting to be nice guys. The case of Charles Hodge and Charles Finney is a classic case in point. We fail to see that the denomination we may love is under attack and quite often the matter seems so innocent and insignificant, until one morning we wake up and no longer recognize our church.”
Now back to Les, I am not calling anyone a liberal. Hear me. I am merely pointing out his experience with the slippery slope.
Now my question is this.
Why not ordain women? What hinders us?
November 7, 2007 at 6:06 pm
Stephanie, if the PCA ordains women into ministry I would certainly leave the PCA. That was one of the driving factors in the PCA’s formation, though not the only one.
I do think that is what he is referring to. But the point he is trying to make is a progression. I would argue that the more we allow women to function in men’s roles in an unofficial capacity the more we are likely to move toward ordination of women.
Les
March 12, 2008 at 11:47 pm
I’m simply inquiring to see if the Les Prouty mentioned above might be the same Pastor Prouty that served in the St. Louis area for a while as well as attending NOBTS before attending Mid-America.
March 13, 2008 at 6:35 am
Uh, oh, Les–they’re on to you…it’s not too late to run!