Christian Complementarianism Is Not a Bad Thing
As much as I love Jonathan Aigner's blog posts ("Ponder Anew") on how bad "Contemporary Worship" is in a church service setting (and the commercial industry behind it), the one other cause that might hinder Aigner's church worship cause is that of so-called Biblical Equality. If Aigner had it his way, all churches would have to submit to his vision (coupled with his wife I would think) and open all church leadership to positions that have been open to men and ONLY men.
Speaking for myself I would not avoid attending or joining a church that believed ordaining women as pastors, priests, elders or deacons; as long as that church (and/or its parent body denomination) made a commitment to following the Holy Bible and obeying that very Bible and not leaning on doctrine and/or dogma that runs contrary to the scriptures and had historical church worship (no Hillsong, Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Passion, Bethel, Jesus Culture etc.). Certain Church bodies like the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians, Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC), the North American Lutheran Church (NALC), and the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) support and/or allow the ordination of women in leadership roles in the church or at least allow a local church congregation the choice to ordain women. Again, as long as the Gospel is preached coupled with liturgy and hymnody that sets itself apart from the macro culture, that is good enough for me (although I have issues with churches that do have historical worship but try to please the Tomlin fans, etc.).
However, a majority of churches that believe the Bible and take a stand for that very Bible have supported the complementarianism theological view regarding men and women. That being — while men and women are equal in the site of God, there are certain biological and spiritual differences between men and women. When it comes to the roles in church I personally strongly believe that 1 Timothy 2:11-15 is just as relevant in the 21st Century as it was back in the emergence of the Christian faith. The fact remains is that the devil went after Eve and not Adam (although it could be argued that Adam was slacking on the day of their downfall), and it was the devil (through a literal snake) that deceived Eve and in turn she deceived Adam into taking the fall with her. Also keep in mind that Adam was formed first, and then Eve with the intention of being Adam's helpmate, companion and wife. If you have a problem with this, take it up with God and not me.
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Now most churches that do support the complementarianism view recognize 1 Corinthians 14:33-38 for the lack of education women had in the time of Paul the Apostle, as women have been allowed to speak but yet not challenge the God ordained roles, and Paul did point out that women did prophesize in the church. Also, in many Bible believing churches of today, you have women speaking and discussing in mixed Sunday classes and/or adult education forums.
Aigner's blog post on April 3, 2018 points to another blog post made by Tim Fall a few days before where he claims that Mary Magdalene preached "the first sermon" after her encounter with Jesus on the first Easter/Resurrection Sunday. For Aigner and Fall that is all they need to justify their so called Biblical Christian egalitarian stance, and Aigner himself bluntly has called for all Christian churches to just get over it and ordain women. Just because Jesus decided to let Mary Magdalene see him after the resurrection first and be the first person to preach his Good News under the new covenant does not mean he wanted her to become an apostle.
I say to those churches that support Christian Complementarianism: keep supporting the stance and not cave in to the likes of Aigner, Fall, or some other popular opinion. We need to continue to point out in an age of gender confusion and then some, that men and women ARE different. We need to teach women that it's not a bad thing to be in a support role regarding the church and even in marriage, and that leadership is more than just trying to gain status but the responsibility of that status. There are more pieces I can write about regarding those institutions and the Christian complementarian role. For now, I rest my case.
