I was just wondering a few hours ago while I was helping out with making dinner...

why did God put so many ambiguous passages in the Bible, that would be open for so many varying interpretations, be that due to culture, social mores, age or otherwise??

Cases in point include Judith's recent comments on women in the church, and Sop's comments on femininity in general. Per Judith's, there are just SO many differing views on what role a woman should play in the church- is she allowed to pastor? To teach? To preach? To even speak?? For every permutation of views, there is an adherent, somewhere, out there, beneath the pale moonlight. And what's more, there are some people out there who believe one thing to the exclusion of all others- and go around decrying the folly of the adherents to other views- it doesn't look very good for the body of Christ.

So, WHY??

This is the answer that came to me. I think God allows these "ambiguous" bits in the Bible because they allow his people to display a distinct type of unity. If there were a set of 500+ clearly and unambiguously stated, and everyone who called him/her-self a Christian adhered to those, then unity isn't hard. In fact, if someone thinks exactly the same as you, there's no sweat to getting along with them, because they're LIKE YOU.

However, when you get to differences in opinion, THAT'S where the rubber hits the road- that's where Christians should exercise the agape kind of love that says "Even though I don't agree with you specifically in this, I still love you as my brother/sister in Christ". THAT is the kind of love that says to the world at large "Hey, this family has something going on here!"...THAT is the kind of love that is attractive, that makes us salt and light.

Having said that, I mean, of course there is a line between what is and isn't Biblical, and one must draw the line somewhere (and I'm thinking the whole homosexual debate here), but with things like women in the church where there seems to be so many differing views- this is the church's chance to rise above the disagreement, and for that to be a testimony to the world.