Long Haired Men

Liberated Christians
Cyber Swing/Polyamory Resource Center
Promoting Intimacy and Other-Centered Sexuality

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Dave says: This was sent to be I assume in all seriousness. It is simply amazing how carried away some folks get being so legalistic about a cultural norm and trying to make long hair a sin. Obviously he hasn't read the Sermon on the Mount, where Christ clearly replaced all the "laws" with only the law of love. But lots of fundamentalism need a rule book with silly laws instead of living in the greater responsibility of love.

Dear brethren, The following is submitted in love for your prayerful consideration and study. - Brother Les Rinehart

LONG-HAIRED MEN?

This tract is not written to ridicule of make fun of you, but that you may know the Bible teaching about long hair on men.

"Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, IF A MAN HAVE LONG HAIR, IT IS A SHAME UNTO HIM?" - 1 Corinthians 11:14

Some say it is a shame, but it is not a sin. This is a false dichotomy, for shame is the emotion of sin and is its natural result. It follows therefore that the reason it is a shame for a man to have long hair is because it is a sin. The question may well be asked, "a shame unto whom?" Is it a shame unto "him," being the man himself who is wearing the unbiblical hairstyle, or is it a shame unto "Him," being the God in Whose image the man is made? Certainly the latter would be true also because Yahweh is dishonored any time His Word is disobeyed.

No believing parent should permit his teenage son to wear his hair long as long as that son stays under his father's roof and looks to him for his bread and meat. The "unisex" trend is a device of Satan to break down and blur the mark of distinction which Yahweh instituted between the sexes. Satan means to make women ape men and men ape women. It is no wonder that sodomy and other forms of immorality are rampant in our society in this age.

The word "shame" is the Greek word "ATIMA," and is also translated "dishonor," "reproach," and "vile." In 1 Cor. 15:43, it is used in connection with a dead and putrefying, decaying body. In Romans 1:26, "atima" is translated "vile." Thus to wear the hair in locks, braids, or ponytails is an offense to manhood, and is a token of effeminacy. For a believer to do so is to commit the sin of worldliness (1 John 2:15, James 4:4). He thus becomes a stumbling block to his fellow believers and an offence to Yahweh. This is irrespective of how ever many "great" men may have done this in the past. He is no respecter of persons, and His Word does not change. Men cannot do it and fully retain favor with God.

Many try to justify their long hair by stating that Yahshua Messiah wore long hair. The time has come to set the record straight. There is not a shred of Biblical or historical evidence to suggest that Yahshua wore his hair long. All such statues or pictures are the products of people who never saw him and who lived hundreds of years later.

Yahshua was NOT a Nazarite! According to Numbers 6:5,7, a Nazarite did wear long hair. However, Messiah was a NazarENE and not a NazarITE! While the two words look similar in English, they are entirely different in looks and meaning in the original language of the Bible. A Nazarene was one who lived in Nazareth (Matt. 2:23). A Nazarite was one who took the Nazarite vow, and the vow of a Nazarite was for life. The most notable Nazarites were Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist.

A Nazarite could also not have used any product of the vine, and thus Yahshua could not have instituted the memorial supper, or communion, if he had been a Nazarite, for in this he used the fruit of the vine. If he had been a Nazarite, he could not have touched the funeral coffin of the dead man in Luke 7:11-18. If he had been a Nazarite, Judas would not have needed to identify him in Gethsemane, for Yahshua would have been the only long-haired man there. Had he been a Nazarite, we would all be required to be one since we are to follow him.

Note also that in Isa. 50:6 Scripture indicates that it was his beard that was plucked out rather than the hair of his head. Perhaps they pulled his hair out too, but Scripture does not say. It does seem to suggest to us that perhaps his hair was not of sufficient length for them to have been able to have done so.

The only case in the Bible where a man is spoken of as having long hair who was not a Nazarite was Absalom. This man is to be noted for his vanity, arrogance, rebellion, and self-will, characteristic of the "hippie" movement of the 1960s and early 1970s. This young man came to an inglorious, shameful, untimely end, and was hung by the thing he was proudest of. Long hair does speak. Even today it frequently used to signify drugs, rock music, and civil disobedience, whereas short hair speaks of authority and discipline. Our Saviour was not a proud rebel, nor was he effeminate, nor was he even a Nazarite.

Ezek. 44:20, "Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long: they shall only poll their heads." ("they shall keep their hair well-trimmed." - NKJV). It is interesting to note how this was interpreted and carried out. The Talmud required Jewish priests to cut their hair every 30 days. It specifies what came to be known as the "Julian" or "Caesar" cut as required for Jewish priests or rabbis.

1 Cor. 11:16, "If any man seem to be contentious (carnal, rebellious, stubborn, or argumentative), we and the churches of God have no such custom" of long-haired men or bobbed-haired women. Many Christians today are looking for loopholes in the Scripture. If the Holy Spirit is truly abiding in our hearts, brethren, these things ought not so to be. Those who ask the question, "How long is long?" are usually manifesting a compromising attitude toward obeying the plain command of Yahweh. Why split hairs with God? Yahweh drew the line, and let us not erase it. Preachers who compromise on this subject, hoping to reach more young people are actually fighting against God Almighty.

Do you like the truth? Paul said, "The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." - 2 Tim. 4:3,4. Repent, forsake your sins, and keep the commandments of God, or suffer the eternal consequences.

If you are a new believer in YaHshua the Messiah, you are no longer uninformed or misinformed. Patronize your local barber shop regularly and keep a good, decent man's haircut that you may be pleasing to the Heavenly Father in this area of your life as well. Don't worry about your ears sticking out! Clip off the locks which hang below your hairline. Never allow your hair to become shabby, shaggy, or bushy. If we are faithful in these littler things such, then Yahweh says He will entrust us with greater things (Luke 16:10, 19:17). You will surely find favor both with God and man.

1 John 5:3, "THIS IS THE LOVE OF GOD, THAT WE KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS: AND HIS COMMANDMENTS ARE NOT GRIEVOUS."

- Les Rinehart, P.O. Box 67, Louisburg, MO, 65685-0073

Dave says....It's hard to believe Christians are actually serious about this!