Day: January 7, 2015

What’s The Deal With Women’s Head Coverings?

bitterreaper asked a question”

Could you explain what you think the deal is with head coverings in the bible? I know that it says that men should have shaved heads because they’re from god and women should have head coverings because they’re from men. And the angels want women to wear head coverings in church. But is it wrong to not? It doesn’t feel wrong. Most sin feels sinful.

Hey my friend, I would like to point you to perhaps the longest post I’ve ever written. It was written two years ago but I think I still agree with 98% of it.  Feel free to skip around or just read the parts you need. As always, please feel free to disagree as well.

– Mega-Post: Female Pastors, Neo-Feminism, and The Scary Words Submission, Quiet, and Penis

In short, I believe head covers was a cultural staple of that time due to a particular transition in the Corinthian church.  The letter to the Corinthians had two purposes: unity and order.  Paul was trying to create a safe gracious church in which disorder was kept to a minimum, especially for new Christians, which is why he comments on speaking in tongues.  He also forbids getting drunk off the communion wine and sleeping with your stepmom. Seriously, the Corinthians were grimy.

During this period, prostitutes had shaved heads and were newly joining the church, and the sight of these shaved heads was causing a bit of commotion to visitors and new Christians (this will make sense out of 1 Corinthians 11:5-6).  It appears Paul is speaking to this one specific church as a temporary consideration for others, not to control what they were wearing, but to make a larger point that we are mindful of “weaker” or new believers, as outlined in Romans 14.

Continue reading “What’s The Deal With Women’s Head Coverings?” →

Letting Jesus Speak.


In Luke 12, when Jesus says what the master will do to the wicked servant — “He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers” — I can’t turn this around by saying, “Jesus is really saying, I will never stop loving you.”

In John 6, Jesus preaches a sermon so hardcore that every single follower except the appointed twelve end up leaving him. Jesus asks the remaining dozen, “Do you want to leave too?” I don’t see this in any church growth books or discipleship workshops.

In Matthew 10, Jesus says plainly with zero disclaimers: “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law — a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.” I don’t see a hidden meaning in this passage. He said what he meant; he meant what he said.

If you’ve ever really read the Sermon on the Mount, it’s absolutely horrifying. Whether you believe Jesus was real or not, it completely clashes against all our notions of a sheep-petting, halo-wearing, perfect-teeth Jesus.

Can we try to let Jesus speak for himself?


— J.S. from What the Church Won’t Talk About


More Than Sex.


Your sexual identity is not everything about you, because you are a God-created individual who is much more than your urges and appetites and desires.

Both the secular talk show host and the red-faced preacher who set a laser-sight on our sexuality are just squeezing attention to their platforms while reducing human beings to human do-ings. That’s a no-win.

— J.S. from What the Church Won’t Talk About