My dad grew a neatly trimmed goatee while on a 3 week vacation. They told him to get rid of it or lose his privelages. He kept us home from meetings for about a month, which I loved, then caved in to them. They never proved why wearing a beard was unscriptural, just guilt tripped him about how he was stumbling others and displaying a bad attitude. He looked so handsome with it!
Beards are evil, but do you know why?
by free2beme 62 Replies latest jw friends
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jeanniebeanz
displaying a bad attitude
beards are proof positive of demon possession, or attitude problems. says so right in the bible... lol
J
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prophecor
Interesting take on the beards situation, Russell and the whole anti-establishment movement of the sixties. The flower power people. I miss the sixties. It's truly sad though because I really like wearing my beard. I keep it neat, try to keep the food out of it. I might consider going back if they removed that restriction. NOT!!!
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atypical
I am considering going back (only for a visit) with my new goatee. I have been so frustrated with the stress of fading that I almost feel like it will be a relief to walk into the hall with a big bunch of facial hair and smile at everybody.
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Siddhashunyata
Grew a beard in 1988. Result, bookstudy removed from my home, relegated to minor talks in ministry school ( in the back of the hall 2nd school). Almost lost my wife ( did lose her later). Now I don't have a beard, I have a........ ponytail.
Speaking of ponytails. If you have faded and are still in good standing there is no better way to say IT. The proverb says a word can break a bone. A poneytail seems to break all the bones in a dubs face.
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MuadDib
This issue is actually what I think started my long fade out from the JWs. When I was I think sixteen or seventeen I couldn't fill in a beard all the way, but I did produce a sweet pair of full-length sideburns, which the ladies loved but the elders, I was surprised to find, did not. The arguments they presented were completely spurious to me - wasn't your heart condition more important than the way you looked? By their logic Jesus would have shunned lepers instead of healing them. I hung onto my burns anyway until getting baptized, when I got rid of them to qualify (stupid stupid stupid). Then a couple of years later I went on a trip abroad and grew a goatee while away. I was informed on my return that I could no longer give talks or read the Watchtower at meetings if I retained it, and again I was bemused by the sheer superficialiy of such an inane and prejudiced opinion; to my slightly more educated mind was recalled the image of the young recruits being shaved bald by military barbers in Gwynne Dyer's documentary on Marine boot camp, and the principle of aesthetic monotony as a vehicle for the repression of individualist tendencies. But by this time my doubts about the religion were deep enough that I rather looked forward to being relieved of my theocratic responsibilities, so it was all good.
I then grew my sideburns out again before filling the whole thing in last summer, and I daresay I've rather enjoyed it. It's certainly earned me a lot more female attention than my clean-shaven visage, for some reason. I kept my beard until three days ago, when I shaved it into a primo Vandyke for New Year's. Now I think I'll drop down to my sideburns again. Facial hair is fun!
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Klaus Vollmer
I once read the book by William Schnell, 30 years a slave of the WT. There this guy who was German, grew up in US and came back in 1914 to the Reich and had to stay there because of war and German nativity while his father was officer in the Kaisers army told that Balzereit had a Russell fbeard.
Then the great judge came and Balzereit the WT officer for the Reich demanded some investments. Rutherford explained something aginst beards and Balzereit left the raoom and came back some minutes later with a baby face - totally shaved and got his demands realized.
Rutherford surely did not like Russell too much and got problems with the directors after publishing the 7th part of the studies ( revelation book).
So the guys left him alone called themselve also "Biblestudents" and were his competitors.
Rutherford made a new marketing-concept: new contents of teachings - no holidays, birthdays and such stuff, a new name - JWs - and no facial hair.
Those guys in the Bethel-bathrooms have erased in their minds that the occident culture always was using beard and no beard at the same time. You find goaty, moustache and full beard at any time in history parallel.
They tried to eliminate it in ther "new world society" and in the 70ies they caused the leave of ten thousands of men in young ages. at the end of the eighties they started to permit moustaches. but until today no brother with more facial hair will have privleges on congresses. They leave the decision on local level into gthe hands of the body of elders. Some keep it liberal but many put on iron claws and devate young men in their development to be MS or more.
It is nothaning else than a satanic ideology that is kept by men with concrete heads who thrown down the grand ma the stairways and ask whe she runs so fast.
Their court will be a very hard one but in righteosness, those men make their law like the law of god. They spoil the god given opportunities to develope an own personality. their story in the early 70ies of student tricks - example of one guy with full facial hair who was rejected at the door went on global level,. Today I think it was an invention, a lie like the library card.
give me a bucket I cant eat as much as I need to vomit
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FlyingHighNow
Plain and simple, no matter what reason the ban on beards began, one quick visual way to spot a rebel brother is to look at his face. Is he growing a beard? Yes? Isn't it obvious he has a problem with his obedience to the ORG? Watch that brother.
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katiekitten
There was a brother in my second cong who had a skin complaint and couldnt close shave cos it left him with a horrible blistery rash. He was still held back from priviledges because of it though.
Its a totally weird one isnt it. Its like they identified beards with hippys in the 60's and thats it - forever more beards are bad. Surely you cant scour EVERY decade for their symbols of rebellion and then cling onto them forever as symbols of badness. There would be nothing left to wear or do.
They are so trapped into some ancient way of thinking. Its embarrasing.
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MidwichCuckoo
I wasn't aware of this when was in. Damn ridiculous.
60s? Ah - The Sexual Revolution....here's me thinking it was a precaution to avoid being spotted as engaging in 'unnatural paractices'. You know how those beards can chafe the inner thigh girls? Lol, can't have the elderettes drawing attention to themselves by walking 'oddly'......''Either you shave that beard or we give up the 69s my Dear'' ...