I think if there is any doubt, it is always safe to take the higher standard. Our testimony and ability to reach the lost should always be a priority. If we are presenting ourselves in a way that a lost person would deem ungodly then we truly need to rethink how we are presenting ourselves. For me, if there is any question whether my hair is too short, then I will keep growing it. I don't know of anyone who would accuse me of having short hair. I will grow it as long as God will allow it though. I think that short hair on a woman can hurt her testimony. While short may be at least to some degree up to the individual, I personally don't want to be anywhere near the cut off point. I don't want to be barely right, I want to be very right. I don't want anyone to look at me and have any doubt.
That said, there are times when it is out of a womans control. I used to know a girl who had tried for years to grow her hair and still couldn't get it quite to her shoulders. I know thyroid and other hormonal problems can cause problems with hair growing and/or falling out. Also, there are other medical reasons for having short hair. What about the woman who went through chemo 2 years ago or had brain surgery. Someone else mentioned a woman they knew who couldn't style long hair due to a problem with their shoulder. In those cases I believe God knows the heart. He knows that it is not an act of rebellion or disobedience and I do not believe he will hold it against them. However the bible seems clear to me that in those cases a woman should wear a covering over her head. Perhaps only when she prays as someone suggested, but I don't know about you... I don't plan ahead when I am going to pray. The bible says to pray without ceasing. We should always be ready to pray. Each time we hear a siren, or a friend calls asking for prayer, or we hear of tragedy somewhere. I do not want to stop and go run for my hat, scarf or whatever I am using. If I had short hair I would cover my head at all times for that reason.
God looks upon our hearts. Of course our outward appearence is a reflection of our hearts. It is also what the lost see, they are not capable of seeing our hearts. What they see is the smile on our face and an outward submission to God. If even one person I witness to got hungup by how I looked then I have failed. I have not placed myself in the best possible position to help that soul. That soul should be of the utmost importance in everything we do day in and day out.
This subject should only be broached with love and tenderness. You can't force people to adhere to your standards. Even if you KNOW your standards align with the Bible. They should be given the information they need to make an informed spiritual decision. Would I condone a woman in position having short or shorter hair? It would greatly depend on what I knew about that woman and her walk with God. The Holy spirit needs to be given the chance to work in peoples lives and to give Christians convictions. It is his job, not mine, to tell people what to do. If the woman in question showed other signs of rebellion in her life, I would question the effectivness of her position. However my reasons for holding the higher standard, while I believe are firmly based on biblical principal, cannot and should not be forced upon others. I have heard of Pastors who dictated to their people. I know of several churches that ended up closing for that reason. If people are adhering to standards only because their Pastor says they have to, then they will not keep those same standards once the Pastor is gone. Which is why I believe this must only be approached in love with a submissive heart and desire to help and guide God's people.
I just thought I would add my 2 cents for whatever they are worth.
Ditto. It had nothing to do with keep the bloodline pure. It had everything to do with the fact that the surrounding nations were pagan. If someone converted to the one true God and became part of the Jewish nation in the OT it was perfectly fine for a "natural born" Jew to marry them and several such examples exist. Same principle applies today, don't marry the heathen. Race is not the factor that makes it acceptable or unacceptable then or now.
But, I must admit, ma'am even if that were true, it almost seems you'd be sinning by simply saying that...Sounds prideful and pointless.
God bless,
Crushmaster.
I would say biblically no, from the scriptures it seems Gods perfect will is that a person should not remarry after a divorce as long as their divorced spouse is still alive. If it was "ok" for anyone to do that then it wouldn't be a problem when a pastor did it either.
If your going to be consistent and if your categorically apposed to such things on the grounds "God did not intend mankind to be united as one", and if your going to use the tower of babel as evidence, then logically I would think you would be apposed to learning other languages as well. After all God confused the languages at the tower of babel precisely to create division. Also if your going to use Acts 17:26 as some type of evidence then logically you should be apposed to marrying someone from a different country regardless of the race they were of, and within the same country it also would not matter what race they were of. The verse is talking about God setting the bounds of nations not races after all. So no English/German, American/Canadian marriages either.
Truth be told when you boil it down much of the time it seems black and some other color marriages are the only interracial marriages that are categorically disapproved of by some. A White guy with a Hispanic lady or a White guy with a Asian lady and the same people that object to Black guy with a White woman don't seem to care more often than not. That tells me it is indeed more often than not the last vestiges of racism, conscious or not, and that kind of thing is also doubtless why at one point it was semi-popular to teach that the "mark of cain" was being black regardless of zero evidence for that and the fact that all his descendants were destroyed in the flood. Now in a sense this is every individuals own business, nothing says you "must" personally approve of interracial marriages or perform marriage ceremonies in such cases if it bothers you. However you certainly can't even begin to reasonably defend such a position from scripture and if a pastor/church does penalize a couple for no other reason but something like this then I do think they are in the wrong and will have to answer for it to God. Churches are made up of sinful people and occasionally have to deal with the results of racism in the midst along with just about everything else. No different than when in the early church at Jerusalem the Greek widows were being neglected and receiving less than Jewish widows for racial reasons and the office of deacon was created precisely to take care of some of the effects of that sin of racism within the church and restore the proper balance.
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