It has been the majority view (and biblical view) in Church History that the role of Pastor / Elder is reserved for men only. This isn’t because women are considered inferior to men, but rather the focus is on different God given roles (despite what today’s culture may say men and women are different, yet equal).
Recently, Founders Ministries, which is a conservative Baptist organisation, posted a theological article entitled, “Only Men May be Pastors,” on their website and social media platforms. This article, which was written by Pastor Tom Hicks, sets for a very strong biblical case for the qualifications of a Pastor.
Nothing in this write-up by Founders went against accepted Christian theology, but rather it reinforced the traditional view of Christianity. I personally shared it on my social media platforms, and I didn’t see one ounce of opposition.
However, that citadel of theological truth; that bastion of biblical doctrine, Instagram, did take umbrage with the article. The theologians over at Instagram decided that they knew better than the Bible, so they deemed the article to be in violation of their “Community Guidelines on hate speech…”
So Instagram has censored our @FoundersMin article by Tom Hicks, “Only Men Can Be Pastors.” Big Brother can’t tolerate biblical truth in the marketplace of ideas. pic.twitter.com/RgIfbysD3c
— tom ascol (@tomascol) November 12, 2018
Instagram has now set itself up as the fount of all knowledge when it comes to theology. They sit in judgement over the Bible, and indeed over God Himself, when it comes to Christian teaching. Instagram deems that the teachings of the Bible are now “hate speech.”
As I look around the wasteland of social media, I notice that Instagram has photos and articles from numerous religions. I cannot help but wonder if they too will be deemed as “hate speech,” or is this new moved limited to Baptists, or indeed to Christianity as a whole?
