A (really) open mind
My Bible study group has been working through 1 Corinthians over the last few months. The other night, our passage was 1 Corinthians 14:26-40. We spent quite a while discussing the meaning of the following verses:
As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. (1 Cor 14:33b-35)
As we discussed various options about what this could mean for our church practice today, I realised that the one option we were most reluctant to discuss was this: that it means exactly what it says.
But if we are to approach the Bible minus our own prejudices, biases and cultural blinkers, then we must entertain the possibility that it could mean exactly what it says. If we cannot include that as a possibility (let alone the most likely meaning), then we don't stand a chance of being able to work out what it really does mean. Instead, we will spend our time finding reasons for why the passage doesn't mean what we don't want it to mean.