Seventh-day Adventists moving towards ordaining more women ministers

James and Ellen White

A reader sent me a link to the following:

(RNS) First, three U.S. regional groups of the Seventh-day Adventist Church voted in 2012 for women to be ordained.

Then, the church’s Southeastern California Conference elected its first female president, a historic move for the global church.

Now, four of the church’s 13 worldwide divisions have approved theological reviews suggesting that women’s ordination should be widely accepted; one has said it should not.

As one of the fastest-growing religious groups in the U.S. and across the world, Seventh-day Adventists could potentially influence other denominations — particularly conservative Christians — on the issue of women in leadership…

In the U.S., 19 female pastors have been ordained or had their credentials updated in the SDA’s mid-Atlantic Columbia Union Conference since that regional group approved women’s ordination in July 2012. The Pacific Union Conference estimates it has 25 to 30 ordained women…

Garrett Caldwell, spokesman for the world church, said the deliberative process will come down to a single question: “Does the Bible have a theology of ordination that says yes or no about this issue?” http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2013-12/some-seventh-day-adventists-forge-ahead-women-clergy

While the SDAs can do what they want, the real issue, as Garrett Caldwell indicated, is what does the Bible teach?

Well, we in the Continuing Church of God realize that the Bible is opposed to ordaining women as ministers, though women can be ordained as deaconesses (Romans 16:1-2) and can also have a prophetic role (Acts 2:17-18).

The Apostle Paul wrote:

34 Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. 35 And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church. (1 Corinthians 14:34-35).

11 Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. 12 And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. (1 Timothy 2:11-12).

The New Testament also shows:

3:1 This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. 2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach (1 Timothy 3:1-2).

5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you– 6 if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination (Titus 1:5-6).

Thus, the New Testament does not support the concept of women being elders/bishops over a church as only males are shown to be in those specific roles.

Presuming the SDAs continue on this path (allowing the current ordinations is a signal), the role of women in the church seems to be another difference between the biblically-based Continuing Church of God and the more Ellen White-based Seventh-day Adventist church.

Some items of possibly related interest may include the following:

SDA/CCOG Differences: Two Horned Beast of Revelation and 666 The genuine Church of God is NOT part of the Seventh-day Adventists. This article explains two prophetic differences, the trinity, differences in approaching doctrine, including Ellen White. Did Ellen White make prophetic errors? Did Ellen White make false prophecies? Here is a version in the Spanish language: SDA/COG Diferencias: La bestia de dos cuernos de Apocalipsis y 666. Here is a link to the sermon: CCOG and SDA differences and similarities.
Women and the New Testament Church What roles did women play in the ministry of Jesus and the apostles? Did Jesus and the Apostle Paul violate Jewish traditions regarding their dealings with women? Do women have any biblical limitations on their role in the Church? Were there female prophets? Do women have any special responsibilities in terms of how they dress? What does the New Testament really teach about women? Here is a related sermon titled: New Testament Women.
The Bible, Peter, Paul, John, Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, Roderick C. Meredith, and Bob Thiel on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had? What are some of the scriptural limits on ecclesiastical authority? Do some commit organizational idolatry? Here is a Spanish language version La Biblia, Policarpo, Herbert W. Armstrong, y Roderick C. Meredith sobre el gobierno de la Iglesia. Here is a link to a sermon titled Church Governance.
Continuing Church of God The group striving to be most faithful amongst all real Christian groups to the word of God.
La Continuación de la Iglesia de Dios This is the Spanish site for the Continuing Church of God. URL is http://www.cdlidd.es