Strangeness of the Month Club
Our motto: Christians Say the Strangest Things!
by Kent B. True

What to do with women? It’s a big problem. I say love ‘em and try to stay under their radar, if you get my drift.

But what is to become of women in a sexist, oppressive institution such as the church of Christ? This month, only the gentlemen - and a few of the rest of us guys - will gather for yet another meeting of the Strangeness of the Month Club. This month, we will touch the upper edge of strangeness, as you will see if you read on.

Paul E. Boatman, "50 Years of Changes"
Christian Standard, May 18, 2003

I could almost hear The Byrds singing from Ecclesiastes,

To Everything, Turn, Turn, Turn
There is a season, Turn, Turn, Turn
and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to be born, a time to die,
and a time for women preachers.

OK, the Byrds didn’t sing that last line, and it’s not in Ecclesiastes. It’s what Mr. Boatman says near the end of his article: "Women will minister." You can take that to the bank, mister!

Well, Brother Paul (hey, this guy’s not an "Apostle" Paul, is he? - covered that in another meeting) I think we all know that women have ministered for a long, long time now. It’s teaching and preaching to men we are talking about here. What’s really interesting is that Herr Boatman tells us that he preaches "team sermons" (are those anything like tag-team sermons?) with his wife.

I’ll have to admit that I am just a little jealous because I didn’t think of that one first! It makes a certain kind of sense. If your wife is going to preach to you when you get home, why not just take her into the pulpit with you and get it over with while you’re in the protective company of fellow believers?

As we all know, the couple that preaches together . . . just might be a "clergy couple." But I thought the real Apostle Paul said that a woman is not allowed to teach or have authority over men. I supposed that when they preach those "couple sermons" if Mrs. Boatman speaks only to the women in the audience, that solves the problem. I just wonder how they do that.

Mr. Boatman isn’t worried, it seems. He says

Let’s see here - this matter will not be solved exegetically. You mean what the real Apostle Paul says about a woman not teaching a man can’t be exegeted? What’s so hard to exegete about a woman not teaching a man? There’s a nice piece of truth. Why couldn’t "truth-seeking" people just seek that truth?

If you have an issue "people come down on opposite sides of" then I suppose we can just never come to an accurate conclusion about it. At least that’s what Mr. Boatman thinks.

It makes me wonder. When Paul and Mrs. Paul get into the pulpit together and preach those "couple sermons" what do they preach about? After all, there are bound to be people who come down on both sides of almost anything they might say. (I wonder if they say it in unison or antiphonally?).

It wouldn’t leave much to preach about, would it?