Ah, how our editor loves to stir up the pot!  Here in this part of the country where political correctness reigns and the religion section of the Washington Post is taken as Gospel Truth, taking a stand on Biblical principles can be dangerous.  I was hoping that I would not have to stick my neck out so far that it would get cut off.

This question deserves a better answer than I can offer in a half-page column.  I encourage readers to look up this article on our website and follow the links to my wife's study on "What did Paul REALLY think about women?"  and also to studies offered by our Commission on Theology and Church Relations.

Most of the heat from this topic focuses on four controversial New Testament texts:

• 1 Timothy 2.12
• 1 Timothy 3.1-13
• 1 Corinthians 11.1-16
• 1 Corinthians 14.34-35

An important fifth text is Ephesians 5.21-33, which does not deal with church administration, but with the relationship and responsibilities of a husband and wife within a family.  It is important to our discussion because it lays a foundation for understanding general principles on ways God intends for men to provide for their women, to protect them, to nurture and cherish them, to love them sacrificially, and to be leaders in the home as well as in the church.  Adam failed to be this kind of man for Eve, and we have been living with the consequences ever since.  (See our online study on Genesis 3 -- "What they never taught us about Adam and Eve in Sunday School.")

Sincere Christians have honest disagreements about how to interpret and apply the texts in 1 Timothy and 1 Corinthians.  Where is the dividing line between mere cultural traditions (e.g. Paul's command that women wear long hair and attend worship with their heads covered) and the immovable revelation of God (e.g. "Husbands love your wives as Christ loves the Church")?   A sensible and helpful discussion requires that we see the Bible's big picture and understand the foundational principles, and then to discern how we can best live those principles in the church and in our homes.