CHAPTER 1:
INTRODUCTION
POCKETSERMONS.org
By Rick Cutter (contact)
(NOTE: This is a beta version only of the e-book; please feel free to let us know of any significant errors so that they can be corrected. Thanks!)
There are numerous problems in our modern United States churches.
The Restoration Movement long ago stalled, and many churches have descended into a state of Traditionalism. In other words, reliance on the accepted norms of the church rather than the Word of God. Today’s church has drifted away from the Church Christ came to the world and died for.
For one thing, many modern congregations need an immediate Culture Change. The spiritual walls of Zion have been crumbling for generations (allowing that which should be left out to come in). And the temple of our spiritual worship to God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ needs to be remeasured by the Word of God—and repaired.
In today’s Church it is common for Christians to be so heavily distracted by the cares, riches, and pleasures of life (Lk 8:15), so engrossed in entertainment and materialism, that they are held hostage to the god of greed, resulting in spiritual distractions, complacency, unspiritual minds, and widespread traditionalism.
Therefore, I believe that a shocking number of Christians remain blissfully oblivious to the probability of an imminent End of this physical World by fire (2 Pet 3:1-13), unaware that they are not prepared to meet God, content in their spiritually lifeless, non-growth focused, and tradition-entrenched churches. Like the Revelation Churches of Ephesus and Laodicea (Revelation 2-3), many congregations today, I fear, are in instant need of repentance and change.
In the next book I hope to address the immediate need for a Culture Change in our churches, along with practical, Biblically-based, actionable steps that I believe will help us all—regardless of spiritual condition—to improve and grow towards proper obedience to the Word of God.
But our focus in this book is mainly to examine the Uncut Hair doctrine. For more information on the Veil/Cloth-covering Position, please visit: APPENDIX A: FACT-CHECKING THE “VEIL POSITION”.
Why The “Hair Question” Is Being Examined First
The reason I would like to first examine the “Hair Question” of 1 Corinthians 11:2-16—before addressing the Church’s more significant problems—is that many in the modern Church have elevated the Uncut Hair doctrine to “test of fellowship” status. They consider it an eternal salvation requirement that every Christian absolutely must embrace the Uncut Hair viewpoint precisely as they do—as a condition of full fellowship. Because of this viewpoint, not to mention several serious concerns about the logicality of the Uncut Hair position (noticed following), failure to accurately understand this heavily emphasized issue could represent a substantial impediment to realistic and long-term congregational growth.
As for those of us who believe that the Hair Question teachings are simply too Biblically insignificant to matter to a person’s salvation—they should remind themselves of the words of our Lord (Luke 16:10), who plainly stated that, ”…he who is faithful (trustworthy) in what is least (very little, smallest), is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust (unrighteous, wrong) in what is least, is unjust also in much.” Furthermore, Jesus taught (in Matt 5:6) that we must “hunger and thirst for [God’s] righteousness,” (in other words, striving to be right in everything we are and do). And Paul added (in Eph 5:10, ESV) that believers should “Find out what pleases the Lord.”
Therefore—since the teachings of 1 Corinthians 11 are plainly part of God’s will in the New Testament, then surely we could all agree that we should seek to obey them—along with every other New Testament teaching—to the best of our reasonable ability. We should also earnestly seek for more wisdom in how to handle our sincere differences on this and every issue of the church. For if there’s anything today’s U.S. churches are good at, it’s dividing the church. And if there’s anything we hear little taught about by preachers and teachers, it’s how to maintain peace, unity, and open dialogue in a Christ-approved manner regarding any difference we have, and knowing how to responsibly identify the difference between actual “False Doctrine”—which, per Scripture, must be handled by disfellowship—and teaching that are simply wrong, and that we must, in the love of Christ, resolve, as so many early churches had to do with their many differences. But Christ demands peace in Truth (John 8.31-32). Timothy was commanded to “…pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart (pure intent, etc)…” (2 Timothy 2:22). And Peter commanded Christians to “seek peace and PURSUE IT” (1 Peter 5.11). Instead, we commonly do the opposite. We “seek divisions over differences, and achieve it.” Some doctrines are arbitrarily chosen to be called “False,” while other actual False teachings are simply ignored. Ironically, the popular church doctrine (which was repeated in the 21st Street church’s 2023 Preachers Study)—which maintains that “anything in the Bible someone understands wrongly—no matter how trivial it is—and teaches to others, makes him a False Teacher”—is itself a certified False Teaching. Not only is this doctrine not taught nor implied in the New Testament, it guarantees to cause further subdivisions among our people—and doing it all in the name of “contending for the faith” instead of what it actually is: “contending against God’s people, and dividing them.” Such is the work of the Devil.
So, in love, and with a sincere desire seek the Truth of God’s Word—instead of looking for evidence to support Traditional viewpoints—let’s now take a closer look at 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. I will attempt to present the following information in a truthful, respectful, loving, logical, and simple manner, with the goal that truth-seeking Christians can have civil and growth-objective dialogue about our differences.
IMPORTANT!! I strongly encourage you to please carefully read 1 Corinthians 11:1-16—preferably in two or three different translations (e.g., KJV, NKJV, ESV, etc)—before continuing. Thank you!
NOTE: I encourage anyone who disagrees with any major or minor point below to immediately let me know so that I can correct it if necessary. “I don’t mind being shown as wrong today, because that means I’ll be less wrong tomorrow.” However, if you agree please let me know so that I can keep you up-to-date on future ideas, especially the urgent need for a Culture Change in many of our churches!
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