Can younger [Christian] women ever teach, instruct, correct, exhort, or reprove older [Christian] women in the Lord? (Poll Closed)

I voted for the last answer as I thought it was the closest answer to what I felt was correct. I think we are not to rebuke elder ladies in Christ. I didn't say the first answer because I think if you see an elder person in sin and do absolutely nothing, it would also be potentially wrong. Ultimately, if anything is said it should be with great prayer and discernment from the Holy Spirit. My advice would be to approach another sister who is of the appropriate age to bring a concern to the older sister. Or perhap your male authority (Father or Husband) could approach her male authority.

One must be also cautious not to cross over into tale bearing as well. Delicate situation and a good poll question for us to think on.

1 Timothy 5

1Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren;

2The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.

I voted for the last one but I think it depends a lot upon the situation. How well do you know the older woman, what your relationship with her is like, what the issue is about.

1 Timothy 5:1-2 teaches: "Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity."

So really, the answer is that we should intreat our elder sisters, but never rebuke them. To gently mention something in a Biblical, quiet way is a world of difference than correcting like a parent or an older brother or sister.

I've found sometimes that my younger sisters (even though I'm twenty-one and not yet an "older sister," I do have some younger sisters) are at times deathly afraid to point things out to me, to the extent that one day I walked around with a very obvious spot on the back of my dress. I think most Godly women will appreciate and respect a younger sister who gently points out something that they notice in the other sister's life. I personally would never think to critique something very personal like marriage relationships or childrearing (since of course that is the job of a Titus Two elder sister), but I would pull a sister aside to tell her that her skirt is tucked into her undergarments or that her children are knocking over the bamboo in the front of the hall where we fellowship. If I was asked, I would give an honest answer. I suppose that the line can be hard to draw. :)

I do want to say something, though: If I had a husband or a Christ-led father I could turn to, I would discuss the issue with him, and then go to the woman either with or without him (with his permission, of course!). It is extremely painful to be told "through the grapevine" that such-and-such is going on in your life. That's gossip, and it's sinful as well as painful.

Well I don't know when this poll was taken or how old the voters were but I vote NO. Absolutely not. Especially if the younger girl has her own mother she can ask questions of. If it's an adult, let the adults handle it.