Confessions of a (Sinful) Father
By Burton H. Patterson, CEO The Foundation for the Advancement of Christianity Southlake, TX
As I sit back and contemplate my life of late, I find that I have a lot to confess. I really had not realized how bad my sins were until I read of the recent revelation to the president of what used to be the nation`s largest theological seminary. After much soul searching it was revealed to him that a woman could not teach a foreign language to a man in an educational institution devoted to the higher learning of things ecclesiastical. I recognized immediately that I had not sufficiently honed my vision of sin.
Doing what every good father should do I immediately decided to determine the extent of my sin. To do so quickly I searched the internet for a list of faculty members from the school whose president had received this recent revelation. I found that school had a few members of the feminine persuasion on the faculty in Music and in Christian Education. Thus I reasoned there must be a link between a woman teaching men some subjects and not others. To get to the bottom of this I retreated to the highest authority available-God`s Word.
I started in 1 Timothy 2:11 where Paul taught that he did not permit women to teach or have any authority over a man. I noted that Paul said that he did not so permit, but he did not set forth his statement as dictum for all time. That made me feel better. Then I also noted that he said a woman could not teach a man, but Paul did not say `child` or `youngster` and that also made me feel better. However, the computer has expanded my poor attempts at scriptural interpretation by making commentaries, Bible dictionaries, and lexicons readily available, and I looked more closely at the word "man" and found it meant any male human and that in the Jewish society of Paul`s day a woman was not permitted to teach any male, "not even teach the youngest children" not even a very young boy-oh my, do I have a real sin problem now.
Deciding to move on to another scripture I looked in vain for additional support for this recent revelation that a woman could not teach a foreign language, or anything for that matter, to a man. My, my, my, what a revelation-I found none. One sentence out of sixty–six books (eighty if you are an Episcopalian). Then I remembered, I am but a layman, and surely God`s revelation to the president of a seminary trumps my knowledge. Also, the president`s revelation that his predecessor`s faulty interpretation of scripture that a foreign language could be taught to a man by a woman, while things scriptural could not, also must be given much weight. To follow the teaching of this great leader now I must not allow any of my male children ever to be taught by a woman, and that must include potty training!
I considered the depth of my sin. I had permitted my son to attend a church where in cradle roll a woman read Bible stories out loud. Surely that was not a great sin since he could not understand anything while still in the crib. But then there were the years following while in the kindergarten class. Every teacher I could recall was a woman. Horrors! Even the activities outside of Sunday School-like Vacation Bible School, Choir, Mission Trips-everything had been led by women. The Women`s Missionary Union had caused me to sin by letting my son participate in their missions-day activities. In the fact the only saving grace that came to mind was the Royal Ambassadors. At least they had a male leader. I am undone. I am a man of unclean child rearing.
As I sat in my proverbial ashes and rent my metaphorical clothes I realized I had to confess a much greater sin. I had permitted my son`s mother, a female, to read the Bible to him and teach him Bible stores as he grew up. Not only had we sinned in letting her teach him about the Bible, we also had permitted her to tutor him in math and English. Then it occurred to me that I was continuing in sin. My wife was doing the same thing to our grandsons. She was teaching them Bible stories and not only doing it in our home but in the third grade class at church. Will God ever forgive me?
1 Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Ft. Worth, TX.
2 Barclay, William, The Daily Study Bible, Letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon,p.66, Westminster Press, 1975.
