Expert: Todd Tyszka - 6/15/2010

Question
QUESTION: Dear Mr. Tyszka,

Hello again. The last question I posed was about the Sabbath.

There are things that Paul says in the bible that trouble me. I can go for chapters perplexed, and then I'll read a tiny portion that will make sense to me- like a bell. But it will just be that portion.

Tonight, I listened to an old sermon by T.D. Jakes and for the very first time I heard things he said that just didn't line up with what I read in the bible. What he said was so broad that it didn't feel anchored in specific bible teaching. It's hard not to like Bishop Jakes. He gives hope. But... I guess I was starting to accept everything out of his mouth because of that. I say this because I think this is an epidemic in the lives of many Christians. A year ago, I discovered a website by Sherry Shriner who declared that Paul the Apostle contradicts Christ. I found her to be curt when we corresponded, and so I moved on. So tonight, while googling Jakes, I stumbled onto her site again and began to read carefully examples she gives on why Paul is a "satanic plant" among the apostles. Now for myself, I appreciate that Paul urges husbands to love their wives (Ephesians 5:25), but it bothers me that he tells women that they ought to shut up in church (I Corinthians 14:34). There was so much that Paul said that didn't click with me.

I also recalled tonight that years ago when I wasn't much of a Christian, I awoke in the middle of the night to read Job. I had been depressed so I felt that I would be led to understand what was happening to me. I could not understand what Job's friends were saying to him. Their attempts to comfort Job was inept, long-winded, and undiscerning, but meant to sound good. Then the young man, Elihu stood up and all of his words were like a breath of fresh air; it was effortlessly understood. I felt a clarity from within that portion of the text. I took this to mean that God intended for the reader to be frustrated because they were full of hot air.  

Paul feels like Job's friends to me. Sometimes Paul writes in a fog until he says something that rings True in my heart, or rings cruel or questionable.

So Mr. Tyszka, is it possible that Paul is not trustworthy? Is it possible that God wants us to discern a "Judas" preaching to us from within our scripture? And is the free gift of Salvation free--? Paul warns us in I Corinthians 15:2 that we must hold to our belief and not believe in vain.

Thank you for your time and patience. I know it's a long letter- and potentially offensive, but I feel it's absolutely worthwhile. God bless you.

David

ANSWER: Hi David,
It's good to hear from you again, although I must admit it's a little disheartening, but not offensive, to read your struggle. I was offended, however, by the website you mentioned, and will address that later. I cannot comment on T.D. Jakes as I'm not sure what you heard from him, but I have read everything from Paul in the Canon. I agree that Paul is not always easy to understand and that is why it is essential to understand the hermeneutics (method of interpretation). Hermeneutics looks at the syntax/grammar, the historical/cultural implications (e.g. why were tax collectors despised?), the context, the theology (first let Scripture interpret Scripture), and a literary analysis which looks at the type of writing (e.g. letter, poetry, prophecy, histories, narrative, apocalyptic writings... Some writings are allegories, similes, metaphors, literal or figurative. There's a lot to look at to understand something two thousand years ago in a different language and culture. Despite all this, the Bible is pretty clear.

The only verse you mention concern over is 1 Corinthians 14:34 which is easily explained through a proper hermeneutical analysis. I have studied 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and admit that this sounds on the surface extremely harsh. On top of that, the verse opens by saying it applies to "all the congregations of the saints." However, the "silence" (the Greek verb "sigao") needs to be interpreted from the context, historical/cultural background, etc.

1. The Greek tense behind “should remain silent” is a present imperative, which commands the continuation of an existing condition, thus “keep on remaining silent” (Beginner’s Grammar of the Greek New Testament, New York:  Harper & Row, Publishers, W.H. Davis, p. 168). This indicates that the women in Corinth, as well as all other churches, were already silent during the meetings. This was the culture. This was not a new command; they were merely being confirmed in what they were already doing. Paul founded the Corinthian church and was with them for two years so he knew this. In Jewish synagogues, women were not allowed to speak publicly, and many of the early believers came from such a background. The Greek biographer, Plutarch, wrote that the voice of modest women ought to be kept from the public, and that they should feel as much shame over being heard as over being stripped (Fritz Reinecker, Linguistic Key To The Greek New Testament, 438). Throughout the pagan world, women were (quite wrongly) generally regarded as inferior to men (Donald Guthrie, New Testament Theology, 774). It is a fact that women were not allowed to speak at all in the gatherings of the secular Greek city-state ekklesia (Piper and Gruden, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, 153). This accounts for why no lengthy explanations were necessary to support these instructions.

2. It also does not mean "shut up" or absolute silence. Paul previously in 1 Corinthians 11:5 implied that women prayed and prophesied in church so it obviously doesn't mean complete silence. In other places in Scripture, this word (sigao) means to be silent in a particular way. For example, when the disciples witnessed the transfiguration, they “held their peace.” (Lk. 9:36). The same word (sigao) is used here but that does not mean the disciples did not talk at all. They simply did not discuss what they had seen with others. Women need to be silent in a certain way because there is an authority structure and they need to honor that (1 Timothy 2:11-12). Also, keep in mind that this applied only to speaking to the entire congregation at the church meetings. If you read the entire chapter of ! Corinthians 14 in context, before these verses Paul says a lot (33 verses) about orderly use of the spiritual gifts, namely the gift of prophecy and the gift of tongues (which these verses relate to). If you were to look at the early church back then, you would see that these gifts were being abused and Paul said that these church meetings needed to be orderly.

