Head Coverings Predated Christianity

[Evang.Benincasa]

Originally Posted by donfriesen1

2) Abraham tithed. No command previous to the Law is recorded asking for this, which later would have prominence in Israel by command. That Abraham tithed can be attributed to what he learnt on his own as his rightful duty, by intuition, but not by command of God which we have no record of. Important things are usually recorded. Has God shown he plays along with Man's ways by commanding later that which Man's intuition has started? Did God design Man in such a way that Man's God-given intuition would naturally lead where it did - tithing from a thankful heart and not law? It is a natural thing to be thankful. It does not need a law of God to make this so. Did God turn what Abraham had learned by himself as a good thing, into a command of God? How could this ever be determined?

Tithing wasn’t exclusive to the Hebrews, and the tribes of Israel. We have records in cuneiform ( early Bronze Age ) which speaks of the practice of tithing. Abraham who was late Bronze Age would’ve already have known the practice of “the nobility tithe.” Therefore Abraham didn’t get a gut feeling, or just come up with 10% pay off to the King of Salem. Therefore Abraham would have understood proper eastern etiquette concerning spoils of war, and kings and priests. No intuitive feeling employed. God designed man in His image, which man freely chose to blow off, and become his own god. The Bible states that man is wicked, Jeremiah 17:9. Therefore “natural mind” of man only leads him to ruin, not salvation. It’s not a natural thing to be “thankful” if it was you wouldn’t have to teach young children to say “thank you” when they receive something. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:7 that the natural mind of man is God’s enemy. That should be explanation enough to show that God isn’t depending on man to use his intuition to obey Him.

[Evang.Benincasa]

Originally Posted by donfriesen1

Does God ever incorporate into his will for Man, things from Man's ways, those good things which Man has come across, such as veils?
1) Nothing is seen pre-Law commanding the use of the 'clean' category of animals for sacrifice. Important things are usually recorded, but none about these. Yet, God commands Noah to take 7 of the clean animals into the Ark for future sacrifice. Does God show he plays along with human-developed sensibilities by commanding them for Noah? Without scriptural definitives it would only be speculation to say so. Did God design Man in such a way that God-given intuition would naturally lead Man to recognize the acceptability of some animals as clean and the rejection of others? This also is speculation. We do know that there is no scriptural record of commands for the use of only clean animals for sacrifice, before the giving of the Law. We do not know the origins of this 'clean or unclean animal' understanding. It thus would not be incorrect to say it is of human origin.

The origin of the differences of clean and unclean was handed down to Noah. You point out in your own post, that God told Noah to take 7 pairs of clean into the ark. According to Genesis 7:2–3, God instructed Noah to take seven pairs (or seven of each kind) of every clean animal and bird onto the ark, totaling 14 of each kind. This provided extra animals for sacrifice and food after the flood, as mentioned in Genesis 8:20. Noah, didn’t figure out by some carnal intuition that he brought an extra number of clean animals to eat and sacrifice. Noah, had already knew the difference between clean and unclean. He was instructed by God, how to build the ark, and how and why the number of animals. Animal sacrifice “clean” offered to God starts with Abel. Obviously this program was handed down to his progeny. I believe Amanah did a great job pointing out God’s law before it was codified in Moses? With Moses it was all written down. Yet, murder was still wrong according to God in Genesis, way before it was written down with Moses. As I said before, the heart of man is deceitfully wicked, who can understand it? God isn’t counting on us to use our intuition to seek out His mind. We cannot use our carnal intuition to know God.

[Evang.Benincasa]

Originally Posted by Costeon

I see what you mean about the "what ifs." I guess I was wondering, if there was not already an expected custom in Corinth that respectable women wore veils—that some Christian women apparently were not upholding—would Paul have ever brought up the topic. In other words, is veiling inherent to Christianity? Or might it only be required in certain cultural contexts?

Sorry I missed this post. Where else in the Pauline epistles do we find Paul upholding Roman traditions? Which by the way were many. Most opposed the Judean customs of Paul’s day. Also why did Paul put his foot down against arguing about the subject of head coverings? Paul, never tells his readers that this was just a Corinthian custom. But, a custom held by all the churches. Are we to assume all the churches in the city of Corinth? Paul mingles his topic of head coverings with authority of the Church and the angelic. The Greek term which the New Testament employs for the English word “church’ meant a governing body. The Greek word is ekklesia, derived from ek ("out of") and kaleo ("to call"). In Hellenized Judea, the word referred to an assembly of selected citizens, like a city council coming together to deliberate, vote, and make decisions on civil policy. Should we also assume this word is being used by the Apostle because he believed the Body of Christ was the same as an HOA? While Paul was a good free born Roman citizen and understood the importance of keeping the Roman Peace in Romans 13. In the same chapter he combines his thoughts on civil duty with the commandments of Moses. Should we also consider Paul’s observation of civil duty to just be a Hellenized Roman Judean custom? Paul wasn't asking the Church to uphold the Pax Romana, but reminding them their duty as good Saints as followers of Christ. These were already views held by the Judeans as followers of Moses. Also head coverings were also not just a Roman religious, and civic custom. Many different ancient civilizations employed head coverings in the ancient world, all the way to Ancient Egypt.