800OVER;373412 wroteWhen you quote the Bible you open yourself to people quoting the Bible. You know this right? Want me to quote the Bible?....how about (sticking to new Testament so that I avoid the insane "Old Testament doesn't count" argument :
Well, why wouldn't I know that? And more importantly, why would I be afraid or in any way worried that someone would quote the bible?
For the record, anyone who says "the OT doesn't count't" is explaining the relationship of the Law to the New Covenant
extremely poorly. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. (2Tim 3:16)
As for the actual verses you mention, I'm not exactly sure what your point is. Do you actually think, in context with the entirety of what Jesus taught - including and especially the words that I quoted above - that the verses pertaining to swords mean he was
literally calling for violence? If so, I would commend to you the sermon series
Inglorious Pastors.
Re: women remaining quiet/not teaching. All scripture does need to be read in the light of both its original context and its meaning for us today. In the case of Timothy we are talking about a letter written to a particular group of people at a particular time in history.
The denomination of which I am a part has ordained women as pastors equal to men since 1889.
I will concede that this is a very contentious topic among christians.
As for 'men head of the household', that's a longer discussion than we can have here. Again, this is an area where christians hardly agree, and historically this
has been used to oppress women. Typically though, those who did/do are reading only verses 22-24 and conveniently omitting/ignoring
verses 21 and 25-29. Even as you did.