Anonymous, in a previous post of inspirational Christmas music, noted..."It's a sin for a man to have long hair"
I Corinthians 11:14
“Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?”
Um...no. Actually, quite the opposite
I Corinthians 11:6
"For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head."
Nature's Female Disgrace!
Human Female Disgrace!
16If anyone is inclined to dispute this, we have no other practice, nor do the churches of God.
"I dispute this..."
...as do I
Well then...
And too...
In the Old Testament, Samson (Judges 13:5, Judges 16:17) was a Nazirite who did not cut his hair. Samson was a mighty warrior until Delilah cut his hair. Samuel's mother Hannah made a vow not to cut her son's hair if God answered her prayer for a son (1 Samuel 1:11).
PS Bobashorthair is currently agonizing over this issue and that Jesus was surely not black.
Cleaning up Jesus for the modern world or "according to the scriptures"?
...and now we return you to our normally scheduled posts
29 comments:
Dennis,
I was thinking along the same lines when I read the comment about long hair. This is the kind of comment that a Fundamentalist and Literalist approach to Scripture engenders. When folks forget that Paul was a flawed human (just like us), and that he was a product of the social mores of a First Century Roman Jew, we are very likely to convert comments like this into eternal spiritual principles.
In 2021, it is the equivalent of saying that it is shameful for a man not to wear a suit and tie to Church! (I know, I know - there are plenty of folks who would say that) Paul, however, wouldn't have known what to make of someone so attired walking into the congregation at Corinth. And let's not forget that women shouldn't be speaking in Church!
As the pictures and commentary you provided suggest, deciding what is/isn't gender appropriate or attractive is a very subjective exercise. From our perspective, it has been observed that Cleopatra probably wouldn't have provoked much interest among the heterosexual males of today (apparently, however, to Caesar and Antony she was the bomb!) Of course, her political power/position would probably be an aphrodisiac in any age. Nevertheless, the point about the highly subjective nature of such evaluations remains.
How does this "Hair Length Thing" apply to other body parts??
I once held that same viewpoint about long hair on members of the male gender. Having lived and worked in the real world, and having seen and been acquainted with men with long hair over the past 55 years, it lost it's shock value a long time ago. Over that time, I met enough very masculine men with hair down to the middle ot their backs to realize that long hair is not the mark of a sissy, and enough long haired guys with very conservative political views to know that it's not the sign of a radical.
I never really liked long hair for me personally, but see no reason to mentally invalidate anyone else who prefers that style. And, that's what the " long hair on a man is a shame" set typically does. They make their ad hominem attacks as a way of discrediting or repudiating their fellow man, while failing to see that it is just like saying "Thou fool!" It's prehistoric cancel culture. It's taking a cheap shot or the easy way out, rather than carrying on civil discourse pertaining to paradigms and premises.
I have a value judgment of my own. The minute I hear a complaint about some guy's long hair, I write the complainer off as some sort of deeply prejudiced, irrational, programmed cultic robot or neo-Nazi, and immediately tune them out.
I agree Miller. I picture God as more the Samson type rather than with a Crew Cut. There might be power in the blood, but there is power in the hair length for guys too!
When I was a mere pup in the ministry in Ohio, a Lena Lenape (Delaware) Native American male came to church. He looked like the first pic in the post. Of course behind the scenes some said "He'll have to cut his hair right?" to which I said, NO! That's his culture. Cutting the hair of a Native American is what white Europeans did to them and their children in "Indian School" to domesticate them. I would never expect or ask him to cut his hair. Frankly it was awesome, and he had the classic 'look" of what would have been Custer's last earthly view. :)
If you want to clean up the Jesus view, you need to make him look like a Middle Eastern Jew and not like a Greek god.
That was an enlightened view, respecting the culture of those who exist outside of the western European mold, Dennis. There are learned scholars who derive from the experiences of Paul the fact that God intended Christianity to thrive within the context of all the various cultures around the world, and not to remain just a Jewish phenomenon. HWA muted this by insisting that the gentile Christians functioned exactly the same as the Jewish ones, a notion that was rendered preposterous by Paul's chastisement of the Judaizers, written records of the early Christians, and the decision of the first Jerusalem Council articulated by James, regarding circumcision and the full implications of that decision.
Universal Unitarians believe that all roads lead back to God, no matter which specific set of life experiences drive the process. I think there is a great deal of wisdom in that.
Bobby gets bent out of shape over so many superficial things that are of no importance to anyone. Do any of his African followers give a flying donkey about whether Jesus had long hair or was white? They don't. Only some of his white folk care and in reality, most of them do not either.
I watched a documentary on American fundamental Christianity, and it stated that they taught that a male Christian should dress and look like a Walt Disney executive. I don't see this in my bible, and it would look very strange in many countries world wide.
The bible instructs to not add or subtract from God's word.
Once in bible study I asked how long is long, in which the minister answered that if your hair begins to grow over the ears it's time for a hair cut. 🤔🤨
The cleaned up Jesus would be a "no go" for attending the RCG. The hair is still too long on top of the ears and in a few other places.
When Dave Pack started to proclaim many years ago that the Son of Man would "return to this very campus" "exactly the same" as he was 2000 years ago, it created a conundrum in the minds of many.
How would the Jesus of 2000 years ago get past the gate was a starter of conversation which when expounded would lead one to question how Jesus could operate in a church that believed they dressed better, acted better, and understood more than any other church in the world.
Many of the "greats" pictured in the Bible resided at on time or another in wilderness. From the COG perspective it has to be amazing that these men achieved such "spiritual" growth to be a father or leader or judge or prophet of many when there was no barbershop or mirror or pair of scissors anywhere to be found.
