Did Jesus have long hair?

I'm pretty sure it wasn't me, as I would not be born for another 1900+ years!
Ed

 

IF you need to ask--it's too long. Get to a barbershop before the rapture passes you by!!! :
</font>[/QUOTE]Hmmm... I had this same question, but I shave my head.

And what makes you think that the rapture will pass anyone by simply because they need a haircut.

 

Ok. That is a fair point. In the same Word of God, however, the Lord says this to the Nazarites who were set apart from all men by God:

Numbers 6

Now, I understand that we seem to have a contradiction between the two passages unless we understand that perhaps neither of these restrictions were meant to be for all men of all time. Is it not possible that for some it was to their shame (possibly for some other reason dealing with what was in their heart (possibly rebellion), while for others, it was an acceptable symbol of seperation?

I don't know. What do you think?

Joseph Botwinick

 

I see what yer saying, Bro.

It apparently was not a shame for the Nazarite's who had to let their hair grow, unless the long hair was to teach them more humility; i.e. community not caring to allow certain things since they looked different or acted different.

Unless the long hair mentioned by Paul actually meant a style of wearing the hair. That would make sense as to why Paul said nature itself teaches that man should not have long hair.

 

it is suspected that even the Apostle Paul may have taken a Nazarite vow, for at the end of his vow he shaved his head.

Acts 18:18 And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.

 

Are you the one in the front, or in the back? If you are the man in the back, I would say your hair is not "long" from what I can tell. None of this is my definition. God used the term "long." I think he thought we would be smart enough to figure that out. When God leads me to preach on hair, I just preach on "long" hair being a shame and let the Holy Spirit do the convicting.

Pastor Mark. </font>[/QUOTE]wow. Our church gets sermons about Jesus, and yours gets sermons about Vidal Sassoon.

I just don't know what to say about that.

BTW, pastormark, I love how you seamlessly wove all of our society's problems--including abortion and rampant drug abuse--to long hair. That was funny.

 

First, God has the hairs of our head numbered. He created it, and therefore has a will concerning it and what we do with it.

Second, Paul states God's reasons for giving long hair to women, and short hair to men. He said it was the natural insignia of their rank. What one does with his hair is part of the discipline of maintaining his vessel in sanctification and honor.

Now a question to those who see that the standard of hair styles and their meaning as a mere cultural one:

When the culture said that men should have short hair and women long, was it immoral for the hippies and yippies in the unrest of the 60's and 70's to scorn that distinction? And if so, when did it become a good thing for men to grow their hair long?

 

IMO,

The hippies grew their hair long mainly as a point of being rebellious and offensive to the culture, and that is what made it a sin. On the other hand, the Nazarites, including possibly the Apostle Paul himself (see SFIC's earlier post) grew their hair out of obedience to God as a sign of seperation to God, and that was just fine with the Bible.

For those of you who think this passage in the Bible restricting long hair was for all men of all times, let me ask this:

Does the Bible give any specific instruction as to what is too long, is it a cultural matter, or is it a matter of what is in the heart (see the above hippy example)?

Joseph Botwinick

 

The story is told of a young man who was a college student. His parents had decided that they would get him a car. In the meantime, the son, although basically a 'good kid', had decided that he liked his hair growing long and he also was becoming a little rebelious. The father announced that he and his mother were thinking about getting the son a car, but they also had one request, and that was that he get his hair cut. Not surprisingly, the son was not going to.

He told his dad, "Dad, I have found out that Jesus had long hair, Moses had long hair, and Paul had long hair. So I think that long hair was OK in the Bible; I like it, I think its 'cool', and I've decided I'm not going to get it cut!"

The father wisely replied, "Well son, I do see your point, but you might want to consider one more thing along with this."

"What's that, Dad?" the son asked.

"Jesus, Moses and Paul, may have had long hair- that's true-" the father said. "And they also walked , every step they took!"

Uh- The son DID get the point, as a quick trip to the barber showed.

Ed

 

Nazarites were exceptions. Besides, there are no Nazarites today (except in the spiritual sense of the word) just as there is no sacrifice. This doesn't change the fact that by nature we know that long hair is the glory of women and the shame of men.

It may be difficult to discern where the line should be drawn (and that only because we are unskilled in the Word of righteousness), but it does matter how one wears his hair.

 

Aaron,

So, we agree that this passage was not for all men of all time. Good.

Now, what Biblical instruction do we have as to how long is too long? We know that if God wants something from us, it is not a secret or some hidden mystery. It should be clearly revealed in his Word. Otherwise, we are falling into the heresy of hidden or special revelation.

Joseph Botwinick

 

Which passage are you saying is not for all men? I say the 1 Cor. 11 is for all men everywhere until the NT comes to an end.

 

Time to debate something with substance.

 

Aaron, you asked "when did it become a good thing for men to grow their hair long?"