Personally, I don't believe it is proper according to the Bible for a woman to be a Pastor or in authority over men in the church. This is a widely-held Orthodox Christian position which the Bible is clear on. However, I think it is proper for women to serve at church in the ways we find throughout Scripture (e.g. Phoebe (Rom 16:1-2) and Priscilla (Acts 18:2-3; Rom 16:3; 1 Cor 16:9)).

As far as Paul being a "Judas," or a "satanic plant," that is false teaching as well. If that was true, the Bible would not be the "Word of God" and would have no basis for truth. Paul was clearly inspired by the Holy Spirit to write what he did and this is a core belief of Christianity. The Bible has several verses which self-authenticate the Bible to be the inspired Word of God, written through the personality of the human writers, yet it is infallible and without any error in the originals (which we know through the tens of thousands of manuscripts which all basically say the exact same thing). Do you see how this belief undermines the authority of the Bible?

Lastly, I really encourage you David to use caution towards who and what you allow to speak into your life. If you spent any time reading Sherry Shriner's main website (she has dozens of websites!), you should have had a lot of red flags go up. She is a radical conspiracist, but so extreme, it's laughable. I can't imagine her being serious it's so bad! A quick survey of the long web page yields "The Lord has called me to warn the world of the coming UFO and Alien Invasion," "My Name in Numerology," and a video on "Two Suns" which states that the Lake of Fire is in our sun and behind our sun is God's temple. She shows some bad pictures which look like there's two suns (At this point I cracked up laughing) and then goes on with her false teaching that the rapture will only include 144,000 (the elect), that aliens have a New World Order agenda to take over the world, and her conspiracy that the government is hiding the 2nd sun with with "chemtrails, extreme clouding, and even volcanic ash." She then has a video on "How To Kill a Zombie," and then tries to sell you a water gun to "Burn and Destroy Aliens and the coming Giants with Orgone charged water." The offensive part follows when she shows pictures of Presidents (Obama, Bush, Clinton), musicians, celebrities and some people with deformities, and suggests that they are all reptilian aliens. ,I could go on and on as this page is huge and full of lies. Jesus is not the "Good Antichrist" or "Antichrist #3" and Obama is not the "#2 Antichrist." And don't buy the "Liberty Blasters" for $100 because they won't kill the aliens as promised! UFO's are NOT "crashing out of the skies" as people kill "aliens and hybrids" with their Super Soakers. Honest! It really is laughable but saddening when you consider that people actually believe this stuff (and waste money on it).

I hope this helps and I appreciate the honesty in your questions. God will bless your humility and remember, we are all learning and growing. The key is to have a teachable heart as the Lord leads us.

All the Best,
Todd Tyszka

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Mr. Tyszka,

Sorry for my late reply to your reply. I realize you took a great deal of time to give this information and I am grateful.

Is there a supplemental book written that can help me to understand what Paul is saying in the bible? It's frustrating to say the least if the bible is clear, but a lot of what Paul says simply is not clear at all.

As to what you say about Sherry Shriner, thank you. I will exercise caution. Initially, her site gave me... pause. I felt a foreboding about it, but the idea about Paul never left me. It is easy to get caught here and there in other information, and sometimes it is very disorienting for me. I did not know these other claims you mention about Shriner. I will avoid her sites.  

But let me say that I find that there are some Christians doing the work that Shriner is doing. They are researching the potential of a New World Order being implemented and using the Book of Revelations to explain much of it. They are also looking into New Age and finding its roots in theosophy and Satanism- New Age essentially is for a one-world religion, something the Anti-Christ will ride on when he arrives. I like to think I'm not a conspiracy theorist because it has an awful taint to it. I've had my share of embarrassing looks and silences unfortunately. People will just as soon go back to sleep then believe that their most favorite politicians and movie stars are not the wonderful, incredible gods they make them out to be. But they are in fact, Luciferian. While I'm not for giant super soaker alien guns or any of that silly stuff, I have to say that there is strong indication and documented evidence that there is a very real "movement" in the world to unify religions and, Christianity happens to be a huge threat. I think that any Christian must see that there is something very, very odd happening in our country and in the world. I am, of course, open to your interpretation and comments about it because it could only help me.

Thank you again for your time and your kindness. I look forward to hearing a bit more.

Respectfully,

David

Answer
Hi David,
I was glad to see your receptiveness to my comments and relieved that you agreed about Sherry Shriner. As far as understanding Paul, that is what commentaries are for. I don't know of any books that would cover his writings better than you just using reputable commentaries when you come to a difficult passage. Most of the major commentaries are available online for FREE. For example, go to http://www.blueletterbible.org/commentaries for 23 different commentaries! More can be found through a Google search or perhaps your local library.

I hope this helps and thanks again for the questions!

Todd