Why do people say Paul told women to "shut up" in the church, when he didnt?

Question

34 let the women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but let them be in subjection, as also saith the law.

35 And if they would learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home: for it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church.

I don't see the word shut up in there, do YOU? And you know that asking someone to be silent is different from telling someone to shut up.

So why the confusion on this?

Answer 1

There will be no confusion when people finally realize that Paul's letters are not the Gospel of Christ.

Answer 2

People "read into" things what they want to. And then, they do not study to find the underlying reasons for Paul's true words. These are people too lazy to search for truth on their own.

No confusion here.

Pauls words were evoked from confusion in the church brought on by too many people interupting the teachings.  

Answer 3

same context. you're just being stubborn.

Answer 4

I believe one of the reason that so many preachers are the way they are because of this part of scripture. Paul states in the beginning of this whole passage of how women should be, he says, I say, not the Lord. and this is where scripture has been taken and torn into a million pieces. Just because Paul says it doesnt mean we have to follow the things of what he says since he clearly states it is not God but his own saying and belief. one of the many reasons l encourage people to read the bible themself instead of depending on their preachers.  

Answer 5

If you were told to "be silent" on R&S or were told to "shut up" on R&S, would you see much of a distinction...???

And I disagree whole-heartedly with your responder who seeks to twist the historical context to water-down St Paul's words - it was not the tendency for women to speak more in church then men, and outside of his weak anecdotal evidence, there is no evidence anywhere to suggest they did....the social milieu of 1st century Mediteranean cultures was that women were second class citizens - to allow women to participate in public discussions was a black mark on ANY organization that allowed it...St Paul was simply doing what he always did - adjusting his beliefs to fit the surrounding culture to gain as many adherents as possible...

...one gets the feeling that St Paul may have been like the little boy who goes out selling candy bars for his school, and does his best to sell the most...  

Answer 6

Paul and Bill O'Reilly have things in common.  They never tell people to shut up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrNl6-j9x...

Answer 7

People take things out of context all the time.  Some chose to interpret the bible in their own way.  Personally, I agree with you.

Answer 8

It amounts to the same thing.  The passage is not directed at individuals who were talking too much, it was directed at all members of just one s*x.  I don't buy the "explanation" that a few women tended to ask too many questions.  The use of "subjection" and "not permitted for them to speak" makes it pretty clear that the passage is about the proper role of women, not about a particular case of one church with a few chatty women.

That said, I don't believe Paul actually wrote that passage.  It was probably inserted by some later misogynistic cleric.

Answer 9

The message seems to be the same to me.

Answer 10

The Catholic Church in the Council of Nicea dramatically edited the Bible.  This was added by them.  You should research the Apocryphal writings that are available, and you will be pleasantly surprised at what the original Bible said.  Not all of the writings they removed from the Bible are available, as the church says they are keeping the others locked up for eternity for the good of Christianity.

This is not speculation.  It is documented church history.

Answer 11

True.

I think the situation was that usually it was some (not all, of course) women that took it upon themselves to ask tons of questions during teachings and to interrupt and try to "help" the person doing the teaching, and Paul was saying, they should ask their husbands at home.  I have, honestly, seen this happen over the years, and it is more commonly a woman than a man that does it, that just can't stop talking during a teaching.  So Paul was saying, let's not do that.

I am sure that Paul would have said the same silence command to any man that was doing it.

Answer 12

What he said is even worse. At least shut up can be dismissed as a simple childish comment. He seems to ACTUALLY believe he has the authority to treat women as inferior.

Answer 13

"Shut up" is a modern expression which is the equivalent of saying "keep your silence," as people used to say.  Language evolves (just like organisms!), so attributing the modern version of the same intent to Paul's dated language is fair.

Answer 14

Lion of Judah, what a wonderful nickname.  It isn't polite to tell people to 'shut up' and Paul didn't use those words.  However, I'm afraid you are making a distinction without meaning.  Paul's instruction is that women not speak in public.  In this, Paul identifies himself as a person within his own culture.  As radical a Christian as he was, Paul was still a child of his culture when it came to the role of women.

Jesus welcomed women among his disciples and praised them for their faith.  This was a radical departure for the Jewish community.  Paul also welcomed women among his followers and often praised them for supporting his ministry.  Paul just couldn't take the next step and recognize the full spiritual gifts of women within the community of faith - he couldn't accept them as teachers, preachers, evangelists and leaders.

Today, many Protestant denominations have recognized the gifts of women by ordaining them into full Christian ministry.  My hope is that this trend will continue that all the Church might be blessed by the service of women of faith.

God Bless.

Answer 15

"for it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church. "

That pretty much sums it up. According to your bible, women are not to talk AKA be silent, AKA shut up.

What's so hard to understand?

Answer 16

People who do not believe will use their ignorance of God as an excuse to misinterpret the teachings of the Bible. It is true that Paul did not want women to teach in the church, but to be led spiritually by their husbands, fathers, etc. This however was society talking, not God. No where in the Bible does it ever state that God or Jesus thought less of women than he did of men. Jesus did admonish women to keep the counsel of their husbands and be submissive to his spiritual leadership, but that was because at the time, women (for the most part) were not as knowledgable of the teachings as were the men. Men have ALWAYS controlled society because they were physically stronger...but we have now reached the point in technoligcal advances where sheer physical strength no longer determines who is in authority over others. Paul did what he thought best for the church at that point in time...and he was probably correct. Today, those standards can no longer apply.

Answer 17

I think telling a person that if they open their mouth that this is shameful is about the same as Shut Up, maybe worse.

To be fair to Paul, which isn't easy for me, he probably didn't write that letter, or that part of it.