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Is Head Covering a Question of Salvation?
It is always a little annoying to have someone answer your question by asking you a question. Oh well, I am going to do it anyway!
Does it matter if head covering is (or is not) a matter of salvation?
If God or Jesus were to come to you stating, “I have a request of you. I am not going to command you to do it, but I would be truly pleased if you would observe the instructions for proper head covering when you pray.”
What would be your answer?
Would you tell Jesus, who died for you, that you prefer not to keep the head covering instructions?
Will God Send People to Hell?
The more concerning question may be: “Is God going to send people to hell for eternity if they have been deceived by the evil one or false teachers”?
Paul condemned the abuses of the Lord’s Supper in the same chapter of 1st Corinthians. Will taking part in the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner result in eternal fire if the person is bamboozled?
Duped?
What about those little sins of gossip and telling white lies to avoid hurting the feelings of someone dear to you?
Will unrepentant gossip and lying really send a person to hell?
Will not being baptized keep you out of the pearly gates (if someone has deceived you into believing that repeating the sinner’s prayer is all that is necessary)?
I recognize that I have only asked a bunch of questions, rather than giving an answer.
The Commands We Can Safely Ignore
Let’s try this approach, make a list of every command in the Bible that you can ignore.
Jesus says if you love Me, then you will keep My commandments. So take a few minutes and write down all the commands that you can refuse to keep with love for Him.
When we see a command that we are not willing to obey, the conclusion is that we don’t love Jesus (or don’t love Him enough).
Well, how much do we have to love Him?
“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 10:37-39 NKJV (Bold added)
Is it easier for a Christian to comply with appropriate head covering (or for a Muslim to give up his family by accepting Christ)?
If you (like me), have felt comfortable essentially ignoring the head covering commands your entire life, it is pretty easy to relegate head covering to being something unimportant.
For those who may be looking for an excuse (not to make a change in life), then here are some more excuses to consider:
– My mom didn’t wear one. She was a wonderful and loving Christian!
-I’m following the Bible and doing what our family has always done!
–At my church “ We don’t practice covering and we have the truth!”
Could We Possibly Have Been Wrong About Head Covering?
Coming to grips with maybe, (just maybe), I haven’t had the truth (at least on this one topic) is a bitter pill to swallow.
None of us like having to admit that we were wrong!
I know from personal experience, that the worst part about being wrong is having to admit it!
I keep coming back to the big picture that we see in 1st Corinthians.
The church had a lot of major problems that Paul was trying to correct.
So why would he (through his letter inspired by the Holy Spirit) give multiple reasons for the proper head covering for men and women amid all these serious problems . . . . unless the head covering directives carry a similar weight?
Why would Paul take away from the “serious problems” to talk about some minor point that doesn’t matter anyway – if after all the woman’s hair is her covering?
Sorry, but the perspective that a woman wearing a head covering is a minor matter (even trivial) does not fit the context of the letter as a whole.
Again, context, context, context.
If Paul is writing about serious concerns, the insertion of a meaningless discussion right in the middle of the letter is an abrupt departure from the context.
Paul giving multiple reasons for head covering, then concluding that none of those reasons matter because the woman already has hair (or any other justification) simply defies reason.
The scriptures including 1st Corinthians 11:1-16 are there because Paul was inspired to write them. He placed the directives immediately before his criticism of the abuses of the Lord’s Supper.
Danger in Picking and Choosing the Parts We Like and Don’t Like
There seems to be a danger in selecting verses like baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and other passages with symbolic meaning that we want to apply while relegating an equally similar symbol of head covering as meaningless.
If being immersed in water and eating a small piece of unleavened bread and juice are necessary (some argue these are not), then the wholesale avoidance of another symbolic gesture would seem to carry a similar penalty.
1st Timothy 6:20 -21 “O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge— by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith.” NKJV (Bold added)
Judge for yourself whether it is a matter of salvation – we will all give an answer for what we have done in the flesh.
Jesus said whoever does not hate his own life and his own family cannot be his disciple. Luke 14:25-35 We must forsake all things to be a true follower.
Jesus concludes with He who has ears, let him hear!
We all have ears, the question is, are we listening?
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