Ordination of women: The issues

Pages: 38
ISBN: 978-1-77926-030-7
By Chemist Mafuba
THE church as an institution has a problem which will take a long time for it to go away. There are more women who go to church than men, but there are more men holding high office in church than women.
Human rights activists have made it known that more women should be given access to the altar in the spirit of equality between men and women. There has been a bitter war between the Province of Central Africa and the Church of England over this issue.
Retired Bishop Peter Hatendi has written a book which is called Christina of Christ in which he tries to explain why more men hold high office in their church. The book tackles the issues which have to do with whether ordination is by human right or by divine appointment.
It has to be taken into account whether it would be consistent with Christian teaching to ordain women to pastorhood, bishophood or priesthood. The book analyses whether innovations and “progressive” ideas are affecting religion.
In recent times, the Church of England has been going through a difficult time, which has to do with the ordination of women into high office. The practice which started in Hong Kong as a stop-gap measure at the end of World War II has spread throughout the world.
The book shows that people who are baptised become one with God and full members of the church in their individual capacity.
They become inheritors of the kingdom of heaven without discrimination on the basis of race, class or gender.
The baptism removes differences between men and women, but some office holders are apostles, others are teachers and others are responsible for several ministries.
The election of who does what is a divine prerogative and the kingdom of God is open to all believers.
They are welcome to serve the Almighty in accordance with rules and regulations which are laid down in the Bible.
There is a distinction between faith and holy orders; believers are members of the “royal priesthood”.
The ministerial priesthood which is a succession to the apostles is for few men.
Christ chooses them and the church receives them. The ministries are equal in importance.
If a woman were elected bishop it would also mean that the prayer book would be revised to read: “In the name of the Mother, the Daughter and the Holy Spirit!”
This has happened in a diocese which is in the United States where there is a woman on the crucifix in the cathedral.
The problem is not about the rights of women in the church.
It’s the maleness of Jesus Christ which feminists question.
Gender warfare is going on in the church as part of general rebellion against God.
The feminist movement puts God in the dock to answer why He created male and female beings.
The movement gives the impression that God could have done it better or no at all creation.
The introduction of daughter as saviour of beings is not a development. It’s a human creation which doesn’t accord with the teaching of the scriptures.
It is a new religion which requires the rewriting of the Bible. This is beyond the competence of ordinary people. A believer doesn’t question why God did what He did.
It’s happening these days because the days when the church subscribed to the authority of scripture are gone.
What matters these days is being relevant to the dynamic culture which follows a secular agenda.
But the relationship with God can only be complete when sin is removed.
This can’t be done through the blood of a daughter because there is no daughter in the Trinity.
To crucify a female saviour and the ordination of women have one thing in common: they criticise God’s plan as being inadequate.
The woman-made saviour is fiction. It’s not possible to enter into a communion with an idol representing God.
A convert can’t be a member of Christ crucified and a member of the Mother, the Daughter and the Holy Spirit at the same time.
The desire of women to become bishops ignores the fact that Christ was a man, though he saved both men and women when he was crucified.
Men and women are represented in the maleness of Christ, but it would be improper for women to represent Christ and claim to serve the people from their sins.
It’s the prerogative of the men to represent Christ. The Bible would be rendered useless if a woman was to be seen as the saviour of the world, when God has chosen man as the saviour.
It’s imperative to rely on men who are called to the ministry to lead Christians who have accepted the word of God.
The weaknesses inherent in beings make them unsuitable to elect people who should lead the church. They exercise discrimination but God is impartial.
There is no room for competition, nor is there room for self-appointed men or women priests.
Some of the self-appointed individuals might perform priestly duties better than those who are genuinely called.
Inwardly, they know that they are hypocrites. The Christians accept appointments made through normal selection without engaging in debates
The process of election should not be negotiable; it is a responsibility which overrides privilege.
A woman may dress like a priest, but she can’t be an icon of Christ. She knows that beyond the dress she is a hypocrite.
The image of a female saviour is the creation of a human being. Jesus Christ appointed 12 apostles to carry out his work before he died.
