Your Questions Answered

We received a question asking us to write a few things about games for the family: “I’m inquiring about games with numbers either on cards or tiles. I figure your answer will be no games whatsoever. Please tell the young people what we can do. Please give instruction what to do in the long evenings.”

Time is a gift of God. We are obliged to serve the Lord, also in our daily labors. In spite of what we deserve, the Lord grants us some opportunity for rest from our labors and for refreshment.

How should we fill this time? We should avoid dishonest and wasteful spending of our leisure time. There are places where we should not go, there are activities we should not participate in, and there are people with whom we should not seek to spend our time. There also are times and seasons, Halloween, for instance, in which we should not participate.

We should always ask: Is this pleasing to God? Can I ask a blessing upon this activity? Is there unnecessary danger involved?

We can make a long list about what not to do and where not to go. Rather than writing only what we should not be doing, how much there is that we can, and even should, do!

I would encourage families to do things together. Do not forget to sing together, to speak about the sermons and about what you have read.

We should stimulate our children to start a hobby, such as woodworking, drawing, painting, making crafts, or starting a collection, just to mention a few things.

Especially in our times in which many of our young people have an unhealthy lifestyle and do not engage in much physical activity, some physical exercise is good. On the other hand I am convinced that involvement in sports is very tempting. Be aware of the idol of sport!

But now, specifically, what about games?

There are nice games which are healthy and which can develop skills or exercise the mind. I mention shuffle board, table tennis, chess, checkers, etc. There are crossword puzzles and other word games, and jigsaw puzzles.

There are some precautions with respect to games. Stay away from games of chance, but rather do something that requires skill or develops the mind.

Visiting people can, indeed, easily turn into a gossip session, but that does not mean that we should avoid visiting. It is nice if also young people visit the old and sick relatives and friends.

If the spending of our leisure time gives us a taste of God’s kindness towards us, would we not seek to serve the Lord?

Consider that our life is a time of preparation. So often we are so busy with working and recreation that we seem to have no time for the most important things.

Do we really have no time?

Let us especially take to heart what the Lord says in Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

A question was received about the head covering in prayer: “The practice in our denomination seems to be that our heads are covered primarily during church service. Are we doing wrong by not having our heads covered every time we pray, both in public and in private? Also, what is meant by 1 Corinthians 11:10 when it says, ‘to have power on her head because of the angels?’”

In the April/May 1995 issue of Insight Into there is a nice article about the head covering, written by L. S. B. Hyde. Read this; then most of your questions will be answered. In regard to the question of whether heads are to be covered every time we pray, this is said only in regard to public worship services, when prayer is offered.

There is more instructive literature about this subject. I refer you to a booklet written by Timothy Nelson, The Head Covering. Since few people possess this booklet, I will quote a few things from it.

In some respects, the tenth verse of this chapter is the most puzzling. Paul continues by exhorting the woman “to have power on her head.” What does he mean? The Greek word translated “power” conveys the idea of “privilege,” “right,” or “authority.” The woman is to have a SIGN of this power on her head, i.e., she is to have her head covered — “the token,” as Matthew Henry rightly points out, “not of her having power or superiority, but of her being UNDER THE POWER of her husband, and subjected to him” (emphasis mine).

Thus the headcovering is a symbol of subordination. As such, it gives the woman the right to come before God in the attitude of worship. The failure to recognize her proper place in God’s order renders the woman’s attempt to worship unacceptable before the Lord. The importance of this recognition is underlined by the use of the word “ought” at the beginning of the verse. This is a strong term meaning “to owe, to be a debtor” — it is intended to convey the idea of duty: the woman is obliged to render obedience; there is no question of being free to opt out, or to choose to do otherwise.

Nelson also give some possible explanation of Paul’s reference to “the angels,” as follows:

(A) The woman ought to cover her head FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE ANGELS, i.e., her obedience (or lack of it) will be witnessed by the angels, and it becomes, therefore, a divinely ordained means of instructing the angels.

The fact that the angels do witness what is taking place on earth is suggested in such verses as 1 Corinthians 4:9, Ephesians 3:10, and 1 Timothy 5:21. Could it be that God is using the Church to teach them something of His manifold wisdom? This is the opinion of many, and it is certainly a solemn thought — that the believer is being used of God as a living object lesson, to make known the glorious truths of authority and submission to these heavenly beings. In this way, the angels are brought to see the Biblical significance of the Lordship of Christ, and the proper place of the individual believer within His Church.

(B) The woman ought to cover her head because of THE RESTRAINING INFLUENCE OF THE ANGELS. This argument rests upon the idea of the presence of the angels, which is to be noted in two areas. First, there is the thought that the angels were present at CREATION. Job 38 speaks of that creation (see verse 4 and the following verses) and verse 7 indicates that the “sons of God” witnessed these events... In the second place, we need to acknowledge the presence of the angels in the local congregation. The presence of the angels should restrain Christians from all improprieties in the worship of God. Whether man or woman, we should be constrained to behave in the congregation so as to express reverence for God and acceptance of the rank in which He has placed us.

(C) The woman ought to cover her head because of the EXAMPLE SET BY THE ANGELS. The individual woman asserts her true position before God, not by rebelling, but by recognizing this position and fulfilling its claims — even as do the angels, who are ministering and worshipping spirits (Hebrews 1:14,6).

Nelson continues by saying:

It is not “comely” for the woman to appear before the Lord with her head uncovered. The word “comely” is closely related to that which is translated “becometh” in 1 Timothy 2:10, where it also refers to that which is “fitting” or “seemly” for the woman. Paul is saying that, in the light of the arguments he has put forth, it becomes the woman to cover her head when approaching God in an act of public worship.

The apostle draws his discussion to a close by introducing an argument from nature. Already he has been teaching of the essential difference between the man and the woman with respect to their contrasting ROLES within the body of Christ — now he introduces nature to assist him in affirming the obvious difference between the sexes in terms of APPEARANCE. Paul shows that for a man to have long hair is contrary to the natural order because it would bring confusion between man and woman, long hair being the glory of the woman alone. It is a “shame” (Greek: “that which is dishonorable or disgraceful”) for the man to wear long hair — by so doing he sacrifices the position that is rightfully his. Sadly, it is this type of distinction that is all too readily ignored in our society. In Revelation 9 there is the awful description of those who had “faces of men and they had hair as the hair of women” (verses 7-8). There is obviously a confusion of God’s natural order in this image, and it is evident in many areas today. To harbor or promote such confusion is to rebel against what God has established at creation. Paul contends that in the same way that the hairstyle IN EVERYDAY LIFE identifies and distinguishes man and woman, the wearing of a head-covering, or not, as the case may be, is symbolic of their distinct position IN PUBLIC WORSHIP. If the distinction is apparent in the natural realm — and it is — then it should be reflected, in worship, by the woman who acknowledges her true position before God.

Remarkably, the verse which closes this section has inspired controversy as well... What is Paul saying? Simply that he does not legislate for Corinth alone — it should be the same in all congregations, it must NOT be a matter of individual opinion or local decision. There was no room for anyone to contend: no other practice or custom was to be allowed. The case was closed. We end this chapter with the words of Matthew Henry: “It was the common usage of the churches, for women to appear in public assemblies and join in public worship, veiled; and it was manifestly decent that they should do so. Those must be very contentious who would quarrel with this.”

In regard to this question I would also like to refer you to an article by Rev. T. H. Brown that appeared in the November and December 1989 issues of the Banner of Truth.

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