Will the real Jesus stand up and make himself known would be a scary proposition for a COG leader to proclaim. They might just get what they are least expecting.
Random thoughts. I was told the general rule for AC employees was that you couldn't wear your hair any longer than, or have more facial hair than your direct supervisor. Since that chain of supervisors ultimately traced back to HWA, you get the general idea.
Every year, some freshman would go to the store, buy a tube of Brylcream and comb his hair straight back, just like HWA. The style did not go with every shape of head, and this led to some ridiculous looking students.
When ths issue of long hair comes up here from time to time, my mind reaches into its jukebox and begins to play the Aerosmith song in which the high voices are chanting "Fag, Fag!" and Steven Tyler comes in with "Dude looks like a lady!"
Apparently, in the wacky world of COGdom, there was (Gasp!), a double standard on musicians withnlong hair. The sainted classical musicians were given a pass on their long hair, and other known infractions! This did not go unnoticed amongst the teenagers. Words such as arbitrary and hypocritical were used.
We didn't call it "cancel culture back then, but HWA and the ministers certainly applied their own little set of buzzwords to invalidate all of those whom they perceived as dangerous to their agendas. Most of the brethren, like mindless parrots, began repeating these buzzwords amongst themselves and as we've seen, these buzzwords became a lasting part of Armstrong church culture. Some of us shorten that phrase to "cult".
Strong's (2863) thinks "long hair" could be "tresses". Don't see any males wearing tresses in the photos.
And readers of this blog are expected to believe these posts are written by men ?
GTA called me out of Freshman Bible to his office to tell me my hair was too long. It is as it still is today. He said the hair was blocking the forehead and brain, the center of "intellect". I wish I had asked him what he thought the skull blocked. lol
That crap came out of Nazi Germany, Dennis. In original Star Trek, second season, "Patterns of Force", the enterprise encounters a planet whose government is fashioned after the Third Reich, Hitler's Germany. A high Nazi official makes GTA's same remark regarding Spock's bangs. It was thought that Aryans, the master race, had high hair lines and that this was indicative of superior intellect. Of course Hitler appears to have blocked his forehead. As a sidebar, Moe Howard of the Three Stooges was kind of blown away when the Beatles adopted his trademark hairstyle in the mid '60s.
GTA himself, as he got into being more of a TV personality, actually grew his hair long in the front. There were many styles and activities which he mocked initially, but later adapted himself. Illustrates the point that often we criticize that which we are internally fighting.
MAN! Am I glad I was rejected admission to AC in 1966. What horrors I have avoided.
I can't believe that a person's hair length has ANYTHING to do with salvation....
Nuclear Assault has a great song about this subject:
https://youtu.be/CAdvg9FrWEw
Even after I drank the Kool-Aid, there was still apparently a little common sense remaining. I was baptized as a teenager, and I think that my zeal for the "truth" made the minister and elder overlook some of my "attitude." I remember one Ohio summer when it was extremely hot, and I removed my suit coat to be more comfortable. One of the deacons approached me and said, "Lonnie, we don't remove our coats until the minister removes his." I smiled and said, "It's so hot that I'm sure that the minister will be removing his coat very soon," and I turned around and walked away (I didn't put my coat back on).
In the section of Corinthians where he mentions hair length for men, Paul invokes "nature" and "custom." This does not seem to be an apostolic edict. From context, he may have been speaking of a liturgical practice in the Corinthian church or maybe the Gentile churches broadly. I have no idea how he connects men not wearing a head covering with being created in the image of God. Judaism went in the opposite direction. A few centuries after Paul, Jewish men began to wear head coverings in prayer leading to the modern yamulka.
I don't like long hair on men. And I don't like short hair on women. I associate both with non-conformism and rebellion. But it has nothing to do with my religious beliefs. It has to do with the culture and era in which I was raised. So coincidentally I have no trouble with Paul's recommended praxis.
The WCG was an autocratic theocracy. Anything non-paradigm was going to be a target.
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We all need to remember that from a 1950's perspective The Beatles and Elvis Presley were condidered to be Long Haired men and abominations on the hip action front also.
I don't have opinions on hair. What about the George Washington type of Wigs? Or King James's huge Wig?
All the rage!
In any case Ties are beyond stupid, unless you need to be identified as a State Department employee and not even that if you are a Java Developer.
Nck
Neo Therm said :I don't like long hair on men. And I don't like short hair on women. I associate both with non-conformism and rebellion.
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You say that like it was a bad thing :)
NCK noted: In any case Ties are beyond stupid, unless you need to be identified as a State Department employee and not even that if you are a Java Developer.
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From what I understand, ties began long ago as talismans for protection in war. They were more like upper body apron that tied in the back. Over the years it evolved into the tie.
Why we'd ever think to wear a rope tied around our windpipe and larynx is beyond me :)
"It has to do with the culture and era in which I was raised."
Uh-uh, no. Adolescence serves a vital purpose. You chose that position. Don't hide behind "Ah wuz raised that way".
I've always believed that long hair for guys and short hair for woman in contemporary society was a crotch for certain mental problems. Mental, like physical crotches, are a good thing.
Hey nck! Do you approve of Bolo ties? Good, masculine neckwear!
“Get a haircut and get a real job.” -- GT
It's "crutch", 9:25, not "crotch"! It'd only be a crotch for mental problems if the mental problems were of a sexual nature!
Look, I approve anything that keeps you warm and comfortable.
Bolo ties..... Look the 1472 Midrash explanation by Rabbi Shlomo explicitly states that.............
And yes Dennis in the opening scenes of Gladiator that arrogant artillery guy who said "People should know when they are conquered" actually wears a white scarf. So yes, the primary evidence is there.......
Nck
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