We do not believe that women can be pastors because Scripture tells us as much. But let’s be honest, a lot of us hold to this view “because Scripture says so.” Scripture saying so is the number reason to do or not to do something. While we believe that wholeheartedly, in the very gender-confused and feminist-saturated culture we live in, it is not enough to know what you believe—you must also know why you believe it. So that is why this week, we are taking a very short amount of time to explain the why’s, and answer some common objections. Remember, being reactionary and irritated is not strength—it’s weakness. No, we don’t believe that women are worth less than men because they are not called to be pastors. In order to believe that, you must believe that being a pastor makes you worth more in the church, which is a lie, and very possibly exposes idolatry. The reality is that the knee-jerk “you just don’t think women are valuable” argument is intellectually lazy. The church has not held to this view for millennia because it slipped and chose not to have a strong hermeneutic on New Testament passages related to women’s roles, despite having a robust history of being very concerned with handling the text accurately. In fact, Paul appealed to the Creation order laid out in Genesis to make his case in 1 Timothy. As Tom Ascol points out for us: “The order of creation and the order of the fall provide the reason that women are not to exercise authority over men in the church. From the beginning God has intended that men lead in the home and in the church. This is no slight to women. It is God’s wisdom commanding what is best for His people and His world.”