1 Corinthians SeriesThe Gravity of Sin Introduction:[Slide 2]When I was at Vanguard, I had a bit of a reputation for pranks. I love nothing more then pulling a good prank. Not ones that hurt people or ruin their days, but small ones. Things like taking the battery out of someones cell phone and leaving it in their backpack, moving someones car or changing someones computer so that everything was upside down. I get a lot of joy out of pulling pranks. So one day at Vanguard in our leadership class we went and did an object lesson. We all got in a circle with a circle of rope in front of us. The idea was that were all supposed to grab the rope and lean back. If everyone leaned back together, no-one would fall. It was to show mutual trust and submission. Everyone needs everyone else. I remember that as we were about to grab the pastor mark look directly at me and reminded “everyone” again that NOBODY could let go of the rope…[Slide 3]Today, we are going to look at another lack of submission as we continue our journey through 1 Corinthians by examining the issue of head coverings. 1 Corinthians chapter 11 is one of the most disputed, argued and difficult passages in the New Testament. Scholars have argued for centuries about its meaning and place within scripture. Today I want to give you my best attempt to decipher this passage. It’s by no means going to perfect but I think we will cover the main points that Paul is trying to teach the Corinthians and, by extension, trying to teach us today.  Section 2: Authority Worth Following Like we’ve been talking about all summer the Corinthians were proud and puffed up. They thought they knew best. That they could do whatever they want without any consideration for others. So they had yet another problem, this one was in public worship. Some men were coming to worship with their heads covered, which meant either with a ceremonial hat or with long hair meanwhile  women were coming with short hair or their hair done up in specific ways. It might not sound like a big problem, but it was actually huge. Well scholars aren’t quite sure what exact circumstances that consensus is that men covering their heads & women not covering their heads were signs of unfaithfulness, promiscuity, same-sex relationships or promoting other religions to the people around them. The head coverings were a lot like the meat sacrificed to idols, The head coverings/ or not covering weren’t in and of themselves bad, they we’re a grey area but they were subtly promoting sin. So for example is the women having their head uncovered referred to short hair, well short was a sign of promiscuity. Women who were adulteress would often forced to cut their hair short among the jews. Among the greeks long hair done up in a certain way labeled one as a worshipper of a specific greek god.   Paul starts to work to set the corinthians straight. and this is were this passage gets tricky. Paul begins using the word head in two different ways. In english this gets really messy. [Slide 4]First Paul uses the word head in a non-literal way. in verse 3: “I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God”Head here is a tricky word. It doesn’t mean hair like before. It means something else. And that something else has been a point of debate for at least a thousand years.  I think that it’s best translation is “authority” It makes the most sense. Paul here is taking about the Order of Creation in Genesis 2. That men were made by God from the dirt and women were made to help men. In that story Eve, the first women is made from of Adam. Now I don’t think that the bible is advocating for some authoritarian rule of man over women. If anything Paul teaches the opposite in other places. In  Ephesian 5 Paul writes this: Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26&nbs