Seven Weeks

Hello everyone! The puppies are now seven weeks old, and they can start going home with their new owners in just one more week! Are you all excited? I know I'm very happy with all the good homes that these puppies are going to be going to. But for those of you who feel like you're missing out on all the fun, it's not too late yet! We still have one puppy left available: Lark! We've have about four people interested in him right now, but no one has made a definite decision about him, so you can jump on your chance to add a sweet, loving puppy to your family.

Today all the puppies had a bath, got brushed and trimmed around the eyes, and then had their de-worming and their first round of shots! They are now all up-to-date on their shots and de-worming, almost ready for their new homes--just one more week of wait!

After their up-to-dating, we had our weekly photo shoot. Here's this week's group photo:

In the baby buggy! :-)
Jay, Chickadee, Kestrel , Lark, and Phoebe.

If you want to see individual pictures, just go to our Available Pups page on my website. If you have any questions, Contact Us right away! :-)

Six-week-old Pictures

Week six already! I can hardly believe it! In just a few more weeks the puppies will all be in their new homes! Well, here's the six-week-old pictures that you've all been waiting for!

Group picture on the swing!

Eating

Cute li'l' Chickadee

Inquisitive Jay

Teddy-bear Lark

All the puppies love our Border Collie, Shasta!



 Both females are basically spoken for now, and we have someone interested in our male, Jay. So, if any of you are interested in a puppy, you'd better jump on your chance now! :-) Check for more info on our puppy blog at: http://countrysidecavachons.blogspot.com/.

The Date of the Exodus

Here's one more essay for you all to read, but this one is from a different PSEO class--Old Testament Archaeology. This one essay is the only one that we did for the whole semester in this class. It is a research paper written about a controversial topic; in my case, the date of the Exodus. OT Archaeology class was so interesting! My teachers showed that there is actual historical and archaeological proof for the Bible, and it was so neat! I wish all of you could have had a chance to do this class--I think you would have enjoyed it as much as I did! Well, at least I hope you enjoy reading my essay. It earned an A (95%) from my teacher.

Sooner Rather Than Later

You could feel the tension and excitement in the air even before the sun had risen.  Parents called to one another.  Children laughed and shouted.  Flocks and herds were everywhere, adding to the bedlam of noise.  Finally, after decades of enslavement, God’s chosen people, the Israelites, were leaving Egypt.   There are many who believe that the exodus did not take place at all.  However, if one believes in the accuracy of Bible, there is no doubt that the exodus did indeed take place.  The question then is when did it take place?  There is an overwhelming amount of Biblical, historical, and archaeological evidence to prove that the exodus occurred in 1446 B.C. under Pharaoh Amenhotep II.

First of all, there is Biblical evidence of an early date exodus.  Bryant Wood, a director of research at the Associates of Biblical Research, said that “The date of the Biblical exodus-conquest is clear.  1 Kings 6:1 and 1 Chronicles 6:33-37 converge on a date of 1446 B.C. for the exodus.”[1]  Wood further supported the early date exodus by using 1 Chronicles 6:33-37 to show that “there were 19 generations between Moses and Solomon, not 12.”[2]

The passage in 1 Kings 6:1 is quoted as follows:

And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.

Wood said, “The 480 years of 1 Kings 6:1 should be taken as a scientifically precise number.”[3]  It is easy to see, then, that the fourth year of King Solomon’s reign took place exactly four hundred and eighty years after the exodus.

History Professor Dr. Charles Aling of Northwestern College explained the mathematics involved to produce the early date of 1446 B.C.  Using the date of 966 B.C. as the fourth year of Solomon, he maintained that the departure of the Israelites from Egypt happened in the fifteenth century B.C.[4]

However, those who believe in the late date of the exodus, around 1200 B.C., under Pharaoh Ramses II, can produce what seems to be Biblical support for their position as well.  The professor of Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern History and Archaeology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, James Hoffmeier, explained that the evidence for the late date exodus is found in Exodus 1:11, which mentions a city that apparently bears Ramses II’s title.[5] Again, in another article, Hoffmeier continued, “Since it was known from Egyptian texts that… Ramses II (1279-1213 B.C.) had built a new city in the northeastern delta named Pi-Ramesses (‘House or Domain of Ramesses’), it logically followed that the exodus occurred… later in the 66-year reign of Ramses.”[6]

