not allowed to become ordained in the priesthood? There is ample evidence in Scripture for women's leadership in the early church. Such leadership became increasingly prohibited as the church became a public institution, as it was not considered proper for women to hold leadership positions in public places. As the world has come to see the equality of women holding leadership positions in the civil public world; so it would be right for them to be church leaders today. This would signal the church's real belief in the equality of women and men. The Old Testament states on many occasions that women are not allowed to be priests. These statements are based on the fact that men were born first therefore they are automatically capable of doing a better job. The Old Testament tends to hold a very biased opinion in that they did not even state that women participated in church life. The New Testament does, however, give a precedent for the ordination of deaconesses (I Tim. 3:8-11, Rom. 16:1). The Bible states that Aquila and Priscilla, who served under Paul's administration, were deacon and deaconess. It also goes on to explain the importance of the role of women in the church and the fact that they were major contributors to the church community and in the way that the church was run. Why then, in certain parts of the Bible, does it state that women held no importance in the church when obviously they were contributors. It is from this that we can say that it is mainly the church that can not accept this change for Jesus called both women and men to be his disciples. Surely the life of Jesus should be the model for ministry and decisions in the church. The Bible is the most respected religious book in the world, with over 85 million people holding the Bible as their most sacrificial book. It also is known to contradict itself with modern society. Such examples are, (Timothy 2: 3-18) , the scripture states among other things, that priests a...
