A Hairy Situation in IFB

Dr. Huk-N-Duck

Dr. Huk-N-Duck

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In a recent church service, my pastor preached that the Bible teaches it is a shame for a man to have long hair (1 Cor 11:14). I’ve always kept near military style haircuts, so it doesn’t really bother me, although I wondered how a few of the men in the service with longer hair felt. He also taught about standards for women, and mainly focused on the clothing aspect of things, but I noticed part of one of the verses he mentioned touched on standards for women’s hair (1 Timothy 2:9), and the fact that it shouldn’t be braided.
What bothered me about this is that he completely skipped the standard about women shunning braided hair, but he honed in on men not having long hair. For the record, I don’t care if women have braided hair, and I’m sure there’s a antiquated reason it was in the Bible to begin with, but if this is outdated, why not the standard related to men? To me, this pick & choose approach is hypocritical and brings in too much cultural human element instead of sticking to the Bible.
 
Huk said:
In a recent church service, my pastor preached that the Bible teaches it is a shame for a man to have long hair (1 Cor 11:14). I’ve always kept near military style haircuts, so it doesn’t really bother me, although I wondered how a few of the men in the service with longer hair felt. He also taught about standards for women, and mainly focused on the clothing aspect of things, but I noticed part of one of the verses he mentioned touched on standards for women’s hair (1 Timothy 2:9), and the fact that it shouldn’t be braided.
What bothered me about this is that he completely skipped the standard about women shunning braided hair, but he honed in on men not having long hair. For the record, I don’t care if women have braided hair, and I’m sure there’s a antiquated reason it was in the Bible to begin with, but if this is outdated, why not the standard related to men? To me, this pick & choose approach is hypocritical and brings in too much cultural human element instead of sticking to the Bible.
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IFB legalism to the hilt. The Bible asks a question about mens hair...Doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him? Trying to build a whole doctrine on a question is asinine at best, and Pharisaical positioning at best. I had shoulder-length hair and a huge bushy beard up until four weeks ago, and I'll have another one around this time next year. I look at it this way, if they can't handle it, they can show their hypocrisy and ask me to leave. I just love "Christians" who put BS before the HS.
 
I've heard that verse preached countless times, but never heard any of those preachers preach the whole passage.
 
So we all agree there was a level of hypocrisy involved here, in that the pastor took full advantage of the passage pertaining to men’s hair, but conveniently ignored the portion about women’s hair. But…my question is, what is the historical basis of this in the Bible? I don’t expect anyone to type an essay, but is there a link to something I can read? It was all a little confusing to me.
 
voicecrying said:
I've heard that verse preached countless times, but never heard any of those preachers preach the whole passage.
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When I was suspended from Bible college for my hair touching my ears and collar, I pointed out the hypocrisy and asked them to prove that I was in violation of the Scriptures. They couldn't, and I made an issue of it. They kicked me out, but, after a few preacher friends who were "liberal" (at least in the college's opinion) threatened to make known the hypocrisy and lies told about me in a local newspaper, they recanted and let me back in. It only took two days, and was removed from my record. Thankfully, this college is no longer in existence.
 
Huk said:
So we all agree there was a level of hypocrisy involved here, in that the pastor took full advantage of the passage pertaining to men’s hair, but conveniently ignored the portion about women’s hair. But…my question is, what is the historical basis of this in the Bible? I don’t expect anyone to type an essay, but is there a link to something I can read? It was all a little confusing to me.
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I've had many IFB preachers give me references on Absolom and how his hair got caught in the tree and ended up in his death. They conveniently forget to mention his trying to overthrow his father as king. Then they point out Samson as well, conveniently forgetting he was a Nazarite. UGH! I just love some of the "Pastors" we have out there who have an unscriptural thirst for power, and an agenda to rule people with an iron fist!
 
AverageJoe said:
When I was suspended from Bible college for my hair touching my ears and collar, I pointed out the hypocrisy and asked them to prove that I was in violation of the Scriptures. They couldn't, and I made an issue of it. They kicked me out, but, after a few preacher friends who were "liberal" (at least in the college's opinion) threatened to make known the hypocrisy and lies told about me in a local newspaper, they recanted and let me back in. It only took two days, and was removed from my record. Thankfully, this college is no longer in existence.
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Wow…I’m just trying to make sure I’m not misreading what you said here. The Christian college you attended was actually publishing stuff about you in the local newspaper??
 
The hypocrisy of such positions is frequent in legalistic environments, but in my not so humble opinion, the root of the problem is willful hermeneutical ignorance. It takes work to do theology right, but it's easy (and lazy) to just parrot lines that all the folks in your camp already espouse and teach through their publications/ministries/colleges. To see that the point of 1 Timothy 2:9 is the avoidance of ostentation is not that difficult, but it is easier to beat and control the sheep by making up (extra-biblical) rules, not to mention that such rule-making feeds the pride of those who make the rules (whether they actually practice them privately or not).
 
1 Corinthians 11:14 asks the question about it being a "Shame" for men to have long hair, but it does not say it is a sin, not there or anywhere else in the Bible. Nazarites had long hair, Numbers 6:5-6. For a while, Paul had long hair as part of a religious vow, which he then had cut off, Acts 18:18. In the society in which we live, I recommend relatively short hair for men, long hair for women, but I would never say that long hair on men is a sin. Nor is short hair on women a sin - nowhere does it say that in 1 Corinthians 11 or anywhere else. There you go, one less vital issue for preachers to beat us over the head with (pun intended).

Anybody care to get a debate going on "bobbed hair" for the ladies? You know what they say, "Hair today, gone tomorrow."
 
