The small, relational Christian community of just shut up

 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.

And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

-- I Corinthians 14:33ff.

Today's Christian women don't acknowledge the authority of the Bible, so why bother listening to anything they say?

Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. -- 1 Cor. 14:34

Maybe They Should Just Call It Hymen-eutics

One Karen Yates, here, wants church to be more, well . . . horizontal:

Think of what a typical church gathering looks like. During the teaching portion, we sit in our chairs, take notes, follow along in the outline, and listen to our pastor deliver his well-prepared lecture on John's letter to the church in Laodicea, or whatever the passage or topic may be. We hear the message, we write our notes, but are we learning? ... Although the message from the pulpit can seem like the "main act," going to church is about relating to one another in Christian community. ... Would we allow that the church is not the church because of our pastor's sermons, but because of the interaction of the congregation, the formation of community around the Word of God?

Somehow I don't think she's ever formed a small, relational Christian community with her husband around this part of the Word of God:

For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

-- 1 Cor. 14:33ff.

The Place of the Idiot: Where the Unbeliever Sits, or the Novice?

ton topon tou idiotou (Greek New Testament)

locum idiotae (Latin Vulgate)

the room of the unlearned (King James Version)

the place of the uninformed (New King James Version)

the position of an outsider (Revised Standard Version)

the place of the ungifted (New American Standard Bible)

the place of the unlearned (Authorized Standard Version)

1 Corinthians 14:16

From Where I Sit

Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?

If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?

1 Corinthians 14:16, 23