I think the unity is in the Spirit of God, and that Spirit will preserve the Church. As I write this I’m aware that Ratzinger wrote the same kind of words when he was thinking of resigning (is that the right word?).

Currently I;’m being quite scathing about the liberal arm of the Presbyterians: I remember the Presbyterian Church as it was before the liberals shat all over it, and I remember the Anglican Church before it lost its spine. The fact that half the time I am quoting Romans is because they also seek truth and we have one faith.

I think you have a pretty poor bunch of leaders at present, and (at the risk of offending the Staunch Catholics, such as Mundabor) I plead that you do learn from the errors within the Protestant (both mainline and evangelical) and do not follow them.

Because we are not talking about transubstantiation or the place of Mary or the saints. We can and should debate these things. We are talking about the cross of Christ. We are talking about what morality is. We are talking about things that the church has always spoken as one on — adultery is wrong, homosexuality iis disordered, theft is a sin, corruption should be purged from the church, and the gospel is our mission and our goal.

But not the the current clerics. I think the Borgias did less damage than this bunch of fools.

Practial issues: well Alte is the fashionista (or her mother is). I won’t comment — if A. has lost the blog bits I think I can bring them up. But a hoodie or baseball cap is a form of covering. as is the woolen watch cap I have next to my keys. (It is below freezing here).

The oppression one is fairly easy. Say it is your personal devotion to [insert something non reformed here That you are doing this as a discipline. Don’t make a fuss over it.

The nastier argument is that every woman wears a hat to the races, in fact there are competitions for th ebest dressed man and woman — with the lease of an expsensive care for a year as a prize. And, yes I mean recently. See the link below, and this is NZ — we are as feminist as the USA or more so. But my sisters enjoy working within the rules. It’s fun to them. Cue Cyndi Lauper, if you will.

http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/j3I1naHPVwu/Auckland+Derby+Day/ndv2qP_86KM/Marion+Farrel

I’ve been reading opinions on the matter. One woman, who claims to be a devout Christian, wrote an entire article about covering as oppression, and that we really don’t have to listen to Paul on this matter because he was addressing the specific needs of a specific culture and group of people who are gone, their way of life doesn’t exist any longer, and so Paul can be ignored here.

This is a dangerous can of venomous snakes to open. If Paul can be disregarded on this matter because the people and culture he was addressing are no longer with us in that same form, then you follow the road down a-ways and it’s no short walk to totally rejecting everything Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, and Paul wrote. None of those people for and to whom they wrote are around these days, few of those customs and cultures still exist in their ancient forms, and any messages, advice, or instructions that don’t transcend space and time can just be forgotten or ignored! Well, then we can strike about, what, five-sevenths of the New Testament?

Does she even realize what she is saying? The article was an old archived one and I stopped reading all of the comments, so I don’t know if anyone made that particular point to the author of the post, but if anyone did, I’m certain she did pretzel twists with her logic justifying her original point.

Well sorry for the tangent but it does seem that people are bound and determined to remake God into their image and interpret Scripture in any way that justifies their decisions, rather than giving themselves up to God to be His vessel. <—-I struggle daily with this and I know how difficult it is to do, but I try anyway. Maybe in another 20 years it will get easier.

God Bless!