The absence of women, including his mother, is significant.
The church has no authority to ordain women against the will of Jesus Christ.
The feminist movement is wrong to think that Jesus is a liar in the same way that Satan and many men are liars.
There is no basis for this equation as it doesn’t take into account the fact that Jesus Christ is God.
It’s impossible for God to lie because he is the truth. The failure to uphold this truth has led the feminist movement to believe that the role of a saviour is interchangeable.
The men are responsible for much of the suffering, pain and corruption in the world.
Therefore, they should repent so that the world can be a happier place than it is. Good morals call on people to have the right attitude to others.
It’s the responsibility of parents to inculcate this maxim in their children so that they can combat the present war on gender.
The relations between men and women leave a lot to be desired in homes, families, churches and society in general.
However, feminism has done a lot of good in drawing the attention of men to their weakness and irresponsibility.
Men should support the programme of “consciousness-raising” in word and deed that the feminists have started.
The humanity is one female and male – past, present and future. The desire for female presentation at the altar is a negation of this principle.
The Christian women and men form one community bound together by the love of God. The women and the men need each other in procreation, the home, the family and the community.
The concept of suffering motivated by love is a common practice among the Bantu people of Africa.
A member of the family of the person that has committed the sin is sacrificed as a scapegoat to expatiate for murder.
The person is usually a woman who foregoes her right to marry, but not the right to have children.
If the scapegoat has children by not a member of the deceased’s family, the children shall belong to the deceased’s family.
The rights of the girl-child and the rights of her family are inseparable.
The difference between the two victims is that one is human and the other divine.
Jesus Christ is a problem because He is male.
Some female Christians feel that he does not represent them as their high priest.
If this role is questioned, then the role of a male priest or bishop is also questioned.
A male saviour is the problem, hence the need for a female saviour. God is Spirit; He is neither male nor female.
Christians believe in God who has revealed himself as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The argument that there were female bishops at some time in the history of Christianity has not been sufficiently proved.
There is room for development in some aspects of the work of the church, but there is no room for innovation which beings want to introduce in the church.
There is no room for self-appointed substitutes and for self-appointed apostles, priests and pastors.
This is what feminists want to see done in the church.
The gender warfare shall cease when different roles are accepted not as privileges, but as responsibilities.
This is what the Almighty decreed when he created both man and woman in his own image. There is not much difference between biblical and Shona or Bantu cultures in the case of the family.
The father begets children with the assistance of the mother. All the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren belong to one family or community and not a collection of individuals.
The faith in the ancient father of the clan is the focus of unity perpetuated by the totem which children take from him.
The women can be ordained on the basis that people who are baptised become related to God as individuals, says Bishop Peter Hatendi.
They become members of the church and inheritors of the kingdom.
There is a distinction between faith and holy orders and there is a hierarchical order in the Trinity.
The new doctrine of female representation at the altar has no basis in scripture and Christianity.
It’s based on human rights and gender equality. It divides the body of Christ into male and female factions.
All Christians are equal, but they have to perform different functions in the church.
The church should address this challenge without breaking the known will and mind of Jesus Christ.
He left his apostles to carry out his work and the church would do well not to change his will.
For some the ordination of women to priesthood is a development, but to others it is an act of disobedience.
Both of them don’t satisfy the desire that women have to serve at the altar.
The feminist movement has addressed the issue of male domination in the day-to-day life of society.
But it requires male co-operation for the agenda of feminists to succeed.
It is questionable whether the ordination of women to the highest office in church would address the inequality and injustice which is prevailing in society.
The rivalry and hatred that is there between men and women is uncalled form as they are all children of God.
They should know what he wants done in terms of electing people who should serve at the altar.
The women should be satisfied to serve in their ministries, where some of them have done wonderful work. Only men should serve at the altar, says Bishop Peter Hatendi.
Bishop Hatendi has also written Shona Marriage and the Churches. He was Bishop Emeritus for the Diocese of Harare from 1979 to 1995.
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