Unregistered

Just to throw a few things out there... Is it not astonishing that a piece of cloth, and sometimes a very small piece of cloth in today's times, would be given such a place of importance in a faith that speaks of the spirit and says that we are free from the bondage of the law? And surely I am not the only one who has noticed that head coverings were never prescribed by the Lord God Jehovah in the Torah for women. I have searched and can find no further reference to head coverings for women in the Bible--at least as a requirement. But Jewish men did develop the custom of covering THEIR heads during worship as did Roman men. Interesting.

Various cultures have developed different ways of showing that a woman is married--or under headship. The Aztec woman wore their hair long and hanging down until married but wore it in criss-crossed braids on top of the head after marriage. Only their husbands were allowed to see their hair down from then on. Women's hair was considered an enticement to men. Braided hair was a sign of marriage and therefore submission.

It seems to have been a human-created custom to cover the head of women. There were various reasons for it, I am sure. It was a protection from both the sun and the heat and certainly hid unwashed or hastily styled and untidy hair. And it probably signaled that they were married in many cultures. We also note that nuns for many centuries wore the head covering and wemple that had been the fashion of all women during the time that these orders of nuns were created. In other words, women desiring to be holy wore what was considered to be the customary head covering of married women of that time. And because nuns considered themselves to be married to the Lord, they covered their head. Religion followed fashion. However, they remained stuck after a while in the old manner of dressing and it caused them to stand out more letting everyone know that they had chosen a route of total dedication to the Lord. However in today's times, nuns no longer wear those particular kind of headdresses, indicating once again that cloth is no signal of submission.

We all know what Paul said. But he ends it with a rather puzzling phrase that indicates that if any argument arises there is no such custom. In the church that I grew up in, which was very evangelical, it was taught that custom,therefore, was never to be anything that was to cause argument or dissension. And I believe this is the reason that the Local Church has never required that all women wear a head covering. Because it was based on custom primarily rather than any kind of edict from the Lord.

It has been argued by a very famous and fundamental Presbyterian minister that the purpose of the head covering was to show that the woman was married and that today wedding rings carry out the same purpose. I tend to agree with him. Certainly Saint Paul was unable to imagine the astonishing changes in fashion that would occur centuries later and felt that the Lord would return even during his time which would end any further discussion.

To finish, it has always seemed to be against the very core of Christian belief to require a woman to put a piece of cloth on her head to show submission. After all, God looks on the heart. Submission is a behavior not a head covering. Many of the women who cover their heads are among the most assertive and strident in the church. Putting the piece of cloth on their head did not change their behavior one iota. Cloth does not change behavior. But it does give a person the opportunity to try to appear more holy and righteous than others by covering her head. And Paul tells us in Galatians that these things have the appearance of holiness but do not change the inward character at all. Other women do it out of peer pressure. So by not doing it for the right reason, they lose all credit for doing it. I have never been able to see that the Lord Jesus, who referred to the Pharisees as whited sepulchres with all of their religious apparel but full of inward decay, would require people to wear something to show a Spiritual transformation--except for modest apparel which anyone with spiritual discernment can feel and understand. Anything else seems to be bondage and contrary to the reality of our freedom in Christ.

Just throwing these out here for consideration.