ultrainstinct
Protestant
1) Thanks. It was removed, but that makes sense
2) That also makes sense. However, I would put it on the same level as female ordination, which you have included on the list. In my view, they are linked if looking at the reasons Paul gives behind head coverings.
3) It's rarely practiced because the churches have been subverted and lost the truth, like it has happened to many other things which we might agree on. I see you are unpersuaded - I only confidently changed my view on it recently, so I would encourage you to consider it further.
Regarding the common argument that it was merely a matter of culture, here are some counterpoints (copy/pasted for convenience):
- There is no command in the New Testament where the Church is instructed to follow the practices of non-Christians. As Christians, we are not to pattern our lives after the world but after Jesus and His commands. As you can see from the description of women in the Roman Empire in the first century, the head covering teaching in 1 Corinthians 11 was not based on the Corinthian culture. Nor was it based on the Jewish culture, where both men and women covered their heads. Jewish men at that time were easily recognized by their broad brimmed hats.The woman’s headcovering in 1 Corinthians 11 is a practice that is distinctly Christian. The command for women to cover their heads and men not to cover their heads is based on creation, not culture (v.7-10).
- Those who say that Paul was only trying to get the Corinthians in line with a social custom that does not speak to our culture today are opening a Pandora’s Box. If we say that Paul’s instructions concerning the head covering are only about a social custom, even though he does not say so, then why can we not say that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are merely first-century social customs that do not speak to our times? In fact, if we allow this kind of picking and choosing without any internal, biblical evidence as to what is and what it is not a social custom , we can tear the Bible to shreds.
Further, those who promote this view often say they are supported by historical evidence. First, it is not historical evidence but the Bible that is to determine our beliefs and practice. But, second, the historical evidence is not on their side anyway. Some will say that Oriental women always wore a head covering, apparently not realizing that Corinth is in Greece, which is in Europe, not the Orient. Others say that only temple prostitutes in Corinth did not wear a head covering. While this may have been true about 200 years before Paul wrote, it was not true of Paul’s time. Extra biblical evidence shows that the Corinthian women of Paul’s day were influenced by Roman culture and likely did not always wear a head covering, even during religious services. The men, however, often did wear a head covering during pagan worship ceremonies. So Paul’s instructions, if they had any relationship to the prevailing culture, were counter to it. But, again, we must base our conclusions on the Bible, not extra-biblical evidence. And there is nothing in the Bible to indicate that Paul is telling the Corinthians to conform to their culture.
If anyone is interested to know/discuss more, I will start a separate thread on it. That seems more appropriate.
