Head Coverings: Then and Now?

“The wearing of fabric head coverings in worship was universally the practice of Christian women until the twentieth century.  What happened?  Did we suddenly find some biblical truth to which the saints for thousands of years were blind?  Or were our biblical views of women gradually eroded by the modern feminist movement that has infiltrated the church?"

-R.C. Sproul

Thursday, 15 February 2018 from 1800-2000(ish)

Rotolo's (under 21 welcome)

Headcoverings seem to be something taken out of the historical Christian culture, or stubbornly held onto by Eastern Orthodox, pre-Vatican II Roman Catholics, and Coptic/Arabic churches.  Looking closer, however, we find evidence of head coverings in use by women in the church since AD 100 in the catacombs of Italy through the mid 20th century in mainline congregations and through today in other sects.  Why were they used and why not now?  Is R.C. Sproul right in that modern feminism has infected the church concerning headcoverings via egalitarianism or is it something else?

Questions:

• Following the order of Paul, there are four reasons for head coverings: The Creation Order, the Angels, Nature, and Church Practice.  How do these four reasons inform our thoughts on this subject? 
• Are Paul's words to the Corinthians a perpetual mandate for the church of all ages or a local/temporal custom illustrating a principle, perhaps in relation to temple prostitutes?    
• Do (did) headcoverings only refer to public worship, especially if we are taught to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess 5:16)?
• Is a woman's hair not her covering?  And what then of those that cut it short or cannot grow long hair?
• If the Presbyterian church advocated headcoverings until the 1960s, what changed/happened like RC Sproul said in the masthead quote?
• Does Paul in 1 Tim 2:12-15 strengthen or have no impact on the position that head coverings are applicable to today?

Readings:

• The Biblical Case for Head Coverings #1, 2, 3, 4 (The Head Covering Movement: Jeremy Gardiner)
• Should Women Wear Head Coverings? (TGC: Benjamin Merkle)
• Uncovering the Head Covering Debate (Christianity Today: Luma Simms)
• John Calvin's Commentary on Head Coverings (The American Historical review: Michael Bailey)
• Head coverings in Scripture and Church History (Greg Price)
• Covered Glory (condensed) (full-length) (David Phillips)

The Seen and Unseen: How to Properly See the Paranormal

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

- Ephesians 6:12

Thursday, 18 January 2018 from 1800-2000(ish)

Rotolo's (under 21 welcome)

Stories of increasingly numerous and dangerous exorcisms have been making the news rounds recently while conversation over spiritual darkness and deviancy at the highest levels of Hollywood and government continue to reverberate.  Wiccans and other "magical orders" "cast spells" on President Trump to be expelled from office while ghost hunting shows consistently rank high on multiple networks.  Ghost stories, folk tales, legends, myths, fiction, and even the Old Testament (The Witch of Endor, a necromancer; 1 Samuel 28:3-25) tell of occultist or supernatural manifestations and interactions with our natural world.  How do we as Christians understand this and derive sound theological truths from a murky and hazy realm?

Questions:

• Does the spiritual realm still interact/manifest in our day and age?  Has that mostly fallen away since the time of the New Testament, gotten "stronger", or is it cyclical? 
• In reference to the 1 Samuel passage, did the witch have the ability to bring the departed spirits of the dead back to predict the future for the living, or was this simply a demonic delusion? Does not only God have the power to predict the future or do departed spirits or evil spirits too? What about other sources of revelation besides the Word of God? Does this text not prove that such exist?
• The Pharaoh’s magicians performed miracles (Ex 7:22), the antichrist and false prophet will perform miracles (2 Thess 2:9), while the Bible speaks of counterfeit signs and wonders (Matt 7:22), and a "messenger of Satan" physically tormented Paul (2 Cor 12:7).  What exactly ARE the powers of Satan and his fallen angels?
• What are ghosts, possessions, and premonitions?
• Why is it that we only hear of "neutral" or evil supernatural manifestations and magic but never (rarely) ever of angels or physical manifestations of prayer?
• Does Frank Peretti (author of spiritual warfare books ex: This Present Darkness) have it right?

Readings:

• The Protestant Reformation, Magic and Religion (Guided History: Nichole Close) 
• What Does the Bible Say About Ghosts? (Relevant: Emily Miller)
• Defeating the Devil (Ligonier)
• Long: The Disenchantment of Magic: Spells, Charms, and Superstition in Early European Witchcraft Literature (The American Historical review: Michael Bailey)