Feminism and the ordination of women as priestesses and ministers.

[afleitch]

If what god 'ordains' for male and female roles happens to dovetail with societal rules and traditions of the time in which it was written then you can be assured there's nothing ordained about them. Except by men.

[afleitch]

How do you square that with the Bible?

There is a higher law than even Scripture, and those who proclaim that Scripture is the universal, literal, whole, and highest law make a claim about the Bible that it does not make about itself.

     The irony of using sola scriptura to disparage the authority of the scriptures because they never directly claim to be infallible (which is highly debatable) is highly amusing to me. It is a concept unknown to the Sacred Tradition of the Orthodox Church, and I am thankful for that. If we do not have an infallible source of truth to rely upon, then we are in darkness and our beliefs about God and His will are ultimately arbitrary. At that point we are little better off than the atheists who claim no source of revelation.

We're doing fine.

[afleitch]

How do you square that with the Bible?

There is a higher law than even Scripture, and those who proclaim that Scripture is the universal, literal, whole, and highest law make a claim about the Bible that it does not make about itself.

     The irony of using sola scriptura to disparage the authority of the scriptures because they never directly claim to be infallible (which is highly debatable) is highly amusing to me. It is a concept unknown to the Sacred Tradition of the Orthodox Church, and I am thankful for that. If we do not have an infallible source of truth to rely upon, then we are in darkness and our beliefs about God and His will are ultimately arbitrary. At that point we are little better off than the atheists who claim no source of revelation.

We're doing fine.

     Obviously you would think that.

That's because I'm not judgemental.

[afleitch]

How do you square that with the Bible?

There is a higher law than even Scripture, and those who proclaim that Scripture is the universal, literal, whole, and highest law make a claim about the Bible that it does not make about itself.

     The irony of using sola scriptura to disparage the authority of the scriptures because they never directly claim to be infallible (which is highly debatable) is highly amusing to me. It is a concept unknown to the Sacred Tradition of the Orthodox Church, and I am thankful for that. If we do not have an infallible source of truth to rely upon, then we are in darkness and our beliefs about God and His will are ultimately arbitrary. At that point we are little better off than the atheists who claim no source of revelation.

We're doing fine.

     Obviously you would think that.

That's because I'm not judgemental.

     Neither am I. Looks like we have something in common.

Obviously you would think that

[afleitch]

It's always struck me as pretty bizarre when people who aren't conservative have called me narrow-minded for having this as an absolute deal breaker (if not allowed) on ever belonging to a church.

I respect you for that.

[afleitch]

It's always struck me as pretty bizarre when people who aren't conservative have called me narrow-minded for having this as an absolute deal breaker (if not allowed) on ever belonging to a church.

Serious question: would you then not be Christian until contemporary times? I'm not aware, nor is a precursory research, of any form of Christianity that would have ordained women until very recently. I don't want to put words in your mouth, but Christianity seems central to your identity. I'm just curious how you would reconcile the historical lack of the practice with this ultimatum.

Not to answer for him, but an historic lack of female representation in secular institutions throughout history would not excuse that today. It's easy to reconcile support for democratic institutions today while recognising the historical lack of or disenfranchisment of women in those same institutions.

[afleitch]

Open question.

If the ordination of women isn't a deal breaker for those who otherwise believe in equality, why is that specific concession made?