"Beards are sin!" False doctrine?

[Michael The Disciple]

Originally Posted by Tithesmeister

This is the best post on aff in recent memory.

Possibly ever!!!!!

It needs to be published at the organizational headquarters of the UPC and all other groups of "Apostolic" believers.

[houston]

Great post, Votive.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by votivesoul

There seems to me to be a question underneath the question. Is it a sin to be a man? To be masculine?

We might at first scoff at the sheer stupidity of the thought that such questions raise. But hold a moment and ask yourself: what is the currently most attacked and maligned and marginalized portion of society here in the USA?

It's the masculine, uncompromising alpha male. The "man" that is being held up in today's world as the pinnacle of masculinity is small, even petite, thin, no shoulders, weak chin, high voice, and could pass as a girl if called upon. The world used to want heroes, now it wants comforters and makers of safe spaces. Modern feminism seeks to emasculate men wholesale.

Men are biologically and genetically predisposed to grow facial hair. It comes as a result of the production of testosterone from within you know where, in particular, the metabolite of testosterone called DHT or dihydrotestosterone. Some men produce more than others, some men LOTS more than others, but all men produce some amount. To deny one's growth of facial hair can be a choice freely made, for the purpose of appearance or convenience, if one chooses.

But to slice and dice the God-given, naturally growing hair of the face because someone claims to have the right to control your appearance? That's something else entirely. Now, one enters the military, they are agreeing to that control. One takes a job with company that has a strict facial hair policy, again, they are agreeing to that control. But note! It's still a form of control.

And in the church, where we all see and recognize the activity of Jezebel, or of worldliness, metrosexuality, feminism, and etc. having gained a stronghold, maybe not locally at your particular place of meeting, but generally speaking, we can all speak to it existing and being a spiritual force which we must withstand.

And one of, if not the only way to do so, to withstand, is to un-emasculate and reinvigorate the men of the Body. And a way to do that is to simply let the testosterone of their genetic make-up have its way. Will it result in facial hair? Yes, it will.

But it will also affect bone density, deepening of voice, increase in the size of the adam's apple, shoulder width, give a man a healthy libido (to be used in the confines of the undefiled marriage bed), greater physical strength, and etc.

Effectively, it will naturally cause men to become men again. And the only thing I can think of that would be against such a thing is a spirit of misandry, call it Jezebel if you wish, but it's all the same. The head of every man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God, even as the head of every woman is the man. The man, that is, the married husband under Christ who is under God, has no authority over his own body, but rather, that power is given to the woman, the wife, and vice versa. No one else can claim such an authority. No one. And to emasculate a man and force him to be clean-shaven as an act of submission is to treat that man like a dog and in the process, hurt his marriage.

Over the years I've been in so many meetings and counseling sessions and whatever, where women whine and moan and berate their husbands for not this, not that, not whatever, complaining he's not spiritual enough, he doesn't pray enough, blah, blah, blah, blah. Women want their men to lead, but then find their men are programmed not to because a "head" other than Christ is making decisions for him that God alone has given that man to make.

Think about it for a moment. I was in a leadership meeting one time and the pastor, in front of their men, was ordering the women on what they can and cannot wear, what length their sleeves had to be, how long their skirts had to be, what they could mow the lawn in or do choirs in and what they could not.

And the worst part of such asinine bunk is people just absorbed it in like it was okay for one man who was not the head of any of those other women, to take control and have authority over their body, and dictate their appearance.

And we wonder why the church is becoming effeminate, why Jezebel is running loose, why men aren't leading in the homes and the church and everywhere else?! It's because our church paradigm has stomped on their you know whats and told them to lie down and take it (like a man???).

If people in the church at large are offended by men with beards, I submit that offense is rooted in anti-christ effeminate feminism and misandry. Why else is facial hair even as issue? Why else is facial hair one of the key litmus tests of one's submission to authority?

Because if a man who is not your head can make you shave your face or you cannot participate, minister, or even belong, he can control you (and your wife, implied) any way he wants.

So what is it then, brethren? For many, to have a beard is what? A SIGN OF REBELLION? To God? Nope! To Jesus? Nope! To the Apostles? Nope! To any part of the Bible whatsoever? Nope! The only way a beard gives off an alleged sign of rebellion is when the person offended by it realizes he cannot control that man as his head. That's it. End of story.

Brothers, shave if you want to. IF YOU WANT TO. That's between your head Jesus and your wife, if you're married. But likewise, brothers. Grow your beard IF YOU WANT TO. And if someone snaps on you and puts you down or puts you out, well, if you've read this, now you know the reason why. Strings attached Christianity means someone is pulling strings, and that's no different than a marionettist working his puppets, making them dance.

