Paul called us to cover our heads...not our hair. If we look at scripture, nowhere does it say a woman must cover her hair, but rather she must cover her head while praying and prophesying as a symbol of authority. An authority over us by our husbands and God.
Another argument is that it must be solid so that someone else may not see our hair... This relates back to the last point, there is nothing saying we must cover our hair. The only thing the passage mentions is that our hair is given to us for glory. I do not feel that a solid covering is necessary based on scripture. I love my mesh coverings, I believe they hold up better and are more practical than a solid covering, but I know some people really love their solid coverings as well. That is why there are so many different types of coverings!!
Now onto the big question :) What is our head? If we want to be literal, it would be our whole area above our neck. How would we cover the whole area? We could not walk without a guide if our face were covered fully too. My personal conviction is that our head is the crown of our head. Any of the coverings in the last post could cover the crown of the head...the first covering may be argued that it is not covering the crown of her head, but if a woman and her husband feel that is a covering God wants her to wear then who am I to tell them that it is not covering enough of her head?
It was pointed out to me that the covering in some of the Mennonite churches decreased in size until it was no longer practiced. That is true. The same person made the point that the coverings in my last post were merely a symbol because they showed the womans hair and did not cover enough. Again, who are we to say it does not cover enough? But besides that, the covering is a symbol. A symbol of our submission to our husbands and to God our Father.
To me, the covering by itself means nothing. A covering by itself is just a piece of fabric. But rather, when a woman believes in why she is wearing it, that is when it becomes more than a simple piece of fabric. When a woman is convicted of 1 Corinthians 11, the covering is a symbol...a symbol of her submission to her husband. To God her Father. It is a symbol of her Christian life she is leading. It is much more than a piece of fabric when she believes in the reason why she is wearing it.
Also, I just want to clarify that I have nothing against churches that specify a covering for its members to wear. The last post was more so for those of us who do not attend a church that specifies the covering we need to wear.
Blessings in Christ,
I don't know what your consideration is of the Old Testament but there are plenty of reasons based on the Old Testament to cover one's HAIR rather than one's head. I am Jewish and we cover our hair based on several passages in the Old Testament - I can share if you would like but I don't want to come across as preaching at you. We see a married woman's hair as having special spiritual properties that must be concealed. it is for her husband's eyes only, a special thing between the two of them. Also revealing a married woman's hair is a way of shaming her. we actually have scriptural basis to have girls cover their hair as well, so when I was growing up we started covering in toddlerhood - with my girls we start at puberty.
ReplyDeleteI personally do not consider the Old Testament as something that I need to obey. I read it and do my best to understand it because I think a lot of the same thoughts are emphasized in the New Testament, but I do not follow laws of the OT or anything like that.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in the fact that you would wear a covering...I used to live by 2 fairly large Jewish communities and in neither of them did the women cover their hair or head.
In some of the churches around me, the girls will start to cover at age 2 and other churches it depends on when the parent feels the child is ready to wear a covering and understand what it truly means. There are also some churches around that the girl does not wear a covering until she is a member.