by jwfacts 105 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Interesting that you have requests about beards. It is an issue to many then. How about white socks, or non matching jackets and trousers? I have heard of a few BOEs that stipulate about these things. It's all loading heavy burdens, nothing to do with how much a JW love's God and neighbour.
I would be interested to know Paul. Thanks Kate xx
In the movie, "To Verdener" or "Worlds Apart." Produced in Denmark. An elder (actor) in movie had a beard. Of course, movie was not in English. Some who watched the objected that an elder would not have a beard, but some stated in Denmark they do. ?? Denmark speak Danish, German.
Beardless pirate, picture in the 2013 June Watchtower.
Wow! Just think all he had to do before he died was shave his beard...........
There is an account of a brother in charge in Germany/Switzerland? who had a long flowing beard and Rutherford saw it as an attack. I don't have my CD to look it up.
Remember too that Jesus was beardless until 1968 (the hippie era) and the WTS reluctantly started depicting his with a beard.
A search of JWN yields
*** yb74 pp. 97-98 Part 1—Germany ***
But more equipment was needed. For that reason Brother Balzereit asked Brother Rutherford for permission to buy a rotary press. Brother Rutherford saw the necessity and agreed, but on one condition. He had noticed that over the years Brother Balzereit had grown a beard very similar to the one that had been worn by Brother Russell. His example soon caught on, for there were others who also wanted to look like Brother Russell. This could give rise to a tendency toward creature worship, and Brother Rutherford wanted to prevent this. So during his next visit, within hearing of all the Bible House family, he told Brother Balzereit that he could buy the rotary press but only on the condition that he shave off his beard. Brother Balzereit sadly agreed and afterward went to the barber. During the next few days there were several cases of mistaken identity and some funny situations because of the “stranger” who was sometimes not recognized by his fellow workers.
Also, Jesus is depicted without beard in heaven.
BTW, an interesting book on the topic of how Jesus' image has shifted in American history is discussed in history professor's Edward Blum's recent book, "The Color of Christ", a fascinating look at how we got from the OT prohibition "forbidding making images of the likeness of anything on Earth or in Heaven" to Jesus becoming an easily-recognized iconic image, as long as the image fits the stereotype (which includes a beard: eg Jesus looks unrecognizable as Jesus in the WT image Blondie posted above, thanks in part to this image):
Here's an interview with the author:
http://www.npr.org/2012/11/19/165473220/color-of-christ-a-story-of-race-and-religion-in-america
and the book is available for free as an audiobook (MP3) via Overdrive (you need to search for your local library from the site, and enter your local library card number in order to "borrow" the audio files from Overdrive's web site).
I hope some active JW's visiting this site can look at this and see how dysfunctional the Watchtower religion really is. My god...having a beard is something normal. Only in the abnormal Jehovah Witness religion can having a beard cause a man to be ostracized and the subject of congregation gossip. Even the fact that Jesus had a beard does not even factor into the bat-shit crazy JW band on beards as being a sign of evil.
Wasn't there a comparison with Disney at one time, ie Disney doesn't allow men to wear beards?
Also found this quote funny:
*** w05 9/15 p. 10 Who Was Pontius Pilate? ***
"When in uniform, Pilate would have worn a leather tunic and metal breastplate. His public clothing was a white toga with a purple border. He would have had short hair and have been clean-shaven."
So we prefer JW's to look more like the killer of the Lord, than the Lord.
Splash
Splash, close...it was an unauthorised talk circulating. It was about haircuts for Bethel, and he got his haircut for the Magic Kingdom but not God's Kindom. Kate xx
