In this episode we continue talking about the topic of how the institutional box church misrepresents and misinterprets passages of scripture that mention women in the body of Christ. We take a look at the historical and cultural context of Paul's first letter to Timothy and specifically, 1 Timothy chapter 2. In giving his reasons for writing this letter to Timothy, Paul instructs him to dispel myths that had arisen in the assembly (1 Timothy 1:3-4). In chapter 2 of his letter we see Paul begin to dismantle some of those myths and those myths centered around the worship of the pagan idol, Artemis. The culture in Ephesus was heavily influenced by the worship of Artemis. Artemis was a female goddess of Greek origin and the worship and culture of Artemis was female centric. While males could participate in the worship of Artemis, women were dominate and men had a lesser role (kind of the opposite of what we see today in most churches). 
 
 Here are some of the myths Paul addresses:

• In the Ephesian culture, Artemis was looked to as the protector of women in childbirth. 
• Women stood a better chance of Artemis hearing and answering their prayers if they wore expensive clothes and jewelry when petitioning Artemis.
• Artemis was born before her twin brother Apollo, meaning woman was created before man.

We also need to keep in mind these important points:

• Timothy was not a pastor. There's no indication of that anywhere in Scripture. That's a church history-driven idea that is incorrect.
• The letters of 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus are not "pastoral letters" written to pastors. Calling them pastoral letters is another false assumption delivered to us from church history.
• The letters to Timothy and Titus are not across-the-board manuals for doing church. They address specific problems that arose in specific locations involving specific people at a specific time. Failure to recognize this and instead promote the false assumption that everything in them is applicable to every generation without regard to the historical and cultural context they were written in, has led to the muzzling of half of the body of Christ.

Books mentioned in this episode:

• Artemis: Virgin Goddess of the Sun and Moon - https://tinyurl.com/2p9cfykc
• What's With Paul and Women? https://tinyurl.com/yp6n47xn

I brought this episode over from the Grace Cafe podcast. It's part 2 of a 4-part series I'm re-posting here on the UnSunday Show. The link to the Grace Cafe podcast is below if you would like to see other episodes on this topic.

Enjoy!

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Other Places You’ll Find Me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow
The Grace Cafe Podcast: https://www.gracecafepodcast.com

This is part one of four episodes I'm bringing over from the Grace Cafe podcast on the topic of women in the church and how institutional Christianity uses scripture out of context to silent women. Here's a breakdown of the episodes I'm bringing over:

• Twisting the Truth: How Church Uses Scripture to Silence Women - Part One (this episode).
• Twisting the Truth: How Church Uses Scripture to Silence Women - Part Two (next week).
• Did The Law of Moses Silence Women? A Second Glance at 1 Corinthians 14:34-40
• Headship and Submission

This week and next, explore the question, did Paul command women to be silent in church? This episode is a much needed overview of what the New Testament says about women in the body of Christ. We look at several of the clear passages of scripture to lay a good foundation for this topic before jumping into the sometimes not-so-clear waters of 1 Timothy chapter 2 and 1 Corinthians 14 next time. Grab your favorite beverage and listen in!

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Other Places You’ll Find Me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow
The Grace Cafe Podcast: https://www.gracecafepodcast.com

Let's talk about what happens when we stop going to church. This is from the livestream that I did on May 4th, 2025 on YouTube. Here's the link in case you want to watch the video:

https://www.youtube.com/live/CHWejf9tjwk?si=tQtWdw1Jzf3VubJe

You can follow the UnSunday Show on YouTube at:

https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow

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Other Places You’ll Find Me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow
The Grace Cafe Podcast: https://www.gracecafepodcast.com

The video version of this episode is on my YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/H89bdlfkwHg

In this episode I share a quote from Michael C. Kapler's book, Clash of the Covenants: Escaping Religious Bondage Through the Grace Guarantee. This is an excellent book that I recommend without hesitation. You can find it on Amazon at https://bit.ly/3Rump8V

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Other Places You’ll Find Me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow
The Grace Cafe Podcast: https://www.gracecafepodcast.com

The gospel isn't a group project. If grace is free, why do we try so hard to add to it? In this episode, I talk about how bringing nothing to the table isn't a burden but is ultimate freedom. Grace apart from works is a death sentence for institutional religion that can't be tolerated there.

Let's talk about grace!

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Other Places You’ll Find Me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow
The Grace Cafe Podcast: https://www.gracecafepodcast.com

Holiness Isn't a Hustle. We don't become more holy or sanctified over time. We're either holy or we're not. Many believers feel trapped in a cycle of performance, thinking sanctification is about sweating for Jesus. Too often, we're taught that sanctification, or holiness, is about working harder, doing more, and proving ourselves to God. But what if it isn't about striving to do more but about resting in what's already been done? 

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Other Places You’ll Find Me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow
The Grace Cafe Podcast: https://www.gracecafepodcast.com

"The moment the church of God shall despise the pulpit, God will despise her." -Charles Spurgeon

The pulpit is in the way. Pulpits have a long history of being an obstacle that is in the way of the Body of Christ functioning as God intends for it to function. When the Body of Christ is gathered together are we limited to the voice of one person behind a pulpit telling us their opinion of what to believe, what to do, or scolding us for doing it wrong? Or is every believer qualified to participate and contribute with their spiritual gifts, building up the Body of Christ? 

In this episode, I share examples of how the traditional church mindset elevates the pulpit as the focal point of our meeting together and disables the Body of Christ by limiting participation to the elite few; pastors and church leaders.

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Other Places You’ll Find Me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow
The Grace Cafe Podcast: https://www.gracecafepodcast.com

"I don't want to read my Bible anymore. Is there something wrong with me? I need to fix this!" 

This is a common theme that happens when we leave the institutional box church. Many times, any desire to read the Bible disappears and we start to think there's something wrong with us that needs fixed. We tend to think that losing a desire to have a regular Bible reading schedule makes us disappointing to God and getting back to having a daily Bible reading experience is imperative. 

But there's a reason we lose the desire to read the Bible when we leave institutional religion and it usually because the Bible has been weaponized against you in some way in order to prevent you from leaving. This is one form of spiritual abuse, so is it any wonder that you've lost the desire to read it? 

Next week: Breaking the Pulpit Barrier: Freeing the Body of Christ

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Other Places You’ll Find Me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow
The Grace Cafe Podcast: https://www.gracecafepodcast.com

Let's talk about Jeremiah 17:9 and his statement that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Is it true? Are our hearts deceitful and wicked and not to be trusted or is there more to that description that needs clarification? Let's talk.

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Other Places You’ll Find Me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow
The Grace Cafe Podcast: https://www.gracecafepodcast.com

Welcome to episode 100 of The UnSunday Show! I was so focused in this episode on what I wanted to say that I forgot to mention this is episode 100. Triple digits! Yay!!! This is the final episode on the subject of pastors, elders, and shepherds. In this episode I talked about how the word pastors, which only appears in Ephesians 4:11, was a result of church tradition. In every other occurrence of the Greek word translated pastors in Ephesians 4:11, it's translated as shepherds. We saw a few of those last week when we talked about elders in the body of Christ. This week we look at more occurrences of the same word and all are translated shepherds or shepherd.

Why is that? I believe a big part of the reason is because the translators allowed the structure of the institutional church around them to influence and direct their interpretation of ποιμένας (poimenas) to mean pastors instead of shepherds and in so doing, the institutional church system of a top-down authority structure was reinforced. 

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Other Places You’ll Find Me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow
The Grace Cafe Podcast: https://www.gracecafepodcast.com