Hats Off

     Here's another old path post. I'm going to preface this by telling you that I'm a complementarian. (Not a chauvinist.) I believe that God created man and women with specific roles in mind. Those roles are no greater than each other, and man is no greater than woman, but they have their own vocations. Now to the actual post.
     I hear tell about a time when a man would doff his cap when a woman walked pas,t when men held doors for women and nothing was thought of it, and when ma'am was a commonly heard word. I'm not saying women shouldn't wear pants or that men should drop their coats in puddles for women, but I wish we could go back to some of those old traditions. I see today's man devaluing women and women fighting them tooth and nail for a place among the men, but the things I hear about the days of chivalry and gentlemen makes me wonder why the women don't fight for those. Women want equal jobs, that's fine with me, but what they really should be after is the tip of the cap and an open door.
     In 1 Peter 3:7, Peter tells men to treat their wives as someone weaker in an understanding way, this is not a command to demean the women , but to hold them up. Men should be leaders, but they should also be gentle with women. And they should respect women as well. In 1 Timothy 5:2, Paul tells us to treat older women as mothers and younger women as sisters. (That comes with the assumption that one should treat your mothers and sisters with love and respect.) There are many ways to respect women which we have lost in the past sixty years. The idea of a gentleman or a chivalrous man have been abandoned to history and fiction. No one doffs their cap for a lady anymore. There's no ladies first, or standing when the hostess enters the room. (We haven't even retained the idea of a hostess, but that is a matter for the next post.)
     I don't intend for this post to entirely revolve around the way men treat women though. It's actually more about the way we treat hats. That issue is simply the most pressing one at hand and needed to be addressed first. What I have to say about hats applies on a more broad scale. It applies to every situation and all people. Hats are symbols of authority and respect. Western culture doesn't treat them this way anymore, but that is how I see it in almost every other culture on earth. And that is how I see it in the Bible. In 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 we see Paul instruct the church at Corinth on the covering of heads. Paul taught the Corinthians traditions regarding head coverings, and this is why most people think that this segment is obsolete in regards to being a literal command. We tend to read our own culture into the Bible, instead of trying to apply the Bible in the midst of changing cultures. We read tradition and look at the context of the Bible's cultures and say that since we don't have the same culture we don't have to obey the Bible. This is plain malarkey. If that were the case we wouldn't baptize in the church. There is a culture of baptism that has been lost to all but the church. No one is baptized to show that they follow a presidential candidate or a philosopher, they just tell you on their Facebook page. Cultural change shouldn't affect the practices of the Church. Paul says:
      "Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. However, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as the woman originates from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman; and all things originate from God. Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him, but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? For her hair is given to her for a covering. But if one is inclined to be contentious, we have no other practice, nor have the churches of God."
     The arguments he gives here aren't even cultural to start with. He says the symbol of authority is because of the angels, not because of the neighbors. He argues that "nature itself" teaches the idea of hair honoring and dishonoring. This is not a culture, but a fact.
     Because of these things I have a policy. I do not wear hats indoors. If I go inside I'll doff my cap in respect of those in authority in that place. Outside, under the sky, I am a free man and a Christian, so a carry an authority that comes from the Imago Dei (Image of God) within me, and from the Holy Spirit that indwells me. (I'm not legalistic about this. If the authority of a place tells me it is OK to wear a hat or tells me to wear a hat, I'll do it. So if I'm at a costume party or working, I'l wear a hat. But the concept still holds.) Every time I walk inside I take my hat off. This is a constant reminder to be humble and to obey the authorities. If our culture had that I think we would have much richer lives. And the Church should know better. I cringe when I see a man in a hat inside a church. Doesn't he know that he's disrespecting God and all the saints gathered under this roof? Obviously not. And, yes, I do think women should wear hats in church to show their subjection to the authority of God. (I'm not sure why God commands that women wear hats, and not men, but knowing why isn't my department in this case.) Men and women are different, "nature itself" teaches us this. So why wouldn't God make different ways for us to show subjection.
     Whatever the case, I intend to follow my own advice. I want to remember to tip my hat to ladies, to take off my hat for the flag or whenever I go indoors, and I want to remember that I bear the Imago Dei. That is why I take my hat off to pray.

(From my desk at school.)

Gentle Orthodoxy and Cultural Creation

     In chapel at my school we have had several stellar speakers. Two in particular have done a great deal to the student body's mindset. One by Meredith Schultz, an alumnus, talked about what she calls gentle orthodoxy. Here is the message she gave: http://www.arthouseamerica.com/blog/righteousness-and-bliss.html 
     The second message was given yesterday at our biannual Faith and Reason Lecture. The speaker this semester was Ken Myers, writer and editor of Mars Hill Audio. (Which see.) His lecture was entitled “Christian Faithfulness in a Disordered Culture,” and dealt with the ways Christians ought to walk in the culture. He spoke about how we should have our own culture to combat the disordered culture we live in. (Some suggestions he gave included eating meals with Christian families in our Churches, teaching our children to love language by reading and learning poetry more often, spending time in cross-generational activities, and learning to live in one place where we could have  a long term impact. If Christians were always the longest residing members of a neighborhood, imagine what a change they could have.) Here is a link to a video of his lecture (http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/29478610), but be warned it is long and engaging, so you'll want to set a lot of time aside for it.

God bless, 
Justus




Written from my desk at school. (Another thing Ken Myers mentioned was making e-mails more personal by identifying the place from which they were written and thereby making them more tangible to those reading.) 

