Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, 1 Corinthians 11:14

A woman at church rebuked me with this verse. I have longish hair(a little past my shoulders). Is this a command to have it cut? And to what length? What is long and what isn't?

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Ian Kemmerer
Covenant Presbetyrian Church,Reading,PA
Fleetwood,PA

"Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart, And all is darkened in the vale of tears, Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart, Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears. Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay From His own fullness all He takes away."

That is the question...what is considered long for men in modern era has not been so for much of history. Long would have meant LONG like a woman (that generally doesn't cut her hair) has. It might also have to do with how a man wears his hair as well. A queue isn't all bad, but some men have downright gorgeous ponytails that women would be envious of, kwim?

Now I have to say, Ian...I need to see a picture, because you didn't have "longish" hair awhile back (and if you are overly worried, we'll have to dig up some old pictures of the PB Bouncer before he shaved his head and you can always ask )

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JC
URCNA
PA

"Forgiveness is primarily for our own sake, so that we no longer carry the burden of resentment. But to forgive does not mean we will allow injustice again." --Jack Kornfield

me too Ian. It happens very frequently with me

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N. Robert; Trinity Reformed Church RCA, Holland MI

Once in a while you can get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right."

Oh alrighty. I just have no clue how to put a picture up.

photobucket.com...you load a picture there and then you can place the [img] code into the post.

I was teasing though, you don't have to put one up unless you want to.

I actually cut my hair short because of this verse.

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Timothy Johnson
First United Presbyterian of Moline
PCUSA (Yea, I know)
Theology/Philosophy Sunday School Teacher
Davenport, IA

By the look of it (is that your avatar?) seem to have little choice (in case you wondered I am getting there myself).

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Independent Reformed Baptist Church (NE England, nr. Durham)

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Andrew Myers
Husband of Jessica, Father of Jackson, Katie and Samuel
Member, Presbyterian Reformed Church of Northern Virginia
Warrenton, VA USA
Editor, The Matthew Poole Project

"On land, at sea, at home, abroad, / I smoke my pipe and worship God." -- J.S. Bach

Your hair must be exactly 1/4 inches away from the top of the ear. It must be tapered in the back and not touch the collar of your shirt, and you need to have two fingers of space between the top line of hair and your eyebrows. Is that clear enough? (I am not serious, but it reminds me of my days in a certain fundamentalist university.)

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J Baldwin
Keowee Presbyterian Church, PCA
Pickens, SC
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27

Check Out My Blog: http://reflectjoy.blogspot.com/

I must be on my way to hell!

If that's the case then there is going to quite a crew following close behind you.

Seriously, I think hair is a cultural thing, and it goes back to the idea of a man looking like a woman. I have a friend, an old hippy, who wears hair all the way down his back, so does his wife. He does not look in the least bit feminine, and she certainly does not come off as masculine. However, I think a lot of it has to do with the way he wears the hair.

What I can't stand to see on a man is hair that looks like a girl. Nor can I stand to see a woman with hair cut to look like a man.

"I declare that neither Pope, Bishop, nor any man, has the power to impose the smallest matter on a Christian, except by His own consent..." -- Martin Luther

On May 14, 1521, Luther wrote to Spalatin:

"After being captured I was stripped of my own clothes and dressed in a knight's cloak. I am letting my hair and beard grow so that you would hardly know me...Now I am living in Christian liberty."

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Sterling Harmon
Coventry, CT
PCA
Deacon
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"Whatever is laudable in our works proceeds from the grace of God."
-- John Calvin, Institutes III:xv.3.

"Our Lord God must be a good man, to be fond of worthless fellows. I cannot like them, and yet I, myself, am one."
-- Martin Luther, Table Talk

Luther, as usual, is a cool cat.

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Benjamin P. Glaser
Pittsburgh, PA
Fairmount ARP Church

Student of Theology
Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary
My Blog

Here you go Mrs. W. :

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Me and Grandpa in California.


That was back in June. It's a bit longer now.

As soon as I pick up my new car(2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee!!!!!) I'll get a new pic of my longer hair with my baby!

Leave it to Martin Luther to tell it like it is!

Ian, there's no chance of anyone mistaking you for a woman!

ServantofGod, you hair ain't long. Mine was well below my shoulders. When I got my hair cut, my co-workers said it looked good because I didn't look like a metalica reject anymore.

I hate to say it, but, when people in the "Church", are actually worried about shoulder length hair, on a man, etc...are they really getting what being a Christian is all about?

I fear far more--spiritually speaking--for the person, who is hung up on long hair or clothing styles (I'm not talking modesty), than I do about those who are wearing such.

With so many issues of the day, post-modern thought, man centered righteousness, the elect still in need of a clear gospel message, etc.; for someone to actually focus on the length of hair...seems like they are missing it!

In my study of the Emergent Churches, I find error after error, but it is the very fact, that people can and will be judged for hair length, that those movements have been born. When the Church becomes a place of rote ritual, and rules about hair, it's no wonder, they want to re-invent it.

Let's keep it real, let's keep it about Jesus, the Holy God, King of Kings...let's keep it about sound doctrine...hair length is not what it's about...really sad actually.

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WWW.SURFWRITERS.BLOGSPOT.COM
Trevor
Christian/Husband/Father/Writer/Teacher--
--In that order.
Bethany Church, Sierra Madre, CA.
God is my King
"You've got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmitive, and don't mess with Mr. in-between." Tony Bennett.

Is taking the verse that says "Be not drunk on wine" to mean that we shouldn't get drunk turning the Church into a place of rote ritual? The verse says that it's wrong for a man to have long hair. If you want to argue for a particular interpretation, fine, but to say that someone who derives from this verse its most surface-level meaning is "not keeping it about Jesus" is silly. No one, at least on this board, is getting unnecessarily "hung up" on verses which at least seem to be clearly implying something.

I've heard some argue for headcoverings based on the fact that Paul uses arguments from nature in this passage, not cultural relevance. If this is so, how can the statement about long hair be taken as culturally conditioned?

"How long is 'long'?" one might ask. I don't know. How drunk is drunk? That questions such as this can be asked does not deny the reality of the principle, if that is what Paul is teaching. That the line between "a nice buzz" and "drunkenness" can be blurry does not abrogate the principle of not getting drunk.

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Davidius
Husband of Emilia
Member: First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Durham (RPCNA) - Durham, NC
Student: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, German Literature and Classics

This may explain the old adage about Baptists being Methodists with shoes, and Presbyterians being Baptists who can read. To round out the adage, Lutherans might qualify as Presbyterians who drink to excess, and Episcopalians as Lutherans who know when to say when. - D.G. Hart

I think the answer is found in 1 Corinthians 10 by principle. While we have great liberty in Christ, we must always be mindful of not allowing our liberty to cause others to stumble. If this is just one persons opinion, I wouldn't worry to much about it - but if you are getting this a lot, then I would cut my hair. Hence, we shouldn't allow fashion to be a cause of the weaker brethern to stumble. It is no different in principle than partaking in alcohol. I can imbibe freely with my Reformed brethern and enjoy the pleasures of spirits without it causing them or me a conscience problem. But I wouldn't drink in the presence of many Baptist brethern because they tend to see it as sin, so I curb my liberty in respect for my brother's conscience and put them before myself on Christ's account.

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Thomas Weddle
Member, Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church
Evansville, Indiana

Hippy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Pergamum


"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone

Goodness, Ian! That is NOT long hair (unless you are asking someone in the military). In fact, I saw several boys sporting that style AT your church when we were there! And with that beard, I'd say you have nothing to worry about.