The cultural shift and acceptance of longer hair happened quite quickly, I'd say over a period of maybe 7 or 8 years. If you look at high school yearbook photos in 1963 or 1964, you find a lot of crewcuts, flattops and other short haircuts.

(BTW, Here is a URL to a high school yearbook page from 1964. I don't know if this will "hotlink" or not)

http://home.alltel.net/cure1/senior_photos.html

I read an article in a magazine for teachers and higher education once that said the peak years for for battles over longer hair for boys was in the 1968-69 years, then the furor started to subside. Of course, it varied depending on what part of the country you lived in, obviously it took more time in some parts of the country (the South or rural areas) than others (for example, Southern California.) By the time the Watergate hearings were in full swing, 1974, the battle was essentially over. I remember, as I was 17 that year.

Like I said, it varies according to the part of the country you lived in, but I'd say it happened from about 1966-67 to about 1974.

The other aspect that has changed radically from that time is this: Most men do not go to a barber anymore to get their hair cut. It doesn't matter if the place you go has the word "Barber" on the name or has a rotating pole outside.

Odds are most of the men on this board, certainly more than 50%, have their hair cut by a cosmetologist. If you go to a "Great Clips", "Sport Clips" or "Fantastic Sams" type place, you are having your hair cut by a cosmetologist. If a woman is cutting your hair, she almost certainly is a cosmetologist, even if the sign on the outside says "Barbers".

So what, you ask? What's the difference?

Big difference. Cosmetologists (a.k.a. "Beauticians") spend a large part of their training learning things such as coloring, tinting, frosting hair, learning to give perms, hair extensions, etc. They do not learn, for example, how to taper hair. They get extremely little training with a pair of hair clippers, other than learning to trim the excess hair on the neck. They also spend a majority of time in their training cutting women's hair. Sure, they get some men but the bulk is women.

People who went to a traditional barber school, on the other hand, cut mostly mens hair, and get hundreds of hours in learning how to use clippers, how to taper hair evenly-from skin all the way down at the hairline, gradually and evenly tapered up the back and sides to the top, with no lines or ridges left in the hair. A good barber, who has a minimum of talent (and it does take a certain amount of talent) can do this easily. A beautician, a cosmetologist cannot do this at all, because he/she has received next to no training in it.

Of course, barbers cut lots of experience in traditional short cuts too, tapers, crewcuts and flattops (which are probably the most difficult traditional haircut). For beauticians, once the hair gets shorter than what can be cut holding the hair between the fingers, they often get uncomfortable, as they have little training and experience in using clippers.

A beautician will not be able to taper up from the neckline in back, they will cut it "blocked". As the hair grows out, a proper taper will last, a blocked neckline will start to look bad in a week or two. An all over 'buzzcut" will usually look better when the back and sides have been tapered up a bit from the hairline, it will last longer and look better as it grows out. Beauticians/cosmetologists can't do this, as they have no training in tapering. They will cut everything to one length, running a single blade length over all the head. This does not look as good, especially if it is a longer length "buzzcut".

Unfortunately, the Barber "industry" in the U.S. has been almost completely obliterated in the last 30-35 years. Some states have NO barber colleges left at all, just beauty schools. Here in Colorado, there were 6 barber colleges in Denver at the end of the 1960's. There is just one left now in the entire state, at Emily Griffith Opportunity School in Denver. Everything else is a beauty school. This is fine if you want to spend hundreds of hours learning to color and perm womens hair, give beehives and bouffants.

Other states merged the barber and beauty school boards in the 1970's or 80's, they are not separate as they always used to be. This has blurred the lines between the two, usually completely.

In 1972, barbershops across the U.S. were closing at a rate of one per day. That's 365 shops closing in one year.

I can remember in the 1960's, the "main street" of the suburb I lived, had 6 "real" barbershops within a 3 block radius. They are all gone now, with a couple of "unisex hair places" taking their place.

Most people are not aware how much this has changed in the last 30-35 years.

BTw, on a completely different side of this discussion, I've read several places that the Roman soldiers used to cut their hair not much different than a Marine Corps "high and tight" today, cutting it very short on top and shaving the back and sides with their razors, knives, or even swords if necessary. It helped their helmets to fit more securely.

 

Not me, I cut my own .

 

My haircutter has a cosmetology license. As the taylor said to the nudist, "so what"?

I honestly can't believe that such a benign topic has gone on for 8 pages.

 

Not me, I cut my own . </font>[/QUOTE]Same here !!!!!

 

As good looking as we are maybe we ought to open a barber shop .

 

I go to a woman barber---who is a real barber, with a license from the state barber school, she is not a cosmetologist. I must be closer to the Lord then all those long hair cosmetologist using supposed Christian "men".



Bro Tony

 

I cut my husbands hair. Actually he cuts it and I even it up, lol