Automatic Transcript Generated:
Wendy:
Arthur is asking if every word in the Bible is true for all generations, and I know it is. Then why do men whose cover is God wear hats during our service? So the elders in the Church at least inform the body why they allow hats and long hair in Church?
Jay:
So that’s a good question. A lot going on there. And I think what’s being referred here. And Tina, if you think it’s a reference, let me know. But I think we’re talking about here first, Corinthians eleven. And maybe let’s start around verse two. So first Corinthians eleven, verse two, and it reads, Now I praise you brethren, that you remember me and all things, and keep the traditions just as I deliver them to you. So Paul isn’t necessarily giving biblical concepts, but there’s these certain traditions that are being followed by Paul and maybe even the greater Church in general.
Jay:
So remember, the Corinthians are a brand new Gentile Church. They’ve never been in Christians before have no idea how Christianity works. They’re used to pagan stuff. And Paul is saying, okay, let me show you how Christianity works. Here’s how the Christian Church does stuff. So going on verse three, he says, but I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of every woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying a Prophet sign, have his head covered.
Jay:
This honors God actually hear, he all saying, don’t cover your head. Covering your head is what actually dishonors God. And then it goes to say, but women who praise or prophesied with their head uncovered dishonors her head for that is one in the same as if her head was shaved. So Paul is talking about, look, there needs to be a distinction between the genders and how we do that. Men do not cover their heads. They have their hair, women cover their hair. Or especially during that time in Corinth, in the city of Corinth, the women who were married were like veils tell people that they’re married and to not go around wearing the veil was kind of disrespectful to the husband or suggesting that, hey, we’re splitting.
Jay:
We’re not in good terms. Or I’m looking to have an affair. So it wasn’t a good thing to go around doing that. It’s kind of like a woman nowadays to say taking off her wedding ring and then flirting with someone other than her husband. So Paul’s trying to say, okay, hey, we need to have rules here. Christians should be impressive, people. We need to look like we ever act together. Here’s how we do it. Yeah. Men dressed like men. Women dressed like women. Women should have long hair.
Jay:
Men should have shorter hair. Men should not wear hats. Women should cover themselves. So this is kind of what’s going on here. And it’s important to look at the general rule, always that we need to ask, why does God say something? Why does Paul suggest something? And really, when we get down and understand the why, that’s where we can come up with the greater universal, timeless principle. And some are very straightforward. Love is always going to be universal. We must always love people. We had to do it from the beginning and even to the end of time, which technically time will never end for all of eternity.
Jay:
We’re going to need to love. But look at our society today. If three years ago, like in 2018, you walked into Church wearing a mask and then you measure out 6ft all around you and space yourself like a group of us. Windy, Tina and I all did.
Wendy:
That pretty weird.
Jay:
Yeah, they’re going to think we’re pretty weird, but we do it today. Nobody blinks, right? Yeah. Nobody will question that now. It makes so much more sense in the context of current today. So some things architectural, and I know a lot of people say, oh, that’s really dangerous to go down the route of saying some things are contextual and what’s not because then you could throw out the whole Bible.
Wendy:
But again, it’s also really dangerous to not consider the context of the time.
Jay:
Exactly. Because then otherwise the Bible makes a lot of accommodations at times for things like slavery. God never likes slavery. He doesn’t. He always wants to set the prisoner free. But God understood. Okay. I can’t change mankind instantly. I can’t get people from a to Z in a moment, so I have to go at the pace they can handle. And some of that is things like slavery and other things. So I’m not trying to open California and other issues, but I’m just trying to say there’s reasons why the Bible says things, and it’s important to know that why.
Jay:
And it’s also important to not get fixated too much, though, on outward things, because God is so merciful. There’s a story in Matthew twelve where Jesus is walking through the grain fields with his twelve disciples. It starts at verse one, and the disciples see Jesus disciples picking food and eating it. And like, what are you guys doing? It’s unlawful. We have a Hebrew tradition where we’re not allowed to go pick stuff on the Sabbath and Jesus goes through and tells the story, well, did not God let David eat the show bread?
Jay:
This was Holy bread that only the priest and his family were allowed to eat. But God let David eat it and give it to his men, because otherwise, they would have starved to death. And God would rather have someone eat food and not die than to say, Sorry, this is a Holy bread, and we got to keep it Holy. So as God says, there Jesus says in verse seven. But if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice. You would have not condemned the guiltless.
Jay:
So it’s very important when we’re running the Church to not be too quick to judge the guilt list people who maybe don’t know the rules, or maybe even we’re constructing rules that God doesn’t even care about anymore or never did care about. God wants us to have more of a merciful mindset, a mindset that will share in His mercy and show love to others and bring them along on a journey over time again. God doesn’t take us from A to Z instantly, and we shouldn’t expect others to go from A to Z instantly.
Jay:
Churches should be a safe place for spiritual growth, starting with people wherever they’re at, and we have way bigger things to worry about, Jesus says. Inside is more important than what’s on the outside, like if we go to Matthew 23, sign in verse 23, he says, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you pay tithes of Mint and Anna and cumin and have neglected the way tier matters of law, justice and mercy. We’re just talking about mercy and faith. This you ought to have done without leaving the others undone.
Jay:
So yeah, fine. You’re tithing all that was good. You get into these technicalities, right? Be a mistake. The big suck, Jesus says. He says blind guides you strain out a net and you swallow a camel. I love these analogies, he says, woke to you, scribes and Pharisees hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extarsion and indulgence. I mean, think about like washing dishes. We do that on a daily basis, but I can’t imagine we spent all this time cleaning the outside, but we don’t clean the inside where we actually eat.
Jay:
That really matters. This is what Jesus is saying. Blind Pharisees, verse 26. Blind Pharisees. First cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, then the outside of them may be clean also. And what do you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for? You are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly. But inside you are full of dead men, bones and uncleanliness. Even so, you also outwardly appear righteous to men. But inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. And then we go to Matthew seven, verse three to five.
Jay:
And Jesus says, and why do you look at the spec in your brother’s eye? But do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me remove the spec from your eye and look. A plank is in your eye, hypocrite. First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly enough to remove the spec from your brother’s eye. So what is he saying here? We all have bigger issues to deal with than a lot of the small, nitpicky things that we tend to get into in Church.
Jay:
I’m not saying you’re being nitpicky their author, right? And I’m not necessarily saying the elders of your Church are, but I’m saying like Christianity in general, our churches in general are going down the wrong roads at times where we get so focused on the small things that we really need to get back onto the big wise in the Big West that Jesus really wants us to be dealing with. And when we can resolve those things and we get our relationship with Christ going deeper and deeper, and we’re learning more and more about his love and what he’s likes, what he is like and what he wants us to become.
Jay:
Then the other stuff becomes more significant and we understand the why better and we will get into those things as well. So thank you for asking and hope. This was helpful. Helpful.
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