This morning, while watching CNN, I came across a
story which, quite frankly, has me ticked off to the max. The level of idiocy on the part of all parties concerned, including the media itself, is shameful. The end result is negative press for the church, a false and skewed representation of Christian values, and yet more fuel for the secularization fire.
Eighty-one year old Mary Lambert has been fired from her position as Sunday School teacher after 54 years of service at the First Baptist Church of Watertown New York. In her dismissal letter the church quoted 1 Timothy 2:12: "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent." Now, first of all I think this is a clear misuse of scripture. I am not going to go into the passage here, but I will cover it in
my other blog. All I want to discuss for now are the responses off all the parties involved.
The church itself has been folding to public pressure in a way which shows no real respect for the authority of scripture. First they make a bold and controversial statement. Then, when people begin to question their position, they back down, claiming that there are numerous ways to interpret scripture, none of them essentially wrong; a position which implicitly denies the divine authority of scripture (2 Timothy 3:16). God’s is NOT a relativist. Secondly the church is now claiming that Lambert was not fired because she is a woman, but rather for other reasons which they are too “Christian” to name. I have no problem with a church choosing not to publicly embarrass and chastise one of its members. However, this is no excuse for using scripture in vein, without any conviction. If the church does not believe that 1 Timothy 2:12 in fact excludes a woman from teaching Sunday School then they should not use it as a pretense for their actions. Doing so encourages an interpretation of scripture which the church itself has no conviction in.
Mary Lambert herself, in my opinion, has handled the situation in a less than admirable way. In taking this story to the press she has done the Church (notice the capitol “C”) a huge disservice. She very well may have been wronged, but in seeking to expose the mistakes of her church she has opened up the Church as a whole to criticism. Her actions show little thought or concern for the Body of Christ. This is not to say that she should have let the incident slide without comment, but a secular organization such as CNN is clearly not the proper Biblical agent for correction. Also, considering this woman aspires to be a teacher of God’s Word, it is disappointing that in all her comments to the media, she has done nothing to reaffirm the authority of Scripture or clarify why she believes the church’s use of 2 Timothy 2:12 is a misapplication of scripture.
I would like to thoroughly rebuke the Rev. Timothy LaBouf, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Watertown. For some reason I feel he is the most guilty party involved, perhaps simply because he is the church’s pastor and primary teacher of the Word. However, I have little to say about him because he has chosen to remain virtually silent amidst all the discussion, refusing to speak to CNN when contacted. This is a man who has made the study of scripture his profession, he has taken the task on leading a church upon his shoulders, but when the Word itself and his church come under attack he is no where to be seen. In addition to being a pastor, Timothy LaBouf is also a City Councilor. The only statements he has released so far have been in relation to his political interests, as he attempts to re-affirm his ability to administer fairly and without discrimination. In doing so he only makes himself seem weak and indecisive, while inadvertently providing the media with sound bites and quotes to help them transform this story into a broader discussion of the separation of church and state. LaBouf, in his hurried back peddling, has achieved little other than to reaffirm the belief that religious convictions must be maintained privately, unobtrusively, ineffectually, meaninglessly.
Finally I turn my attention to CNN. Most of my complaints against the coverage of the story can be firmly levied against the aforementioned parties. All of them, while Christians, have done little to defend the authority of God’s Word of shed any intelligent light upon the passage in question (1 Timothy 2:12). All they have accomplished is to convey the impression that scripture is a tool of convenience, to be used to support preexisting suppositions. However, CNN has made one choice in their coverage of the story which displays their disinterested in reaching a true understanding of the issue under discussion. Instead of consulting authoritative sources who might comment insightfully upon the meaning of the verse used in Lambert’s dismissal and its application in this particular situation, they have chosen instead in interview people on the street for their opinions. Let us look at the circular reasoning behind such an approach. Lay-people turn to news agencies such as CNN to inform them in an attempt to reach sound, well founded positions. When CNN uses the opinions of the average, uninformed citizen to inform the other uninformed citizens, essential we began to re-consume out own ignorance: intellectual cannibalism. An injection of content is needed, not self-perpetuating lay-saying. By no means do I wish to deny people their right to hold their own opinion, nor am I criticizing them for being ignorant and uninformed. They are only uninformed because the media refuses to inform them. How are they to know if they are not taught?
In all likelihood this will blow-over quickly enough and few will remember the story. However, this does not prevent people from taking away their own disinterred opinions and impressions. This is how people form a bias.
