WestonWilliams.com

On November 13th the AP reported that Paris Hilton had decided to take her sobriety and share it with the world…at least the elephants in India. Later that same day it was revealed to be false and the AP was forced to retract this story. The entire saga is completely documented for you at the Huffington Post. I personally was surprised and disappointed by Paris’ denial of her philanthropy. I finally thought she might be turning the corner. As a master of seizing the moment she should have jumped at the chance to publicly share her sobriety with the Indian Elephants (and by share her “sobriety” I mean she could promote sobriety among elephants while drinking). In all seriousness, it is apparently problematic when these gentle giants get into local farmer’s rice beer and turn into mean drunks! Their rampages are legendary in this part of the world. These people need help keeping elephants off the sauce! Just when they thought they found a celebrity spokesperson to start AEA (Alcoholic Elephants Anonymous) their hope was vanquished. What a tragedy, if Paris won’t speak for the inebriated pachyderms then who will? Anyone?

Al Mohler is a very gifted and intelligent conservative theologian. He has however recently descended a slippery slope concerning the ordination of women. Recently he posted a blog concerning the Church of England’s announcement that in this past year they ordained more women into the priesthood than men. This is particularly concerning to Mohler as he believes, “The issues of women’s ordination and the normalization of homosexuality are closely linked.” But, how a woman in church leadership will lead to the acceptance of homosexuals somehow escaped me.
He went on to explain that the “interpretive games” which allow a women to serve as a priest are the same which allow homosexuals into the priesthood. He could not be farther from the truth! A simple survey of scripture will result in several references to the condemnation of homosexual practice. There are however no such scriptures which make being a woman a sin. Romans 1:18-27 states that homosexual practice, not femininity, is a sin worthy of judgment.
Furthermore the scriptures restricting women in the church are very clearly culturally driven. Even Paul had a hard time being consistent! In 1 Timothy 2:11-14 he forbids women to speak at all, while in 1 Corinthians 11:5-7 he asks only that their heads be covered when they pray or prophecy. These two passages reveal the different cultural situations at work in the early church. Furthermore there are several references to the veiling of women, a practice the majority of evangelicals have foregone. Why have we considered the veil a transitory cultural statement while the preceding verse concerning women’s roles as immutable law?
That women were active in the early church is undeniable. Acts records several women in service including Lydia in Philippi who was a strong leader, Dorcas was an influential servant (aka deacon) and, Priscilla was a very intelligent co-teacher with her husband. Paul also mentions several women in ministry worthy of note in Romans 16.
Women are not foreigners to ministry! While I might not presently be prepared to defend a woman’s right to the pulpit, I will readily defend a woman’s right to serve in any other category of ordained ministry. This is not an interpretive leap! The greater leap is to ignore women in ministry, both in scripture and the present church, by employing a hermeneutic of ignorance. This is the same great leap of ignorance and turning a blind eye to the text required to bless homosexual practices.
There needs to continue to be a healthy discussion in all churches regarding the role of women in ministry. It is a hotly debated and emotionally charged issue - we need not complicate it with unnecessary frustration. These issues of women in ministry and homosexuality are separate, let us keep it that way.

I’ve become concerned about the growing number of people who like to whisper to animals. It started with the horse whisperer and now the dog whisperer is all over TV. The recent arrest of a dog whisperer in Chicago has increased my concern. After some careful research(aka googling) I found that this problem is much larger than we (read as “normal people”) in society have realized. There are (and I’m not kidding) whisperers for: cats, ferrets, gerbils, hamsters, llamas, elephants, alligators, even bacteria. First of all, how do you whisper to bacteria?
But more importantly what are people finding in common with these animals? How can you find something to talk about, much less whisper about with something that can’t talk? Let me put it this way, if someone came to my house, knocked on my front door and said, “I’d like to whisper to your li’l doggy.” I’d tell him that he’s crazy and needs to leave. If he told me not to worry because he whispered to little doggies all the time I’d call the cops.
I’m a loud person by nature, I like to be loud and I like to yell, particularly at my dog! That’s what dogs are for, they teach you how thankful you are to have obedient children (whom I try to not yell at). Dogs’ don’t need to be whispered to, they can’t understand us anyway!
I don’t understand a lot of things about dogs, like why they lick themselves, or why they bark at the air, or why they chase cars. I understand my dog, she likes long evening walks, a nice casual dinner, to lay out in the sun, naps several times a day. All things I could probably put on her personal ad if I wasn’t afraid of the “Dog Whisperers.”

Curiously, the most serious religious people, or the most concerned scholars, those who constantly read the Bible as a matter of professional or pious duty, can often manage to evade a radically involved dialogue with the book they are questioning.