I've heard and read and listened to all the reasons why a pastor or a group of elders has the right to establish "standards" as they see fit, but the fact of the matter is, the only right anyone has is to point to the Holy Scriptures and let the Holy Spirit dictate the matter. Anything beyond the teachings of the Word is EXTRA-BIBLICAL. And doing or teaching anything extra-Biblical is heretical and even damning, as the case may be. If you want to invite that upon yourself, you be my guest. I will try to stand in the way for as long as I can or as long as the Lord allows, but anyone who is readily and easily jeopardizing their soul is already very hard to help, indeed.

Real men, men of God used to tremble at God's Word, and dare not add a single jot or tittle to it, lest they be plagued by God, or dare reduce it one iota, lest their names be stricken from the Book of Life.

Effeminate, weak, post-modern "men" of their own bellies do as they please, and tremble at nothing but their own narcissism.

People say having a beard is a sign of pride, ego, or arrogance and that's sin. No, that's not it at all. It's that not having one is (or can be), according to the Holy Scriptures, a sign of shame, dishonor, contempt, and humiliation, something King David understood, and something, I think, the Son of David understood, too, when the Romans ripped His beard out of His face when they reproached, degraded, humiliated, and tortured Him. His visage was marred worse than any man's, right? Such that he couldn't recognized as a man.

So, let's be real about what's happening here. Men who are being forced to shave to join, be a part of, participate, minister, or lead in a church, aren't fully men at all. Their manhood is being eroded right from underneath them, and their headship is being usurped, as is the authority their wives, if married, have over their bodies. This is spiritual and it takes discernment to see it.

Maybe once upon a time in the 60's the counter-culture wore beards to make a statement and take a stand, and so, preachers naturally gravitated toward being clean-shaven to stand apart from that attitude. But in today's world, the counter-cultural revolution happening now is the skinny jeans-wearing, limp-wristed, snow-flaked millennials who high-five each other for successfully adulting a couple times a week, whose ability to reproduce is in question, who can't even grow peach fuzz because momma's fed them soy all their lives, and being androgynous is all the rave.

So, how about our preachers stand apart from that? What a stand for manhood might that be! Or did Jesus make a mistake calling hard, tough as nails, calloused, bearded, rough around the edges, worked hard, lived hard, men from Galilee for His apostles? Should He have called women?

Wow. Amen!

[votivesoul]

Originally Posted by Amanah

Brother Aaron, are you saying that growing a beard will cause the following effect:

"But it will also affect bone density, deepening of voice, increase in the size of the adam's apple, shoulder width, give a man a healthy libido (to be used in the confines of the undefiled marriage bed), greater physical strength, and etc."

Or am I misunderstanding you?

No, Sister. I am saying that testosterone plays the key role in all of that happening, and part of making sure a man has a healthy level of testosterone is having the ability to grow facial hair. Apart from an injury, some other genetic defect, or ethnic reason, if a man cannot grow facial hair, his levels of testosterone, and in particular, DHT, are low. And low levels of testosterone lead to deficiencies in every other area of a man's life. Look up male androgens and hormonal balance for men.

The very fabric of male DNA is being deleted from the male population of our nation. And it's spiritual. And it needs to be resisted.

However, if a man has stubble coming in regularly but doesn't like or want it, and wants to remove it from his face, go for it. It's his choice. That's not a testosterone issue. But look at the young eighteen year old of today. Where is his facial hair? Does he even have any? Or does he have to borrow it from dad like he does dad's car?

Sis, I know you see it. Men are everywhere degraded in our society and culture. It ought not to be in the church. The culture of our nation degrades women just as much, and screams at Christian women who want to stay home, raise a family, be a helper and not a leader, and etc., and we say that the church must stand up against this onslaught on Biblical women-hood. As well we should. But we must stand up and say the same things regarding this onslaught on Biblical man-hood.

And one of the best ways to do that is to let go of the idea that the head of every man is Christ, but this other guy, too, and the head of every woman is the man, but this other guy, too. And one of the best ways of letting that go, is to stop enforcing a facial hair standard on men. It is all connected.

[houston]

I wish I could grow a beard

[Michael The Disciple]

Originally Posted by Aquila

Michael, were you ever faced with unjustified and unbiblical condemnation over your beard?

Just the usual shunning. Once an Apostolic women was heard to say, "you know hes not of God look whats on his face"! I have never accepted condemnation for it. I have made it an issue in my life simply on Biblical grounds.

