UPC Setting The Fashion Trend?

[Hoovie]

"Why is there always a debate surrounding long hair? Writer Dominique Browning, 55, wrote a piece for the New York Times today about how she loves having long hair, but everyone in her life seems to have a problem with it: "My mother hates it. My sister worries about it. My agent thinks I’m hiding behind it. A concerned friend suggests that it undermines my professional credibility. But in the middle of my life, I’m happy with it," Browning writes. And we can see where she's coming from!"


http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beaut...#photoViewer=1

[*AQuietPlace*]

This backs up the point Apostle Paul was making - a woman's hair is her glory.

(but these same women in the article who love long hair, do usually trim it and style it )

[Adam]

Well, Apostle Paul also said a woman should be silent and learn from her husband at home.

This is why my intellectual, feminist mother despises Apostle Paul, and as a consequence, churches and Christians, in general.

[*AQuietPlace*]

Originally Posted by Adam

Well, Apostle Paul also said a woman should be silent and learn from her husband at home.

This is why my intellectual, feminist mother despises Apostle Paul, and as a consequence, churches and Christians, in general.

She should do more study, because Paul, and especially Jesus, were actually very pro-women.

[llambert]

Hello everyone.

This is my first post on AFF (this site was recommended to me by TRFrance, whom I don't think has posted on here in awhile).

I've been following the various posts for about 6 months now, and I get that this is a site for people to feel free to express their thoughts without too much censure. I live in NYC and attended 2 UPCI churches in the NY Metro District region. I am now in a COOLJC church. To me, the dress code, hair, jewelry, beard, long sleeves/short pants, going to the movie house, TV watching etc. as having a dire consequence upon your soul's salvation seems to be stressed more outside of the NYC area. I'm a male with no daughters, so the long/uncut hair issue doesn't pertain to my day to day life.

In COOLJC, there is a teaching that women should wear a head covering as it has been taught that the men in service will be distracted by the woman's hairstyle, but honestly, I don't have a hair fetish, so seeing a woman's hair in church doesn't distract me. I think some of these doctrines about external issues like hair and clothes are rooted in either tradition, culture, limited literacy skills (and I'm not trying to be sarcastic in any way when I say that) or some individual leader's personal weaknesses. This is not to say that we should make fun of the people who keep to these traditional looks. It could very well be that some women do learn humility through the way they wear their hair or their hat or whatever, but personally, I wouldn't go on and on and on preaching and teaching about it or against it when there are matters of the broken heart and the wounded spirits of persons in and out of church that need to be addressed.

From my experience (mind you, I was in one UPCI affiliated from 86-93 and one home missions church from 95-99) it seems that in some churches, one could just go there and if you are a woman and you want to keep wearing your pants or cutting your hair, the pastors/leaders won't pressure you. Some of the pastors are wise enough to not pressure certain people on these issues. Others teach that those "standards" are only for people in leadership.

So I guess if someone doesn't feel convicted to dress the traditional UPCI way or do the no TV thing, they can just go to the services, but not let the leadership pressure them into joining officially. Or if they sense that the church is too authoritarian, then they need to love those people from a distance.

I don't know necessarily that one can't be saved if they are not an official member of a local church (although for various legal and social reasons it has certain advantages and protections). I'd just say that if we've been hurt by legalistic preachers, we need to pray for healing and pray that we have a healthy attitude towards those who may still be teaching and preaching legalistic doctrines (Colossians 2)

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by Adam

Well, Apostle Paul also said a woman should be silent and learn from her husband at home.

This is why my intellectual, feminist mother despises Apostle Paul, and as a consequence, churches and Christians, in general.

She misunderstands Paul or rather churches misunderstand Paul, any that teaches a woman to be silent and learn from her husband at home

People think Paul was giving instructions on to be silent when he was really giving instructions to learn. Before that women did not attend to learning Torah or whatever.

Given the culture, even this was a radical departure from norm, but apparently Paul didn't think it was wise to go all the way.

It's the same with slavery. Paul was not condoning slavery. He was preventing a backlash against the church in not telling slaves to leave their masters...

If a slave left an unbelieving master, he would have been killed and the churches that taught them to leave persecuted.

The believing masters that let their slaves go too would be going against Roman laws and culture and caused legal problems for the church. Paul said to obey the laws as much as lies within you.

You probably don't see many female teachers or preachers in churches in Islamic nations for that reason too

[Jeffrey]

Originally Posted by *AQuietPlace*

This backs up the point Apostle Paul was making - a woman's hair is her glory.

(but these same women in the article who love long hair, do usually trim it and style it )

It's beautiful and feminine. A long-shot away from saying a woman have shoulder-length hair is putting her in the way of judgement. Certainly a flawed perspective of 1 Cor 11. I laugh when people call it the "hair chapter."