Update (Head Coverings)

Over this past year I have continued to wrestle with this passage. I just couldn’t understand it. It still seems unfair. I admit it felt like a shame, as if women were not good as men at praying or prophesying, so they had to meet extra requirements. As if a head covering was a way to humble a woman or take her down a notch. I now understand!

Paul knew that women were being opressed. He could see it all around him. They were being kept from preaching simply because of they’re gender, and I’m sure he could predict it would be an issue in the future as well. So he came up with a solution. At that point not many people were wearing head coverings in the church. He knew that men were not supposed to be wearing them, so he used this to his advantage. A headcovering was a way of making the people that had been opressed and quieted for years stand out! It was a way of saying “She is God’s. Don’t mess with her!” It was supposed make there voice louder! And what did we do with it? We corrupted it and told little girls they couldn’t grow up to be pastors. We told women they could only preach to other women. We treated a head covering as shame instead of a symbol of empowerment. I think paul would be ashamed of us and the way we have misinterpreted his words for years! It is time to take a stand! So if you want to preach, PREACH. Remaining quite will not bring honor to God. You will only be bringing honor to the words of insignificant, corrupted men. It is time to take a stand within the Christian church, and allow women (as Paul intended) to preach and prophesy!

True Christians Do Not Support Sexual Abuse!!!

2Samuel 12:14

Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme.

I want to start off by saying that I am a strong Christian! I’m sure you have heard about the incident involving the Duggar family’s oldest son, Josh. He was not, in fact, reported to the authorities, but his parents attempted to deal with him in their own way. He was allowed to remain in the same household with the same girls.

I am embarrassed because some major Christian leaders continue to support this family. Please do not paint all Christians with this same brush. This is a disgrace to the name of Christ. How dare Michelle Duggar judge the sexual morality of others when she had all of that going on in her home. The irony of it is ridiculous. She said, and I quote: “I doubt that Fayetteville parents would stand for a law that would endanger their daughters or allow them to be traumatized by a man joining them in their private space.” She also stated: “We should never place the preference of an adult over the safety and innocence of a child.” Yet she and her husband never reported their own son when he was compromising the innocence and safety of their daughters. She had no right to judge anyone when she had such major corruption in her own household. (Mathew 7:5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye...)  And though I agree with some of the points she made, you should never judge someone if the own heart of your family is not pure!

All Christians are not this way! The media has no right to judge all Christians because one of them was very wrong. It is not a problem with our religion, it is a problem with the Duggar family!! And as I said in the title “True Christians do not support sexual abuse!”

I know You have a reason!!

Meek, yet Strong!

1 Peter 3:3   Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

  1 Peter 3:4   But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

Peter is talking to women in these verses, explaining how to adorn yourself with a true beauty from within, rather than only focusing on outward appearance.

Having a sense of personal pride or self-respect is not in any way implying that you lack a meek spirit or a humble nature.  I know that it sounds as if I just contradicted myself, but let me explain. We get caught up in the world’s definition of these words but let’s take a look at what the Bible means when it uses them:

  Psalms 37:11   But the meek shall inherit the earth.

In today’s world, the word meek means timid, quiet, and easily imposed on. But do you really think that is God’s definition?  Tell me this: if you owned a big business corporation, would you leave it in the in the hands of a person who was easily swayed or imposed on? (Not if you’re smart!) You would want to leave it in the hands of a capable, confident and strong person who could keep everything running smoothly. Well, the Lord is talking about the entire world (the earth); do you think that He would want to leave it to somebody that is incapable or lacks the leadership qualities needed to run it?

Numbers 12:3   (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)

I will tell you one thing, Moses had a very healthy ego. He also had pride in himself and his people. Why would he go to all the trouble of saving them from their bondage in slavery, if he did not think that they were worth freeing? He did not just submit to the Pharaoh simply because he was an authority figure. He had pride in himself and his people and knew that they were worth better treatment than they were getting!! So he took a stand. So why would God say that he was meek? Well, the difference was that Moses obeyed God and he was submissive to God……not Pharaoh (who was ungodly and persecuting God’s people.) Moses had his doubts at the beginning, but God cleared them up for him.

 Exodus 3:12   And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

Moses obeyed. He submitted to God!!

That is what God means when He says that the meek shall inherit the earth. He means people who realize that they still have a lot to learn and are willing to learn it. People who are willing to sacrifice themselves and their pleasures for the greater good! Being meek or humble does not mean that you are weak.  In fact, it means that you are STRONG: strong enough to realize that God is greater than us and anything that we do through Him will be that much greater!

Take these people:

• Esther
• Mary (the mother of Jesus)
• Rahab
• Pilate’s Wife
• Mary (Martha’s sister)
• Mother Teresa

Nobody can say that these strong women were not humble or meek. So let’s take a lesson from them, and not beat up on ourselves because we think that we don’t have a gentle and meek spirit — because as long as you are willing to learn from God, you do!  Never try to be someone that you are not. God would never want you to do that!

  

Head Coverings in Church?

1 Corinthians 11:5   But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. 

           If these words make you secretly angry, this article is for you. Whenever I read these words, I hated them because they felt degrading to women. Sometimes it made me think that Paul thought that women were somehow less important than men. But let’s take a second look at this verse and compare it to the modern church.

First, we get mad at Paul for saying that women should wear head coverings when preaching or prophesying, as well as praying. But wait: our society says women shouldn’t  prophesy or preach at all (unless to women.) But Paul didn’t say that. I think that (like so many other physical references in the Bible) the statement he made was meant in both a physical and a spiritual way.

 1 Corinthians 11:11   Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither is the woman without the man, in the Lord.

I am going to say this one time. Women are just as important as men!  Paul knows this, and clearly states it right here. But even though we are of equal importance we do have different attributes. This is not a bad thing! For instance my brother will walk out of the house wearing plaid shorts and a tie-dye shirt, where as I don’t want to walk into a store looking like a clown! Is that a bad thing? No.

It’s just that women can be more vulnerable to others’ opinions. (Now there are exceptions to every rule, so this is not the case for every woman.) This is not  bad, but when you are talking with or about God, He wants us to listen to him without the corruption of other peoples’ opinions or thoughts. So Paul tells us to put on a physical covering to represent a spiritual protection. God did not created this to make us feel unworthy, or like we are the weaker sex, but to empower us. We need to lean on Him and no one else. So let the Lord give you strength through Him, because He loves you!