Wood responded to that argument with this information:  “When a later name is editorially inserted into a passage that is chronologically earlier than the time of the name change, the editor simply replaced the earlier name with the later name in the majority of cases.”  Wood showed that the name Ramses occurred long before the actual reign of Ramses II.  “It was coined in ca. 1270 B.C. and clearly was used proleptically in Genesis 47:11 and Exodus 1:11.”  Wood concluded by citing the cities of Bethel, Dan, and Hormah as other examples of cases in which “the redactor did not include the earlier name.”[7]

Not only can the early date exodus advocates produce Biblical support, but also historical evidence.  By a careful study of the rulers and events around the time of the early date for the exodus, one can find correlations that are not present during the late date years.  In a lecture given at Northwestern College, history professor Clyde Billington gave the following examples[8]:  Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt from 1504-1482 B.C., could very well have been the mother of Moses.  Her son-in-law, Thutmosis III, was not on very good terms with his mother-in-law, and smashed many of her statues.  His actions could have been prompted out of jealousy of Moses. 

Also in his lecture, Billington spoke of Amenhotep II, the son of Thutmosis III, who reigned from 1453-1415 B.C.  For the first seven years of his reign, he went on many military campaigns.  Suddenly, around 1446 B.C., those campaigns ceased for no apparent reason.  However, an obvious answer comes to us in Exodus 15:4:  “Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea.”  There is some debate among scholars as to whether the pharaoh himself was drowned in the Red Sea;  but, aside from that point, it is obvious that his army and captains were, which certainly would have dampened further military crusades.

Lastly, there are archaeological discoveries that back up the historical evidence for the early date exodus.  It is a historical fact that Thutmosis IV, the son of Amenhotep II, was not actually the first born son of this pharaoh.  Did the first born son die during the tenth plague on Egypt?  The archaeological finding of the Unknown Man E, whom some archaeologists believe to be the mummy of the first born son, indicates this possibility. 

Professor of History at Northwestern College, Clyde Billington, stated that “Everything about Unknown Man E and his unusual burial fits the events associated with the exodus.”  He then went on to list that the Unknown Man E died during the Eighteenth Dynasty in Egypt as a young man of about 23 to 24 years of age, which fits the time period of the early date exodus.  He died of an unknown cause, although his posture, facial expression, and cloth-bound limbs suggest some sort of agonizing convulsions.  This man was wrapped and buried hastily in a sheepskin, which matches the haste of the pharaoh to chase after and recapture the Israelites.  Billington concluded by saying, “While there is and probably never will be any certain proof, I believe that the circumstantial evidence strongly indicates that Unknown Man E was the first-born son of Pharaoh who died at the time of the exodus.”[9]

Another archaeological discovery that supports the early date exodus is the Tel-Amarna Letters.  These letters were sent to Pharaoh Akhenaton by kings in the Canaanite area who complained of being attacked by a people called the Habiru.  Wood expounded further on this subject.  “The 'apiru of the highlands of Canaan described in the Amarna Letters of the mid-14th century B.C. conform to the Biblical Israelites.”  Wood also mentioned the Merneptah Stela, made by Ramses II’s son, Merneptah.  Wood continued, “Since the Israelites under Deborah and Barak were able to overthrow the largest city-state in Canaan in ca. 1230 B.C. and the Merneptah Stela indicates that Israel was the most powerful people group in Canaan in ca. 1210 B.C., it stands to reason that the 'apiru who were taking over the highlands in the previous century were none other than the Israelites.”  Then Wood stated that “This evidence, if it holds up to further scrutiny, would also support a 15th-century B.C. exodus-conquest rather than a 13th-century B.C. timeframe.”[10]

Not only is there Biblical evidence for an early-date exodus in 1446 B.C., but also historical and archeological proof.  Verses such as 1 Kings 6:1 and 1 Chronicles 6:33-37, historical hints of an exodus during the fifteenth century, and actual archeological findings like the Unknown Man E, Tel-Amarna Letters, and Merneptah Stela are all important indicators of an early date exodus.  Because of a lack of evidence for the thirteenth-century exodus, supporters of the late date exodus give Bible critics room to say that the exodus never even occurred.  Yet when one believes that the exodus happened sooner, rather than later, faith in the accuracy of God’s word can be strengthened!

Bibliography:

Aling, Charles F. . "Some observations on the date of the exodus." n.d. 5 May 2012.

Billington, Clyde. Pharaohs of the exodus. n.d. Lecture.

