Question

In First Corinthians, where they talk about women are supposed to have something on their head when they are praying and whatever.  Why doesn't that pertain to today? 

Answer

In regards to 1 Corinthians, chapter 11, about a woman having her head covered; what Paul is referring to there was, in the Corinthian time there were distinctive ways in which a woman demonstrated her submissiveness.  A woman demonstrated her submissiveness with her hair--the covering of her hair--women had long hair.  He says, "Doesn't even nature tell you itself, that, if a woman have long hair, it is a glory unto her."  But in those days a woman wore a covering, and the covering was the symbol of their submissiveness.  And the women in the Corinthian thing were going through a sort of an "ERA Equal Rights" movement, and they were throwing off their covering and shearing off their hair. 

Carcopino (sp.) in his book on daily life in Rome said, "They were running around bare-breasted with spears--sticking pigs, and climbing poles."  Women's Lib isn't anything new--they were doing it then too--trying to be macho, wanting to get equality with men.  So, Paul was saying to them, "Look, you want to be sure that in your society, if a covering is a symbol of submissiveness--you keep your covering on, because you want to demonstrate your womanliness and your submissiveness by God's design."  And then he just supports that by saying, "Can't you see that God has designed a woman's hair to be unique to a woman?"  And of course the argument scientifically is that a woman's hair grows faster than a man's hair does--demonstrating that God's intention for a woman is uniquely her hair.  I think that says to us today that a woman (some of you are going--"Oh boy, I hope my hair is long enough!"), I am not saying that, what I am saying is that a woman's should be distinctly feminine, and a woman's demeanor distinctly feminine, and whatever it is in our culture that demonstrates femininity and a woman's unique God intended role is how a woman ought to look.