Under two laws
In one of my earlier posts, “When Church and State conflict“, I raised an issue of potential conflict between state and church laws. In most cases church institutes additional requirements that do not contradict state laws, save for a few rare cases. My original point was that when the church’s requirements are stricter than those of the state, Christians should makes sure they obey them in their private/church life but do not impose them on those who do not believe. But our last bible study made me realize I missed something important. Should Christians impose stricter requirements on themselves when dealing with non-believers in a secular world?
The context for this question came from a study on 1 Cor 11:2-16 about women’s head coverings and man’s headship over woman. While tradition of wearing headscarves is purely cultural and does not need to be practice today, the headship of man over woman (or submission of woman to man) is there by God’s design and applies to us just as much as it did to Christians Paul is writing to. Our church, for example, imposes this requirement on women by not allowing them to be preachers and elders. It also encourages the practice of women’s submission in our families.
But what about Christian woman’s behavior in a secular world? Should she, for example, volunteer to do jobs that put her in authority over men? Or put it in a more general way, where is the boundary of Bible’s authority for Christians? Is it limited to their private/church life or should it spill out to their secular life also? Note I am not talking about imposing the Christian rules on unbelievers, but imposing it on believers in their dealings with unbelievers.
I don’t have the answer. Yet. If you think you know it, or can think of some cons/pros, please comment!