You Can Only Teach if You Have a Penis

The Governing Body states that it uses women (alongside men) to teach outside of the congregation but men only to teach within the congregation, pointing to Paul's words at 1 Timothy 2:12, 13 (NWT);

"I do not permit a woman to teach, or to exercise authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve.” 

If you take Paul's words at face value we should all be in subjection to the animals because they were formed before Adam!  Okay that might be flippant but my point is - what has the order of creation got to do with authority.  Paul is wrong - GASP!  Why?  

Judges 4:4  Now Debʹo·rah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapʹpi·doth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 She used to sit under Debʹo·rah’s palm tree between Raʹmah and Bethʹel in the mountainous region of Eʹphra·im; the Israelites would go up to her for judgment. 

Jehovah, we are told, never changes and here he is using a woman, not just to teach but to judge, in fact she was a leader of the nation of Israel.  She had authority over men and women and, according to the scriptures, she had Jehovahs backing.  This is what Jehovahs Witnesses say about Deborah;

JW.ORG;  Debʹo·rah is a prophetess. Jehovah gives her information about the future, and then she tells the people what Jehovah says. Debʹo·rah is also a judge. She sits under a certain palm tree in the hill country, and people come to her to get help with their problems.

This is the problem with a religion that takes everything in the bible literally - because there are clear contradictions in the bible, they have to choose one interpretation over another, which then leaves them wide open to criticism.  Now Witnesses will argue this is not a contradiction, they will argue at that point in the history of the Israelites, Jehovah used Deborah because all the male leaders were weak.

Which begs the question - If Jehovah considers a woman capable of judging when the alternatives are weak men why does the Governing Body use weak male elders rather than strong female alternatives?  Who has more authority, the Apostle Paul or God himself?

Paul may well have had many attributes that benefitted the congregation but don't forget he was still originally Saul of Tarsus, a man who had extreme views and persecuted the early Christians.  It seems that his extreme and controversial views continued into his life as Paul the Christian and he voiced them publicly on occasion.  In this case he is displaying his chauvinistic tendencies and also maybe a lack of knowledge of Jehovahs previous appointments.

The Governing Body have fallen into the trap of believing every word in the bible must be true and then trying to justify why some texts contradict others.

The bible, I concede is a magnificent piece of literature, however it is not perfect and to assign it perfection is to misunderstand the frailties of the people who wrote it.

Women in the Witness Organisation are praised on one hand and condescended too on the other. Despite the fact that they carry out the majority of the preaching work they are kept away from serious decision making within the congregations and they are not permitted to use, their often extensive knowledge and experience, to enhance the teaching within the Kingdom Halls.

If Deborah walked into a Kingdom Hall today she would be warmly welcomed.  But if she suggested that she get up on the platform and use her intimate knowledge of Jehovah to teach and build faith the elders would politely decline - 'Sorry love but you can't get up there -you haven't got a penis!"