Stephen Fry on meeting God ...

I am not in a far higher position. Women are allowed to be deacons, as I was explaining to trisher.
I dont preach. I dont even read lessons, as I dont think I should.

I dont care much about Methodism. I care about God.
My kids are not in Methodist churches. None of them. They are in ones in their area or country that preach the Bible.

Then you should know more about your own denomination than you appear to. You are in a far higher position than you claim that women can be.

I have come to the conclusion that you are not a Methodist, soontobe and I am not even sure that you are a christian. From your beliefs you could be an Orthodox Jew or a member of one of the many Sects that abound in the United States, mostly in closed communities where they don't have to rub shoulders with people with more open minds who might pollute their perfect faith with thought.

Women priests? "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Galations 3.28

The Methodist church joined the rest of Christianity in 1974. Your sect (whatever it calls itself, and you are too coy about that for my taste,

To those who understand how Methodism works, I am a Circuit Steward of 13 Chapels.

May I remind you that YOU have started more than one discussion in which you have laid down the law as a self-appointed expert about God, the Bible, the Meaning of Life and Everything.
Duck out now by all means, if what you have been saying will not stand up to closer observation.

QED

Soutra. You seem to be misunderstanding me multiple times. I will leave you to it now.

If you look at trishers post, to whom I was responding, she was talking about God, We were not talking about the Methodist church.

Higher up the chain?? Than whom?? Isn't the President of the Methodist Conference the most senior point of reference?

This seems incredibly arrogant and for you to quote something which directly contradicts both what she says and does, beggars belief.
If you do belong to some Brethren sort of sect, why not admit it?

You said you were a Methodist but you clearly do not follow or uphold Methodist teachings

I am not going to give too many personal details. I have done enough of those already.
I expect people to be wary of the internet. Nobody knows anybody.

I am a slightly higher up the chain, Methodist.

Your post of 14.12 says what it says. Do you have a hot line to the Almighty then?
So the Methodist Conference is in breach of God's will, according to you. You are making no sense whatsoever. Or are you making it up as you go along?
What kind of Methodist ARE you?

My post of 14.12pm is what is allowed by God.

"Women have often been, and often are among the voiceless and the unnamed," added the Revd Ruth Gee, President of the Methodist Conference, who will be preaching at the service. "I am proud that there is no role that women cannot play in the Methodist Church in Britain. As one of their successors, I want to thank those women who paved the way. As a female follower of Christ, I want to stand alongside others who do not have a voice, who are unnamed and unseen, even in the Methodist Church. We will celebrate, we will give thanks and we will commit ourselves to the continuing journey towards the time when we can truly affirm that all are one in Christ. This is a celebration for the whole church."
(2014)

Obviously nobody told her that women are allowed to take some leadership roles, but not preach

I have had my doubts before about your particular brand of Methodism, perhaps you could explain?

Oh come off it, soontobe.

I quote from

www.methodist.org.uk/news-and-events/news-releases/methodist-church-celebrates-40-years-of-women%E2%80%99s-ordination

Although women were permitted to become deacons in the Methodist Church from 1890, they were not ordained as presbyters until 2 July, 1974, at the Methodist Conference in Bristol.

trisher - Women are allowed to be deacons. They are allowed to take some leadership roles, but not preach.

annodomini - I dont. I dont agree with it.

grannyactivist. I agree that you can be both. As I said on another thread, my son is one. But he is like myself, where science and God are at odds, the Bible is right, and science has got it wrong.
So my son was careful which part of science he went into.

I am not judging anyone by the way.

But stb there is considerable evidence that the earlier christians accepted women and that women wrote accounts of their leadership roles (in particular Mary Magdalene) and these were suppressed by the Church in order to ensure that men remained all powerful.

That's what I took him to mean, GA, though I am at liberty to disagree with him on the spiritual side.

soon the author of the article articulates very clearly (or so I thought ) that he is in fact a Christian. It is not either he's a Christian OR he's a scientist - it is perfectly possible to be both.

soon. You claim to be a Methodist, so how do you square the prevalence of female clergy in that church with your adherence to the notion that women must keep quiet in church?

Elegran. No I dont think that at all. Definitely not.

Soontobe I do indeed know what I know, I also know the earth is not flat, the waters did not "cover the face of the entire earth" , the world was not created in 6 days, Eve was not created out of one of Adam's ribs and the moon is not made of green cheese.
Mind you, I am open to argument on that last one.

grannyactivist - as far as I understand that article, the writer goes with science. I go with God.

trisher - assuming I am understanding your post correctly.
Yes, the women keeping quiet in services is in the New Testament too. So they are not allowed above a certain point.

I'll end my contribution to this thread with a quote from Dawkins' 'The God Delusion':-

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully. (p. 31)

I want nothing to do with this so-called god. I guess I first started to question when I read about Abraham and his son Isaac, Abraham being willing to murder his son. I was a child, and utterly disgusted and horrified. My nature is to question and I always did, until I rejected the lot.

Deliberately closing your mind is the only way to accept the bible. My mind is to important to me to close it down.