Jumpstarter 6 of 10

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Question 6

When discussing head coverings, David says shifting to “Are you saying a woman can’t be saved if she doesn’t wear a head covering?” dodges the real question: “What does God tell us to do?”; how do modern Christians use salvation/“is it essential?” language to escape uncomfortable obedience, and what would it look like to treat God’s commands as commands even when we’re unsure of the eternal stakes?

Another way to ask: How do Christians use “Is this required for salvation?” to avoid doing hard or awkward things God may be asking? What would it look like to obey God’s commands even when we’re not sure how big the eternal consequences are?

Direct Answer David suggests that “Will this affect salvation?” can become a dodge that avoids the real issue of obedience to God’s instruction. Treating commands as commands means focusing on what Scripture teaches and what God requires, even if we don’t know whether a specific issue is “salvation-level.”

Support from Transcript:

He calls the head covering question a false dichotomy: “We’re not necessarily talking about salvation…The point is, what is 1 Corinthians 11 teaching?”
He notes the tactic feels effective: “oh, no, okay, well, then it doesn’t matter.”
He says whether it “cost you your salvation” may be “an irrelevant issue to be looking at.”
He observes head covering Christians “hardly ever argue from that” because it’s a misleading frame.
He states the principle: “Just because something maybe isn’t…[something] we will lose heaven over…doesn’t mean that it’s not a commandment we need to follow.”

Discussion Follow-ups What topics do we quickly reduce to “essential or not” so we can dismiss them? How might we practice obeying what we understand now, while staying humble about what we don’t?

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Jumpstarter 6 of 10