The beard thing started long before the hippie days. When Russell died, Rutherford had a hard time taking over. So many of the Bible Students loved, emulated, "worsipped" Russell. Many of the men dressed like him and had long beards like him. To break up the hold these Russell followers had, beards were banned.
Does Jehovah hate beards?
by brotherunsure 43 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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VampireDCLXV
Yep. Blondie called it right. Jehovah doesn't hate beards but Judge Rutherfraud did! If there is a hell, I hope Rutherfraud is burning down there!
V665
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free2beme
They banned them in the hippy days, as hippies wore them. They never removed that restriction, even when mankind proved they could do a well groomed beard and look very professional. It is a pride issue, they did not want to admit they were too quick to react and harsh.
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GLTirebiter
No, God prefers us to keep the hair he gave us. Shaving your beard is non-scriptural, according to the same passage the Watchtower uses to justify their "no blood" policy, their "no magic policy", and their "no tatoos" policy. From Leviticus 19:26-28
"You will eat nothing with blood in it. You will not practise divination or magic.[27] You will not round off your hair at the edges or trim the edges of your beard. [28] You will not gash your bodies when someone dies, and you will not tattoo yourselves. I am Yahweh."
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WontLeave
They banned them in the hippy days
Well, they last spoke out against them in the hippie days. There are more recent anecdotal examples given of people who shaved as they became "more spiritual", but nothing that comes right out and condemns beards in the last few decades. Of course, you'll still get dragged into the back room for wearing one. Even before hippies, in w8/15/1954 a (likely contrived) Question From Readers was: The traditional picture of Jesus shows him with long hair and beard, but the Watch Tower publications illustrate him as beardless and with short hair. Which is correct?
The answer was a resounding "clean shaved", with all kinds of historical exhibits presented as evidence. Obviously, they had already decided they didn't like beards and had gone on a mission to dig up any proof - no matter how ridiculous and unscriptural. Unfortunately, the CD-ROM doesn't go back far enough to find more damning and embarrassing stuff (by design), so that's the earliest example I can find.
The 1968 article is the newest "light" on the subject and since the Society hasn't reversed its decision, it still stands. Interestingly, this article excerpt is more recent (although now considered "old light"): The heart, nevertheless, is intricately connected with the brain by the nervous system and is well supplied with sensory nerve endings. The sensations of the heart are recorded on the brain. It is here that the heart brings to bear on the mind its desires and its affections in arriving at conclusions having to do with motivations. In reverse flow, the mind feeds the heart with interpretations of the impulses from the senses and with conclusions reached that are based on the knowledge it has received, either at the moment or from the memory. There is a close interrelationship between the heart and the mind, but they are two different faculties, centering in different locations. The heart is a marvelously designed muscular pump, but, more significantly, our emotional and motivating capacities are built within it. Love, hate, desire (good and bad), preference for one thing over another, ambition, fear—in effect, all that serves to motivate us in relationship to our affections and desires springs from the heart. - w3/1/1971 p.134 #7 -
TD
The military heavily influenced standards for men's dress and grooming so I would guess that the disapproval of beards gained a lot of traction immediately following WWI, as clean-shaven became the accepted norm in society.
Of course, times have changed and beards are no longer associated with rebellion from tradition. A man with a beard today is as likely as not to be a doctor or lawyer
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WontLeave
"Jesus shaves" - Watchtower 3:16
Next video release from WBTS will be their version of The Passion of the Christ, with Justin Bieber as Jesus.
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TD
What's striking about that picture is not just that Jesus is beardless, but that the unrepentent evil-doer is the only one with a beard!
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miseryloveselders
bump this thread. The pictures of a beardless Jesus......wow.
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therevealer
I realize that Blondie is technically more correct, BUT this shows how these silly "rules" are just wrong. What I was really commenting on was that rule in MY life. When I experienced the rule and its effects was as I said during that period when the hippie movement was the "thing" to worry them. And as I pointed out it was also when colored shirts, an even more assinine rule was rolled out.