Where from Here Part II

Part II

    Where can we go from here? As a culture the West seems to be hitting a dead end. But what is a dead end but another boundary? God has set boundaries even for the ocean in His wisdom. (Proverbs 8:29) Every cultural shift has a driving ideal system. We've gone from an Enlightenment worldview, to a Romantic one, to a modern, then post-modern. All of these systems of thought initially seemed to have perks and to make sense, but have come short of what we know to be true. Right now some scholars are looking to find an alternative to the post-modern mindset, but it is unclear as to what direction we will or should go. I say: "Go back to the Old Path; go back to the Way."

     There are several points which I aim to cover in this post which came across my mind during a midnight musing of mine. These are things which I see lacking in the American culture, and for those of you who want things to change, consider this a "to-do list".

•      Develop strong Christian leaders in the church
•      Develop a Christian community that creates without simply imitating the world with a "Christian" slant, especially in the fine arts
•      Develop Christian scholarship
•      Redefine beauty, truth, and hope back to their original meanings and spread these concepts
•      Communicate better within the Christian culture; between church members, churches of like denomination and churches of differing denomination
•      Communicate better with the world's culture (differentiate Christianity from the rest) 

     Our churches all have their problems. Paul recognized that, therefore he wrote more than half of the New Testament. (In order to address the problems he saw and heard about.) The apostle John also saw this and wrote three books addressing such issues. Christ even addressed seven churches and their problems in Revelation 2-3. Leaders like Paul and John already exist in our culture. They even write to get their warnings and advice out, similar to the way Paul and John did. However, many churches simply read the advice and the warnings and change nothing. First century churches would almost always address the problems pointed out to them and change. This was because of local leadership and a strong desire to grow in the local congregations. Paul mentions this in many of his letters. (Ephesians 1:15-18, 2 Corinthians 7:13-16) For that desire we need local leaders as well, not just pastors, but members of the church.

     Pop culture is not evil, unless it is an evil which is popular in the culture. Yet Christians still should be different. It isn't bad that Christians have rock bands and write popular fiction novels. (I listen to and read that sort of product quite often.) What is bad is that there are hardly any Christians writing great novels like Pilgrims Progress or In His Steps, or painting "The Last Supper" or sculpting "David". Christians had always been leaders in American (and Western) culture until the late 1800s when they began to step away from culture. If we had more of a community to develop our creative members into such artists we could once again lead our culture back to Christ.

     With the previous two points comes one which is sadly neglected in most churches: learning. We do learn about how (badly) Samson dealt with his Nazarite vow and also how Noah built a floating zoo, and we can still learn from these things. However, not many people know the stories of Ezra or Nehemiah. And those who do may not know about the different rebellions in the desert committed by the Israelite people before coming into the Promised Land. And these are just content focused tidbits. Even fewer know much of the symbolism God worked into the Old Testament's actual events. (Now there are many churches which teach these things, however, there are many more which do not and simply repeat the story of Moses and the burning bush without much expounding, even after you've become an adult.) Our Sunday School classes and sermons should not only motivate and convict, they should teach. And our congregations should be studying the Bible for themselves and asking questions. All of these things should help the previous tasks and the following as well.

    Since the Christians pulled away from mainstream culture it has had a chance to form its own construction of what beauty, truth, hope and other concepts are. We need to reconstruct them. Beauty has a standard, both inward, and outward. Truth is definite. And Hope is tangible. 

     The standard of beauty is God Himself, however, we cannot reach that standard so we do the best we can. Inwardly God give instructions for beauty all throughout the Word. To act in the manner that Christ acted while He was on earth should be our goal. Outwardly (with people, art, and other miscellaneous things) beauty still finds its origin in God. When God made the world He said it was good. (Genesis 1:31) God, being Himself the standard for beauty, created beautiful things. We can see what he has made and in our own ways do our best to capture the beauty He has created. 

     Truth, likewise, is sustained in God and emanates from Him. Jesus even says, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life..." (John 14:6, italics mine). We know Jesus never changes, therefore we know that the Truth of truths never changes. (I'm not talking about realative truths like the age of a person, which change with time, but about truths which are more substantial.) Though a person's age may change over time, the truth is that they are one age at one time and at another time they will be another age. This truth does not change. God has clearly laid out many truths in His Word and in nature, our job is to seek them out and to pinpoint where truth lies, not simply to accept every idea we hear as "God's truth", but to verify, if possible. (Ephesians 4:14-16)

     Hope is tangible. I don't mean by that that we can touch hope. I mean that we can (and as Christians always do) have hope. It is not elusive. We always have hope, we simply do not always believe it or claim it as our own. (Ephesians 1:18-19, Hebrews 6:19-20) It's hard to have faith when it comes to hope, because we do not yet have what we hope for, but that's only natural."For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he already sees?" (Romans 8:24)

    (The spreading of these concepts can be achieved through points number two, five, and six.)

     The fifth and sixth points share the underlying reasoning: unity. (Ephesians 4:3, 11-13) Without intercommunication and intra-communication the church can be carried away by false doctrine. (Ephesians 4:14) And unified communication also presents a much less confusing Gospel. With all of the disagreement on secondary issues and on matters of indifference (like the color of the carpet) our Gospel can be bogged down, but it is a simple message.

     "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also." (1 Corinthians 15:3-8) And "...Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved..." (Acts 16:31). "For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God." (2 Corinthians 2:17)

Let me say that this is a lot to do. (So let's get a lot of people working on it.) "Many hands make light work."

Blessings, Justus

( Proverbs 8:29, Revelation 2-3, Ephesians 1:15-18, 2 Corinthians 7:13-16, Genesis 1:31, John 14:6, Ephesians 1:18-19, Hebrews 6:19-20, Romans 8:24, Ephesians 4:3, Ephesians 4:11-16, 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, Acts 16:31, 2 Corinthians 2:17)

P.S. Thanks for reading any or all of this. (I know it's a lot, I'm making up for the summer.) The next post will be shorter.