of how the greatest freedom is from conjugial love, and that it is heavenly
freedom itself. With the Last Judgment, the Lord also brought a new state of
freedom in spiritual things, while the teachings of the New Church are known
to have inspired some who worked to abolish slavery.
He then spoke about some of the teachings of Paul which kept women
in submission, such as making it important for a woman to keep her head
covered or else have her hair shaved off. Paul’s teaching that the man is the
head of the woman is rejected by the Writings, yet it is something seen in Islam
and other religions.
Mr. Odhner also associated what Paul and Peter taught about a woman
being silent as an infringement on women’s freedom, because it was coupled
with exhortations for them to be submissive. He spoke of the heartbreaking
amount of suffering women experience in the world today at the hands of the
love of dominion. He saw this illustrated in the dragon’s persecution of the
woman clothed with the sun.
He said that if you search the Writings for what will bring healing and
unity to the Church you will not find the Writings teaching that the solution
is either to ordain women or to ordain only men. But if
you take a stand against any putting of one person over
another, that is a solution the Lord offers to us, and it is
available here and now.
The Rev. David Roth: “The Doctrine of
Accommodation.” He began with the thought that we can
get off track in our ministry when we don’t accommodate
to our hearers, and illustrated failed accommodation with
examples from marketing and personal experience.
The premise of his paper came from the teaching
The premise of Rev.
of Divine Providence 256:, “A religion that is not
David C. Roth's paper came
accommodated is not accepted.” He asked, “Since the Lord
from DP 256:, “A religion
wills the salvation of all, are we willing to accommodate to
that is not accommodated
is not accepted.”
those who see the world differently than we do, for the sake
of a heaven from the human race?”
He then applied the urgency of his question to his own
pastoral work. In his part of the country, many perceive a church that is not
ordaining women as a bigoted, sexist church. He said about 15 to 20 people
had resigned over this issue. He concluded by reflecting on the benefit the
doctrines of the New Church have been to people new to the Church, and the
pain many feel when some cannot get past the fact that ordination is not open
to women.
In discussion, many expressed sympathy for the hurt Mr. Roth described,
with some reminding us of the many people in our own families who
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