by zarco 30 Replies latest jw friends
Well since I could not grow a beard - my rebellion started with no pantyhose !
Such rebellion and defiance! Oh! The Humanity! So shocking! This really must mean that we're close to the end when women everywhere shave their legs and refuse to cover them with stalkings. These kind of women have the loosest morals. Ugh!
V665
I grew a light beard, then scaled back to goatee. The PO in my hall gave me a WT article from like 1978 about some woman in FS thought the bearded brother was a hippy protester - Hahahhaha, this is the only info they gave me! So, anyways though I'm not a Witness anymore (faded) I still get dirty looks for having the goatee at Witness family functions.
I asked the elders once why the mustache was allowed but not the beard, and they just chuckled back at me. Can any religion suck more than this one?
Ok I asked some JW's. I dont know where you guys are getting this but you CAN have beards now.
frigginconfused- There is some local leeway with this, but by and large in the U.S. you will not see a brother on stage with a beard. In my former halls, nobody with a beard or goatee could have any privileges at all. Before I was appointed, I was asked to get rid of my sideburns as well. The anti-facial hair culture among JWs is alive and well in many areas, if not all.
HayDay - "I asked the elders once why the mustache was allowed but not the beard, and they just chuckled back at me."
If they chuckled, I suspect it was for one of two reasons, both related to the trait of authoritarianism;
A) they didn't know why, but were loathe to admit it (textbook authoritarian attitude - never give the impression that you don't know something; it might undermine your authority), and the dismissive laugh was meant to discourage further inquiries, or...
B) they DID know why, but didn't want you to know, and here's the reason; among police officers, mustaches are subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) encouraged, as they seem to psychologically project an impression of...wait for it...authority (and thusly encourage the submission to said authority) among a surprisingly large percentage of the general population. Therefore, it stands to reason that (whether conciously or otherwise), elders with authoritarian tendencies would grow mustaches for the same reason.
I'm sure it's not a hard-and-fast rule, but for those still in, look around at the elders in your respective congregations next meeting, and ask yourselves "Would I classify this particular mustached elder as authoritarian in his manner and techniques? This particular non-mustached elder as non-authoritarian?"
Yeah thats the idea I got from them. You can have it but dont excpect privlidges.
frigginconfused, you're right.
I moved to a different circuit and immediately grew a goatee. (I can grow a full beard in less than a week.) No one in the new congregation said anything about it. It's as if they didn't even notice it. An elder and a MS invited me out in service with them, and I went. The householders seemed to notice that I looked "different" from the usual JW's but overall nothing was said or done about it. Then after a few months I simply disappeared. Now, JWs from both congregations see my facebook photos with the goatee but still contact me. I notice that some of their "friends" are people who had disappeared before I did.
snakeface, what country and general area are you talking about? (Without being too personally revealing of course.)
It's interesting that an elder invited you to work in FS with him because that indicates that he approves of your dress and grooming for Field Service.
om
One of my classmates at MTS was a Dutch guy with a beautiful full beard and moustache, immaculately trimmed and maintained. One day a couple of weeks into the course, we were doing a unit on assemblies, and the instructor pointedly but calmly remarked that our Dutch brother would not qualify to present an item at an assembly hall in the UK, as it was the UK Bethel's policy that brothers used at assemblies should not have beards. That was all that was said on the matter, I just remember feeling incredibly sorry for the guy at being singled out like that (the rest of us were good little beardless UK drones).
The next day, our oranje friend came into class clean shaven. Clearly the connection had been made for him that the graduation would be taking place at the assembly hall where our school was being held, and as a bearded person this would cause a tremendous crisis in the faith of those in attendance. Or something like that. Anyway, bang, in one day that superb beard was gone forever more, he still didn't have it several years later.
But how ridiculous is that - the brothers in his own congregation, his C.O. and D.O., and the Dutch Bethel, none of them saw ANYTHING wrong with this serious, hard-working, spiritually minded guy that would disqualify him from attending the school. The UK Bethel clearly saw his photo, earmarked him for special attention, and sent a communication to our instructors - 'that beard has to go - see to it. Signed P. Ellis.'
So many great young guys destined for a life trapped under the influence of these homogenising and antiquated ideals and dictats.
'Millions Now Living Will Never Have Beards'
An elder in one of my congregations told me that I would not be allowed to go in the field ministry if I wore a beard.
