women's heads

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>1Co 11:7 For a man indeed ought not to have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of the man. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I wondered if someone was going to notice that. In Jewish culture the men do wear something on their head while praying. So what's up with that? (Rhetorical question!)

My personal (and strongly held) belief here -- this is still about authority, not about hats. Just as there are literal consequences for a woman praying or prophesying while out from under her husband's authority (dishonor and shame), so there are literal and dangerous consequences for a man who has an authority over him who stands between him and God. This is not an authority such as a boss at work. It is an authority to whom a man has given his allegiance to such a point that the authority has the right to speak for God to him. The Word says that the head of man is Christ -- and no one else. This is where authoritarian churches are very dangerous. The role and function of the church leadership is not authoritarian control over the membership. The role of the church is found in Heb. 3:12-13 and 10:24-25. It is to be an environment of mutual encouragement in the faith, not of dominance by one leader or a small handful of leaders. There are some Christian environments where the leadership demands that level of authority and it is particularly dangerous for the men who make that heart allegiance. It causes them to violate this very critical principle of Scripture.

No man can serve two masters -- he can't serve God and a leader who demands that he believe their word is the word of God for the congregation. If a man makes an allegiance of his heart to a human leader like this he cuts himself off from the input of the Holy Spirit (quenching the Holy Spirit) who has been promised to be our Counselor and to lead us into all truth (Jn. 14-16 various verses). We have two possibilities -- lives which manifest the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) or the deeds of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21). If the Holy Spirit has been quenched in a person's life they will manifest the deeds of the flesh. If you've ever been around an authoritarian church for long you can see a lot of those deeds of the flesh in evidence! They may be glossed over, covered up or excused away but it's there.

And when a man has placed another absolute spiritual authority over his head other than Christ, he is at the mercy of these deeds of the flesh -- including adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
hatred, variance, wrath, strife, heresies,
murders, drunkenness, etc. Have you seen those in the church?

I lived with this in my marriage for 14 years because my husband had made that heart allegiance to an authoritarian spiritual authority. It took a very discerning counselor to see it. And when it was exposed and prayed over my husband literally changed completely overnight. For many years I wondered how a believer could act that way, but it's right there in Scripture.

-- Danette

 

Danette,

Good post! I think you are right.