The Mailbag: Potpourri… Couple teaching at marriage conference - by Michelle Lesley

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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Having firmly ensconced herself in our blog as a questionable teacher of the Bible, we now award Ms. Lesley her own tag. We do this by virtue of her often thoughtless examinations of Bible doctrine, her parsing of doctrines in order to create micro-doctrines filled with rules and provisos, and her general failure to bring edification to the reader.

It is with some sadness we do this, but in service to the reader we feel burdened to somehow help the honest inquirer avoid the pain of believing falsehoods. And in so many cases, Ms. Lesley teaches falsehoods.

We have covered the subject matter of today's post in prior posts.
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My husband and I were talking about women teaching/preaching to men, and he brought up an interesting question: what about when your church has a marriage conference and there is a husband/wife team who comes and they both teach?

Thanks for asking this question, because this seems to be a common teaching model for marriage and family conferences. It seems like a complicated situation to us, but it’s not to God. (It's not complicated to us. It is Ms. Lesley who complicates and obfuscates the issue of women's roles.)

He said what He said in Scripture, and He means it, regardless of the circumstances. (The verse to which she refers [but does not quote] is

1Ti. 2:12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.

This is just a few words, but Ms. Lesley has written tens of thousands of words, examining every ramification of her interpretation of it.)

A Christian conference is a gathering of the church body for the purpose of biblical instruction. That is a context in which Scripture’s prohibition of women instructing men in the Scriptures applies (see #7 here). (No it is not the context. We critique the linked article here. 

Notice that 1Ti. 2:12 does not mention of any of the factors Ms. Lesley cites. The gathering of the church body is not mentioned. Biblical instruction is not mentioned. "Women" and "men" are not mentioned, rather, they appear in the singular.

She is inventing a scenario, filtered through the bad teaching she has received and is now parroting to her readers, which she twists and shapes into something completely unrecognizable.)

So whenever the husband/wife team are addressing the co-ed audience, they just need to make sure that the wife is not giving biblical instruction (She runs with her false category...)

to the group at large. That should fall to the husband. (Notice how Ms. Lesley creates a prohibition from something the verse does teach? As mentioned, the verse does not say anything about "biblical instruction.")

That doesn’t mean that the wife can’t open her mouth at all in front of the group. It would be fine for her to… (Now comes the micro-dividing of her doctrine with a bunch of invented rules...)

• give her personal testimony
• offer practical advice (ex: “Joe and I have found it really helpful in our marriage to start the day off in prayer and a discussion of that day’s schedule.” “Guys, we ladies really like foot massages!”, etc.)
• speak directly to the women in the audience about their role, behavior, or attitude in marriage as needed (Ex: “Ladies, Ephesians 5 is clear that we are to submit to our husbands.”)
• answer any questions during a Q&A time that don’t require her to exposit Scripture to a male questioner
• ask a question or make a brief, non-exhortational comment after her husband gives the biblical instruction portion of the session (ex: “Honey, I’m thinking some people might need a little clarification on what ‘depriving one another’ means in 1 Corinthians 7. Can you explain that to us a little more?” “Yes, 1 Peter 3:1-6 has always been so helpful to me as I strive to be a godly wife. And verse 7 has some good instruction for husbands, right, Joe?”)

(Imagine that. A woman can stand up on stage and tell the crowd how Jesus saved her but cannot tell them how that happened. She can instruct her husband as she evaluates how well he taught, but she can't explain the Bible or its doctrines. She can speak to women about doctrinal matters to women when men are present, as long as the men don't listen. And, she can teach as long as she doesn't explain Scripture to a man.

None of these categories are contained in 1Ti. 2:12. This is the muddled thinking of a "teacher of women.")

And, of course, the conference can be structured so there are times of co-ed instruction and times when the wife teaches the women and the husband teaches the men.

For a husband and wife team who are doctrinally sound, spiritually mature, and committed to obeying Scripture, it shouldn’t be that difficult to lead a conference like this in a biblical way.

As far as whether or not to attend a marriage conference in which a husband and wife team will be speaking to a co-ed audience, you’ll have to do your homework to find out how committed they are to obeying Scripture in this regard. Listen to some of their previous conferences, if they’re coming to your church, ask your pastor about it, or you could try emailing the couple and asking them.