—. "The mummy of the first-born son of pharaoh." 2002. Presented at the 2002 Meeting of the Near East Archaeological Society.

Hoffmeier, James K. "Rameses of the exodus narratives is the 13th century B.C. Royal Ramesside Residence." Trinity Journal (2007): 281-289.

—. "What is the Biblical date for the exodus? A response to Bryant Wood." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 50(2) (2007): 225-247.

Wood, Bryant G. "The Biblical date for the exodus is 1446 BC: A response to James Hoffmeier." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 28(2) (2007): 249-258.

—. "The rise and fall of the 13th-century exodus-conquest theory." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 50(2) (2005): 475-489.

---

[1] Wood, Bryant G. "The Biblical date for the exodus is 1446 BC: A response to James Hoffmeier." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 28(2) (2007). p. 258.

[2] Wood, Bryant G. "The Biblical date for the exodus is 1446 BC: A response to James Hoffmeier." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 28(2) (2007). p. 253.
[3] Wood, Bryant G. "The Biblical date for the exodus is 1446 BC: A response to James Hoffmeier." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 28(2) (2007). p. 253.
[4] Aling, Charles F. . "Some observations on the date of the exodus." n.d. 5 May 2012. para. 2.
[5] Hoffmeier, James K. "Rameses of the exodus narratives is the 13th century B.C. Royal Ramesside Residence." Trinity Journal (2007). p. 282.
[6] Hoffmeier, James K. "What is the Biblical date for the exodus? A response to Bryant Wood." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 50(2) (2007). p. 232.
[7] Wood, Bryant G. "The Biblical date for the exodus is 1446 BC: A response to James Hoffmeier." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 28(2) (2007). pp. 250, 252.
[8] Billington, Clyde. Pharaohs of the exodus. n.d. Lecture.
[9] Billington, Clyde. "The mummy of the first-born son of pharaoh." 2002. Presented at the 2002 Meeting of the Near East Archaeological Society. para. 61.
[10] Wood, Bryant G."The rise and fall of the 13th-century exodus-conquest theory." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 50(2) (2005). p. 489.

PSEO Essay #4: Observation

Hello all! This is my fourth and final essay for my English Composition I Class. I'm so happy! This essay was a little different than the others, in that it was supposed to be based all on observations and interviews, and on no research and no past experience (unless used as flashbacks). It also had a more limited word count--only 750-1000 instead of 1200+. But I had a blast doing my very fist interview as the interviewer, and had a lot of fun writing this as well. It earned an A (95%) from my teacher.

Part of the Family 

The Watkins Veterinary Clinic sign greeted me as I pulled up in front of the small, smart-looking building.  The remembrance of my first experience at this vet clinic warmed my heart.  My dog had been in labor and needed a Caesarean section ASAP.  One vet clinic we had called became very nosy when they found out we had bred our dog.  Another couldn’t possibly fit us into their terribly tight schedule.  When we called the Watkins Clinic, we were immediately impressed when their kind and understanding receptionist reassured us that they no matter what happened they would delivery our puppies—even if they had to come to our house!  During the C-section, we were even more surprised when we were told that, rather than sitting in a waiting room or watching anxiously from behind a glass window, we would actually be helping clean and dry off the puppies as they were delivered.  The vet and his assistant stayed at the clinic long after business hours for the C-section.  All-in-all, the Watkins Veterinary Clinic treated us with the utmost care and respect—just as if we were family.

It is nice to find a veterinary clinic where the owners and pets are valued and respected.  Many vets only seem to only care about raking as much money out of you and your pet as possible.  However, the Watkins Veterinary Clinic’s policy is different.  Their website states, “Our goal and policy is to treat our clients as we would treat our families, and to treat our client’s animals as though they were our own.”

Cool, invigorating air washed over me as I stepped into their lobby.  I could hear faint radio music mixed with the annoying yap of a small dog in some back room.  I nervously told the receptionist that I had come for my interview with the veterinarian.  Soon a short, stout man welcomed me and introduced himself as the veterinarian, Dean.  “Clinic’s been here since around 1980,” he informed me in his hesitant, high-pitched voice.  I asked him if he thought that their customer treatment policy had helped their business at all.  “Everyone’s different, so we appeal to certain people. We’re a little more homey.

