by doinmypart 7 Replies latest jw friends
Disney has finally lifted their 55-year beard ban. In conversations, an elder/relative would use Disney as an example of a business that prohibited beards to help justify the WTS anti-beard stance. I wonder if the WTS will ever lift their beard ban in the U.S. and other places.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/24/disney-lifts-beard-ban-workers?newsfeed=true
never
I agree, never. It's too trendy right now. There's no real reason to ban them anymore, since the reason they did that in the first place was to purge out all the Russell devotees who copied their leader's style of grooming.
I once asked an elder about the ban on beards and facial hair (with the exception of moustaches) and he told me that they wanted to separate themselves as much as possible from the counter culture movement of the 60's and 70's.
Disney did it because of lawsuits. WT won't be sued by the bearded among them.
I once asked an elder about the ban on beards and facial hair (with the exception of moustaches) and he told me that they wanted to separate themselves as much as possible from the counter culture movement of the 60's and 70's.
I also asked. I got the answer that as representatives of Jehovah's Earthly Organization we wouldn't do anything to bring attention to ourselves, but to the organization. He then went on to list a couple of large US companies that have/had strict grooming policies. No facial hair, no long hair for men, no exposed tats/piercings for men. Women had strict dress codes as far as dress and being modest. Just as those employees represented that company and the company didn't want bad representation, then "we" wouldn't want to do anything to misrepresent the organization.
That's when it hit me. We weren't Christians. We weren't following Jesus and spreading a gospel. We were unpaid employees for a publishing company. And they had us fooled into following their company policies as if it were a command from God.
With apologies to Kris Kristoferson and Janis Joplin... Christian Freedom is just another word for nothing allowed to do
They never had the courage to write much about it in the Mags, because of course there was no scriptural back up, not even their catch-all " in principle".
They did though put it in writing in the instructions for Elders conducting items at conventions, and running Depts. at conventions.
They are such Pharisees, wedded firmly to their thousands of rules and regulations, "the tenth of the Dill " etc
They have made invalid the word of god.
During a rehearsal for the district convention a few years ago the DO told me I had to cut off my soul patch before the day of my talk. It was the craziest thing because we had been in one another's company at meals and mutual friend's house and he never said anything about it.
I know brothers that wear bow ties, which seem to be more attention-grabbing/seeking than a beard.
Yet another example of how out of touch the GB is. Times have changed. A neatly trimmed beard doesn't mean that you're a roadie for the Grateful Dead. You'll find examples of facial hair in all respectable professions. It's also strange how moustaches survived that ban. What's the fundamental difference between a moustache and a goatee? In Russell's time, beards were worn by practically all men. They seem stuck in a 1950's time warp and have no intention or desire to modernize.