I wanted to invite my friends or people I witnessed to to come to Church. But I was ashamed to do so because I knew there was a chance they would be attacked for unbiblical reasons. That is why its worth contending over it. People who WOULD attend Apostolic Churches for Oneness doctrine and baptism in Jesus name are told they are still "unholy" and "unrespectable".

When they perceive the shallowness of such doctrine they return to their Trinitarian Churches. Then the Apostolic Preacher says they are going to burn in Hell forever for not loving the truth! If it wasn't so serious it would be hilarious.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple

It needs to be published at the organizational headquarters of the UPC and all other groups of "Apostolic" believers.

Amen.

I know of a local church that has an effeminate young man in charge of the music ministry. I was uncomfortable just sitting in the choir with him leading because he was so flaming. He had the limp wristed, skinny jean, look Votive was talking about. It made me cringe. The dude was flaming. Yet everyone acted like they didn't notice because he was in the pastor's family. He'd prance around and cry like a little girl during choir. It was actually rather embarrassing to me. My wife at the time looked at me and said, "I think his wife is going to have a rude awakening when he comes out." Even she saw it!

But, I enjoy growing a beard. I served in the military for 8 years, shaved every day. I got out of the military, attended a holiness Apostolic church where beards were considered "sin", and continued to shave for nearly 12 years. Then one day, when I was no longer attending that church, I decided to grow it out on a No Shave November. I actually discovered that I liked it. It suited by personality far better. I do take pride in my beard. But it's no worse than the pride I take in having a nice haircut or wearing nice clothes. It's more of a pride in who and what I am, a man. I've had compliments on my beard and Christina really likes it. I've worn a beard now for over 6 years.

While surveying the "Apostolic" churches around me, I've realized all of them will expect me to shave. I have no interest in shaving. This is a part of who I am. And so, I've started contemplating how the entire teaching is a false doctrine, a tradition of men.

[Amanah]

My husband has a beard, so hey.

Apostolic men unite! grow a beard!

[votivesoul]

The way I look at it is like this:

With the notion that the "head of Christ is God", when Simon Peter didn't savor the things of God, and tried to be Christ's head, and tell Him what to do regarding the cross, Jesus rebuked him hardcore and called him "Satan". Jesus wouldn't allow anyone to get between Him and His Head, which is God, the Father.

So, since Christ is the Head of every man, should any man do differently than Jesus did to Simon Peter?

The fact is, the Twelve are dead and so is Paul, and they aren't ever going to be replaced. Never have been, never will be. The canon is closed, right? We believe that, right? If so, then out of personal obligation to the closing of that canon that He Himself instituted, Jesus cannot give any man anywhere, no matter how spiritual or anointed they may be, a command that exists outside of the closed canon and then make it covenantly binding on others.

Now, Jesus may command a specific man to do a specific thing, and for that man, it is covenantly binding. But Jesus cannot utter a command to one man and tell that man to go and make it binding on other men, if it's not already canonized in the Holy Scriptures, else, the Lord violates His closed Word, that He Himself closed, meaning Jesus otherwise can freely make anything binding on anyone, without a book, chapter, or verse, to show for it. Is that what we believe?

But that's what we do when we make extra-biblical ideas (standards?) binding on other people. We are essentially saying Jesus has given us the right to take something from outside of the Bible and make you have to obey it.

But how do we know it's really from Jesus?

Because we're the pastor? elder? bishop? prophet? catholic magisterium? fill in the blank? and what we say is law?

Because that's how it works whenever anyone puts upon you an extra-Biblical standard or teaching and plays the "God told me" card on you.

They are usurping the Lord Jesus Christ and He will make them pay for it later if they don't repent of it now.

Is it a salvation issue? That's what everyone wants to know, right? Wrong question to ask. Instead ask: If I say, do, teach, or preach this, or try to make this binding on other people, but it's not really in the Bible, have I kicked Jesus off His throne so I can be King?

That's the real question. And if the answer is "yes", you better start trembling. END OF STORY.

[votivesoul]

Originally Posted by houston

I wish I could grow a beard

You'd be surprised what can happen. There are natural means of increasing testosterone, which will automatically cause increased facial hair. Unless you had some bad frost-bite or have an ethnic disposition toward no facial hair (as many Native Americans do), it's otherwise entirely within reason that you can, with help.

I mean, transgendered "men" so-called, end up growing facial hair, adam's apples, and etc. So if it can be done with these women, it can certainly be done with actual men.