By now I had forgotten my nervousness, and was feeling quite at ease.  Dr. Dean invited me into the little surgery room.  A stocky lady with a laughing smile was giving a hysterectomy to an anesthetized Dachshund.  She assured me that she was used to having people watch her in surgery.  I asked Dr. Dean why their clinic allowed people to freely view surgeries and why other clinics often don’t.  He explained that the bigger clinics might have more liability issues.  “Suppose you fell and hit your head and fainted!” he said.  “They would say, ‘Why did you have her in there?’  We take some liberties.  If you feel faint, sit down please!

Having other duties to finish, Dr. Dean left me watching the surgeon, Miranda, at work.  I questioned her as to what was different about this clinic versus other clinics.  She answered that she enjoyed having multiple vets and technicians working together to bounce ideas off of and to create a more flexible schedule.  “It’s a good working environment here!” she informed to me in her bright voice.  “Most employees have worked here for at least a couple of years, which, for me, was also appealing.  There must be a reason for sticking around at this clinic.”

Miranda announced that she and the other staff all got along pretty well.  “We try to be one big, happy family.”  Miranda and the other workers who were next door in the treatment room talked and laughed with each other as they worked.  An appointment for a cat named “Kitty #6” gave the staff a few chuckles.  When I asked Jen, a vet tech, what she liked best about working at this clinic, she stated emphatically that “I like everything!”

The treatment room, cluttered with papers and equipment, contrasted distinctly with the neatness of the rest of the building.  Still, I felt a certain relaxed and informal appeal to it—not the typical sterilized, “don’t-touch-anything” feel that many clinics have.  A white board on the wall by the door asked in orange marker, “Techs: would anyone be able to work Sat. June 2^nd?  Please let me know.  Thanks!”  A computer listing upcoming appointments sat on a desk amid jumbled files and papers.

I left the staff to their tasks, and headed back into the lobby.  A stuffed, cloth tick hanging from the ceiling caught my eye.  Colorful advertisements were taped to the front of the receptionist’s desk.  Treats that would make any dog’s mouth water sat on the desk in a jar painted with colorful paw prints.  A placid dog on a leash poked his head lazily out of the office doorway.

A bell toned as the front door opened.  A customer entered and immediately went over to pet the dog on the leash.  Instead of a formal greeting, the receptionist gave the lady a big hug!  After finishing her business, the customer turned to leave.  I intercepted her and politely asked what her experience at the Watkins Clinic had been.  In a soft, almost loving tone, she remarked, “The vets have done a lot of surgery on three of my cats.  They really care.  It’s about what’s in their hearts that makes them beautiful,” she mused.  “They were very understanding when I had to put a cat to sleep.  I can say nothing bad about them!

I left the Watkins Veterinary Clinic that day fully convinced that this was a place where I and my pets would be respected and well cared for.  I could tell that they cared about their customers, that they cared about each other, and that they cared about the animals.  Vet clinics where you can feel right at home are quite rare, but at the Watkins Veterinary Clinic, I feel like part of the family!

1/2 Way to 10 Weeks!

Hello everyone! The puppies are now 5 WEEKS OLD!! I can hardly believe! They are so cute, so energetic, and SO sweet! They've been enjoying spending their days out in the sunshine outside. They're whelping pen has been getting just a little too small for them, and is only used at night.

All right! Here's some pics from the photo shoot!

Lark, Phoebe, Kestrel, Jay, and Chickadee.

Lark, Phoebe, Chickadee, Jay, and Kestrel.

Jay-Jay

Chickadee-dee

Kestrel

Kestie

We're excited as we've had some wonderful people interested the puppies. We'd be so glad if they all go to such good homes!

4 Weeks Old

Jay, Phoebe, Kestrel, Lark, and Chickadee

The puppies are now 4 weeks old! My, time flies! We're now able to see their Blenheim markings coming out more clearly, and we're able to tell their temperaments better. They love playing outside, and have begun eating moistened food. They bark and playfully growl, and are getting to be good little "watch-puppies." :-) For more information and individual pictures, see our Available Pups page on our Countryside Cavachons website.

Puppies' First Meal

Hey everyone! The puppies are going outside during the day to take advantage of these beautiful, warm, sunshiny days! Here's some pictures of them having their very first meal of Dog Style Captain Crunch and Milk (aka: Puppy Chow with diluted cows milk over it). Here's some photos of them:

Yummy, yummy! Care to try some, anyone?

 

Puppies in their outdoor "playpen."

Mama cleaned up the last of the food.

