Does Jehovah hate beards? (page 2)

brotherdan

The Watchtower used to draw Jesus and other OT characters as having no beards. This was largely a Rutherford/Knorr practice.

brotherdan

Although, if this became the fashion trend, I'd agree with the Watchtower....

punkofnice

Let's face it it's just CULT CONTROL TACTICS to see who is enough under mind control to be trusted as a company man for the WTBT$.

I heard it was a Judge Boozerford thing as he wanted to cut association from Charlie Tazers-a Rissole (who had a corker of face fuzz), and Rissolites.

CULT CULT CULT all the way!!!

therevealer

Jah created man with a foreskin and then commanded the isrealites to cut them off. Same with facial hair, only it was not recorded in the bible, just relayed by holy spirit to the gb.

BluesBrother

Around here they seem to be a little more relaxed now than they were in my day. I have met the odd M/S with a small goatee or extremely tight trimmed beard, but I have not met a local elder with one,

There has never been any scriptural basis for their insistence on clean shaven men. It is just considered good grooming and has become a point of "obedience to The Society"

Back in the day, we had ructions about beards with outright rebellion from some appointed men who were threatened with removal - they did then shave.

If someone pointed out that Jesus had a beard , we would say " Jesus wore long robes and sandals too, would you dress like that?"

WontLeave

Even with a beard, Salma Hayek is gorgeous. It takes more than hair (unibrow in Frida or beard in Cirque du Freak) to cover that kind of beauty.

The beard thing has been a source of contention for many male JWs for years. The GB are old, closed-minded, cantankerous, and self-appointed prophets. The more people argue against them, the deeper they dig in their heels. Beards haven't been an issue for 20 years, in American society, yet because of some WT article from 1968, the average JW believes anyone with a beard will be perceived as a hippie. The anti-beard thing has become as part of JW life as 1914, the Governing Body, and listening to Kingdom Melodies whenever other JWs are in your car. It and many other JW beliefs are simply "understood" as part of the indoctrination process.

Many JW teachings can't be explained or demonstrated from Scripture, so some vague reference is made to a totally unrelated Bible verse as proof, then a WT article is shoved at you, as if anyone should give a pile of dingo's kidneys what the WT says. The same is done on the subject of oral sex with a spouse. 20 paragraphs are written about the evils of this "disgusting" activity (to incite a blind emotional response) and some scriptures about homosexuality and brothels are invoked. I'm not sure if my wife is supposed to be my gay lover or a hooker. But I digress... The articles are written in a way that sound like they're merely pointing out some pertinent Bible teachings, but the ultimate choice is yours. This is JW code, so they can't be openly accused of manipulating people. They know how the congregation elders are going to interpret the 'instruction' in those articles.

The militant attitude of the elders is probably part of their training and definitely part of their pact with the Society. I believe the agreement is unspoken, while eluded to, that elders exist to make sure the WTBTS is unquestioningly obeyed. They're the gestapo to the regime. Their position as congregation overlords is contingent on hard-line party adherence. These losers in cheap suits have nothing else going on in their lives and their fragile egos lust for some sort of recognition. Just like Nazis and Al Qaeda look for illiterate, poor, ignorant people with a chip on their shoulders to recruit; the quality of JW elders has gone completely down the toilet.

So, we have statements like "he broke his pipe and lighter along with his crucifix, destroyed his pornographic films, and shaved off his beard" (w5/1/1995), which just expect you to believe smoking, idolatry, pornography, and beards are all equivalent. The expectation is for the reader to connect the dots in his/her own head, so as to absolve the Society from any obvious wrongdoing. This is how the doctrines keep slithering out of any trouble in the courts; as it takes years of indoctrination and subtle nudges for a JW to form this mentality. It's nothing overt or sudden that can be demonstrated in a courtroom within reasonable time constrains. This is why it takes a year or years to baptize a new recruit: Brainwashing someone who isn't chained up in a cell is hard! It's a lot easier to do on your kids, whom you have from the time they're born. Interestingly, they use the account of Philip and the Ethiopian to establish "you can't understand the Bible without us", but the Ethiopian was baptized immediately, not after months or years of indoctrination.

thetrueone

I think it just became one of those erroneously expressed rules designed to make male Representatives

of the WTS. look clean and wholesome toward their outward appearance to the public.

Thinking about the organization appearance as much in similar fashion to a business concerned about their sales Representatives.

The no long hair for men is another rule of dress code and appearance.

As if a person hair length or is they have a beard is indicative to a person's inner character.

JWS are being groomed to be sales Representatives for the publishing organization whether they realize it or not.

Vidiot

I'd heard it was a Russel/Rutherford thing; Russel had a big bushy Santa-Claus beard, but Da Judge was clean-shaven; after the big split between the Russelites and the Rutherfordians, Da Judge's followers went clean-shaven as an outward expression of their loyalty.

Personally, I've always suspected that Rutherford and some few of his compatriots weren't able to look good in beards (unlike some of us luckier guys); they didn't want their followers to look better than them, so they effectively "discouraged" the "practice".

And, as said before, the 60s permanently freaked out virtually every conservative in North America, and they've never really recovered.

I could be wrong.

therevealer

My recall on this issue was that back in the days of the hippie movement that beards became somewhat linked to that lifestyle. Therefore showing up at door with a beard could cause the householder to have a closed mind because many viewed hippies as rebellious. Remember when they got all excited about the young people letting their hair grow longer. And what about the big brewhaha when the colored shirts came into style. For a period of time they couldn't be worn on the platform. There was even one congregation that had a white shirt available and asked the speaker who dared show up from out of town with a colored shirt on to change into their white shirt, even after the colored shirt became acceptable by Jah. I think we all know how to pronounce "cult"

Does Jehovah hate beards?

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