Huk said:
Wow…I’m just trying to make sure I’m not misreading what you said here. The Christian college you attended was actually publishing stuff about you in the local newspaper??
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No...the pastors of several churches in the area and in states/churches where there were college students being sent to this college, were going to put an editorial or article into the newspapers in their areas, and in the area where the college was to expose 'hyper'/extra biblical Christianity. This college had slandered my parents and their business partners, basically called my mother a slut/whore, and told the girls at the college not to apply for a job at the business run by my parents because they were ungodly and unscriptural people. Many people knew about the junk going on at the college and the church the college was run out of. I'm thankful that the Lord finally led me away from there to a good Bible college in another state. The 80s were a wild time for church-run Bible colleges. I went to two in this particular town and they were both nothing more than an echo chamber for each church's beliefs, not necessarily for what the Bible actually said.
 
AverageJoe said:
No...the pastors of several churches in the area and in states/churches where there were college students being sent to this college, were going to put an editorial or article into the newspapers in their areas, and in the area where the college was to expose 'hyper'/extra biblical Christianity. This college had slandered my parents and their business partners, basically called my mother a slut/whore, and told the girls at the college not to apply for a job at the business run by my parents because they were ungodly and unscriptural people. Many people knew about the junk going on at the college and the church the college was run out of. I'm thankful that the Lord finally led me away from there to a good Bible college in another state. The 80s were a wild time for church-run Bible colleges. I went to two in this particular town and they were both nothing more than an echo chamber for each church's beliefs, not necessarily for what the Bible actually said.
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Thanks for sharing. My guess is these were small colleges being run by guys with Napoleon complexes who were probably not as important as they thought they were. There’s probably a good reason why they went under and are now bankrupt or whatever.
 
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Here's some good legalism from Pensacola Christian College:

Mustaches, goatees, and beards must be fully grown in (between ¼ and ½ inch in length) with clean lines and trimmed an inch above the Adam’s apple.... If a student plans to start growing facial hair, it should be done only during Christmas or summer vacations.​

It's perfectly fine to be clean shaven. It's perfectly fine to grow a beard. But God forbid you should ever decide to grow a beard in the middle of the term and spend two weeks looking unshaven with your "undefined facial hair."
 
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Ransom said:
Here's some good legalism from Pensacola Christian College:

Mustaches, goatees, and beards must be fully grown in (between ¼ and ½ inch in length) with clean lines and trimmed an inch above the Adam’s apple.... If a student plans to start growing facial hair, it should be done only during Christmas or summer vacations.​

It's perfectly fine to be clean shaven. It's perfectly fine to grow a beard. But God forbid you should ever decide to grow a beard in the middle of the term and spend two weeks looking unshaven with your "undefined facial hair."
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I’m actually surprised they allow beards and goatees. Although I attended secular schools, I can recall looking into a few Christian colleges and, if memory serves me correctly, some of them didn’t allow any facial hair except a mustache. It’s been too many years to remember which schools had which rules, I just remember being really stumped by some of the rules and them not making much sense to me.
 
I don’t agree with the man-interpreted legalism of items like hair length, but I do think there is something to Christians (particularly church staff) not looking too much like the world. I know we briefly tried attending one of those mega Christian churches near us (I like to call them rock n roll churches, but that’s just my quirky term), and I just couldn’t get past the fact that the 20-something music minister was rocking a full sleeve arm tattoo, had big gauges in his ear, and some strange haircut. I *really* had an issue on the day that he was leading music while also sporting a Guns N Roses T-shirt. This kid could have easily slipped into one of our nearby bars or nightclubs after the service and looked “cool” and had fit right in without anyone even blinking. For me, the issue wasn’t necessarily itemized to just his hair, or just the tattoos, or just the ear gauges, or just his clothing, but rather it was combined as the whole package. My wife and I had a disagreement on this, but I just couldn’t let a “music minister” lead worship who doesn’t even look like a guy I’d trust dating my daughter.
 
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voicecrying said:
What does the world look like?
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According to the IFB churches I grew up in...mini-skirts, jean wearin', face painted, cleavage showin', excessive hairdo women who look like hookers instead of mothers, and tight jean wearin', t-shirt wearin', tattooed men with hair longer than their wives! UGH! I got so tired of this crap! I knew a former body guard for the president of the Hells Angels who attended our church who was more Christ-like than the pastor! These "christians" were so self-righteous I wanted to puke!
 
I think of this “definition what the world looks like” in terms of what the justice once famously said about the definition of obscenity. Potter Stewart (1915–1985), associate justice of the Supreme Court from 1958 to 1981, is frequently remembered for his famous nondefinition of obscenity: “I know it when I see it.”
BTW, my main criticism here is aimed at church staff members. I’m not aiming my criticism towards those in church attendance. If so, I’d have to reach around and shoot myself in the butt because I definitely don’t fit in with the typical IFB man look. As I’ve already stated, I’m one of the only guys who refuses to wear a jacket and tie to services. Yes, I have a few tattoos (not easily exposed like the kid music minister). I don’t have longer hair, but that’s just more preference and lack of time in the morning). However, I’m also not a pastor.
 
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Huk said:
I’m actually surprised they allow beards and goatees. Although I attended secular schools, I can recall looking into a few Christian colleges and, if memory serves me correctly, some of them didn’t allow any facial hair except a mustache.
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This surprised me too. The beard thing wasn't even the part of their dress code I was looking for, but it caught my attention.

My guess is that the old canard about facial hair belonging to hippie subculture doesn't play so well anymore with students born 30+ years after the Summer of Love.
 
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