Puppy Chickadee looking sweet like usual!

Puppy Lark--so adorable!

Puppy Phoebe--did you ever see anything so cute!

The puppies are so adorable and so sweet, and they'll make wonderful companions for children and adults!

3 Week Old Developments

Here they all are for their 3-week-old photo shoot! The puppies are walking around quite well now, and have learned to playfully growl and paw at each other. They are so cute! One puppy (we still aren't sure which one, though) even knows how to sing! We were playing the piano the other evening, and he was howling with every high note that we hit! We're also really excited to notice that the puppies aren't all white after all! They're getting Blenheim colored ears and spots like their mama.

Kestrel

Lark

Phoebe

Chickadee

Jay

 I can't wait to find loving, caring homes for these babies, so let me know if you're interested or know someone who is. The puppies will be old enough to go to new homes on June 6th, but you can place a down payment on one to reserve it. Click here or Contact Us for more information.

PSEO Essay #3: Effects

My third English Composition essay! Only one more after this to go before I'm done with the class! For this essay, I picked a topic that is rather controversial, but it still needs to be discussed. This essay earned an A (95%) from my teacher.

A Slippery Slope

            The Mid-America Union, a conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, met on March 8^th, 2012;   yet, this meeting did not go as planned.  While discussing a topic, someone remarked that the problem would only be solved by the ordination of women.  Note, however, that the Seventh-day Adventist world church as a whole has never sanctioned women’s ordination.  Despite this fact, and although the topic of women’s ordination was not even on the agenda, the Mid-America Union put it to a vote.   As a result of this motion, Lemon (2012), the president of the Mid-America Union, reported, “It is voted to support the ordination of women in the Mid-America Union” (as cited by Dwyer, 2012, para. 5). 

What is going to happen because of this decision?  Some may feel that it is helping lead away from the twisted ideas of male chauvinism and the oppression of women, but they must not realize just what is at stake in taking this step.  Taylor (1997), a delegate for the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, stated the following at the annual assembly with the Christian Reformed Church:  “It would be naïve for us to think the issue is women in office. The issue is also the authority of Scripture, homosexuality, and Creation and evolution” (as cited in Christianity Today, 1997, p. 55).  The ordination of women can lead to women neglecting their God-given roles, to the authority of God’s Word being questioned, and the creeping in of compromise.

            Ever since the beginning of time, women have been given a role in their homes and among their families.  As First Timothy 2:4, 5 states, “Admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be… homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.”  Notice the following ideas in those verses:  Loving and being obedient to their husbands, loving their children, and being homemakers.  This is where a true wife and mother’s ministry lies.  Perhaps some feel that a woman can lead a congregation and still devote herself to her family.  However, the role of a pastor or leader in the church is one that requires much time, energy, and devotion.  Likewise, the role of a wife and mother is a full-time job.  Either one or the other responsibility will suffer if one woman tries to take them both on.  Which role is truly more important?

            Not only is the well-being of husbands and children at stake, but if women are ordained the authority of the Bible is also called into question.  Agouridis (2002), a professor of New Testament, Theological Faculty, at the University of Athens wrote an article on the roles of women in the New Testament.  She had an excellent viewpoint about women playing an important role in the Bible, and about how Christ loved and protected women.  Her intent was to show that women were leaders of the early church, but she could produce no Biblical evidence that the women in the New Testament had positions of bishops or elders in authority over men.  Indeed, Agouridis showed very accurately that women ministered to the needy—even ministering to Christ Himself—that they prophesied, and that they led other women in matters of religion;  but they did not lead men. 

What about Agouridis’s mention of Jezebel, though?  Revelation 2:20 talks about a woman named Jezebel who was teaching the people of Thyatira.  Agouridis used this verse to prove that there was a woman leader in the Biblical New Testament church.  Perhaps Jezebel was a “pastor,” but this was not condoned by the true followers of Jesus.  In fact, Christ, speaking through the writer of the book of Revelation, condemns the people of Thyatira for allowing a woman, Jezebel, to teach them.        

