Here's the deal: it would be one thing for someone to agree with all of Paul's reasoning that he establishes, and then maybe reconsider a different custom (albeit with caution to make sure that the same principles are shown).

But you're basically saying that everything Paul says couldn't possibly be right, because "we are all one in Christ" (and yes this is a true statement). Clearly, you should have been Paul's teacher, because he writes For this cause, and it's nothing like what you put forth. Praying in tongues and Communion are examples of two things (Communion basically replaces the Passover in old Hebrew culture, and we do it anyway) that are not understood in the slightest by the outside world that they did back then.

Furthermore, you have not explained why Paul believed the men should have their heads "uncovered" according to a cultural context.

Mr Got et al,

Following is a bit of a "witness" on me and my journey, just so you know a little more about how I got here:

I studied for 20 years to find truth.  Truth, God's truth, was my only agenda.  This truth I found contradicted everything I had been taught.  It made the solid ground under my feet move.  It wasn't so solid after all.  It scared me, and I cried a lot.  I let my housework go.  My kids played at my feet to be near me.  I was studying more hours than I was sleeping.

I am no feminist.  I have been married three times.  The first was to a chronic philanderer, my second husband died when our home burned to the ground the night our son was born, and I am blessed to be in my final marriage to to a godly man, a fine preacher. I am a small-farm farmer, a homeschooling Mom (my youngest graduates this year), a political conservative.  I am anything but feminist.  I've been churched and in church since I was two weeks old in a mainline Church of Christ.  (Spent a few years with Independent Baptists during my first marriage.)  I was as traditional as they come.  I say all this so you will know that this is not something I went looking for, it came looking for me.

I had begun to question how I was going to answer my two year-old daughter when she asked, "Mommy, why can't I...?", knowing that the answer was because of her gender, and answer that was quite unsatisfactory to both of us.  She has had a unique relationship with God since she could talk.  It did not occur to me that I was going to find a different answer.  I was simply looking for better proof for understanding why she could not.

Then one day some friends of ours brought me a magazine with an ad page opened to gal328.org, and I was overcome with something that could only be described as God working in me.  I began to shake and weep uncontrollably, asking God to send someone else.  I had promised to "be available" to Him.  So here He was asking me to be available.  I knew, before I ever opened that web page, that my life was going to be forever changed.  I had no idea how much, and if I had known, I think I would have thrown it down and run away as fast and as far as I could.  God pried my fingers loose - one at a time - from my heritage, from my church family, from my home, from my beliefs.  And He rebuilt my life, the one He wanted me to live.  He let me breathe His fresh air.  And then, He sent me back to my heritage.  I had work to do for Him, but first needed to know how wonderful His freedom is.

So don't think I have taken this journey lightly, as I fully understand the magnitude.  I don't expect you to agree with me.  I do expect you not to silence me.

I am His willing, obedient servant.

Thank you for sharing, that was very insightful for me and probably for others. I hope that no believer would seek to silence you, that would just be wrong. However, I firmly believe that iron sharpens iron, and since you seem to be pretty good with the sword, sparring is certainly in order...

I have no experience with the Church of Christ, but reading between the lines, I think maybe I can comprehend why you would be frustrated. I have read about half the articles on the gal328.org web site and find that with a few minor exceptions here and there, what they propose is very close to how our assembly functions. I think that we might be coming at things a little differently than they propose, but since we are not Church of Christ, that is no surprise.

(It suddenly occurs to me to ask what might be a really dumb question: is Grace Centered Christian Forums primarily a Church of Christ specific forum for people within the Church of Christ? Because if it is, maybe I better leave...)

An old friend who is an elder in my first church after I got saved gave me some good counsel recently, we were discussing some issues our congregation was wrestling with, and he offered the opinion that God does not make everything black and white, although He could if He chose. Perhaps the reason He does it that way is because it pleases Him when we take His Word seriously enough to wrestle with it for a really long time, because we want to please Him by getting it right.

Obviously you have done that. I know I have. I accept that you are His servant. I hope to be counted as one.

So enjoy your vacation, relax, have a good time.... leave your sword in the sheath... for now... 

To answer your question, no, it is not.  I was started with a Restoration Movement emphasis, and in some of the earlier days, "Church of Christ" dominated.  The board has grown since then, and now there are weird issues from many different churches that get talked about here.

I have never known another forum so argumentative. You remind me of the Corinthian Church. I'm outta here. Bye everyone.

Dunno. What's wrong with it? 

If they wish to follow Jewish tradition, then yes, if they want to do what Jesus wishes them to do, then No, Jesus never asked anyone to be subservient to Him, never asked anyone to plead with Him before He healed them, never asked anyone to bow to Him before He spoke to them, never asked anyone to take a bath before He supped with them, and He would never ask you to wear a veil just to come into His presence.

In His Love