According to Agouridis, however, this was not because Jezebel was teaching, but because “Jezebel's teaching and policy were of a compromising kind” (p. 514).  Agouridis must have failed to read on through the rest of the letter to Thyatira.  Christ was not just condemning what Jezebel was teaching;  He was condemning the fact that Jezebel was teaching!  At the ending of the letter to the church at Thyatira, he made the following statement:

Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—He shall rule them with a rod of iron. (Revelation 2:24-27)

            In the verse above, Christ is alluding to a promise that those who overcame and did not conform to the doctrines that Jezebel taught, and undoubtedly to the fact she was teaching in the first place, would be given “power over the nations” to “rule them with a rod of iron” (verses 26 & 27).  Those who were to rule were referred to in the masculine gender, not feminine.  This is surely the case, as the quote “He shall rule them with a rod of iron” comes from Psalms 2:9 in actual reference to Christ, the Bridegroom, ruling over his people, the Bride.  Thus we see that women leaders were never accepted by the true Christians in the Bible.  Calahan (2006), a pastor at the Berean Bible Church, summed up this concept very well in the following statement:  “From the time of Christ, the church has consistently affirmed the role of women to include a broad variety of ministries with the exception of pastor, elder and the public teaching of adult men” (para. 11).

If the concept of ordaining women is not Biblical, then why should professed Christians be practicing it?  According to Christian Century (1993), a survey done by the Barna Research Group of Glendale, California, revealed that, “76 percent of all American adults are comfortable with women ministers, with only one category—the most conservative Christians—showing a slight majority against women pastors” (p. 1,045).  The article in Christian Century went on to say the following:

“The Barna survey found the strongest supporters of women pastors to be the unchurched….  Other categories of respondents answered affirmatively at the following levels:  all Americans, 76 percent; college graduates, 81 percent; Catholic, 76 percent; Protestant, 75 percent; ‘born again’ Christians, 67 percent; ‘evangelical’ Christians, 45 percent. (p. 1,045) 

Why are so many people, Christians included, vying for something contrary to God’s Word?  In answer to this question, Calahan (2006) remarked that the reason for the growth of supporters of women’s ordination is because “the teaching of the Word of God is being ignored. In some cases the Bible is being reinterpreted so that it accommodates our cultural perspective” (para. 13).  Unfortunately, these seemingly small steps that trod down clear Biblical teachings are paving the road for more trampling of God’s principles.

When God’s Word is not upheld in the decision to ordain women, more and more compromise will creep in.  Women’s ordination is just a step away from the ordination of homosexuals.  God’s Word paints a clear picture of the relationship between Christ and His church:  A marriage relationship.  The book of Revelation depicts God’s people and His church as a bride adorned for Christ, Who is pictured as the Husband (Revelation 21:2, 9).  True church leaders are to be representatives of Christ in loving and caring for their “flock.”  Springer (2005) is an Associate Dean and Director of Field Education of the Rabbinical School at the Jewish Theological Seminary and an advocate of ordaining homosexuals.  Yet she herself admitted that “It makes perfect sense to me that it is not enough for us just to ordain women. Ordaining women and not gays and lesbians leaves us living with the same dissonance” (p. 207 & 208).  That dissonance is created when a woman takes the position of a leader or pastor, the representative of Christ—the Husband—to the church—the bride.  In so doing, she is establishing a “homosexual” relationship between her and that congregation.  When that step of compromise has been taken, it is really not very difficult to take the next step of ordaining homosexuals.

The man who was quoted as having said, “Today women, tomorrow homosexuals” (as cited in Springer, 2005, p. 207) was quite right!  Much is at stake with women’s ordination.  The wives and mothers’ ministries in their homes will be neglected, the authority of the Scriptures will be questioned, and that will lead to more and more compromise creeping in subtly.  Those who support women’s ordination may not understand the dire effects of their decision.  However, sooner or later they will realize that they have stepped onto a slippery slope.  By then it may be too late!

 

References:

Agouridis, S. (2002). Women in the work of the Church: An exegetical contribution to the New Testament. Anglican Theological Review, 84(3), 507-517.

Calahan, J. (July 2006). Rise of women pastors. Retrieved from http://www.neverthirsty.org/pp/feature-articles/200607/rise-of-women-pastors.html

Dwyer, B. (March 2012). The Mid-America Union votes to support the ordination of women. Retrieved from http://spectrummagazine.org/blog/2012/03/09/mid-america-union-votes-support-ordination-women#comment-126358

Presbyterian groups sever CRC ties. (1997, August 11^th). Christianity Today, p. 55.

SBC: Ordaining women up to local churches. (1993, October 27^th). The Christian Century, p. 1,045.

Springer, M. B. (2005). Courageous innovation. Judaism, 54(3), 207-211.