Jesus Had a Beard
"I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting." -Isaiah 50:6
You might think this is a strange name for an article, but no stranger than the way some Christians are biased against beards (and other trifle matters). I thought this was a needful article. I have John R. Rice's book titled, "I am a Fundamentalist." There's a very practical chapter in Dr. Rice's book called "I am a Fundamentalist, not a Nut." He talks about how some people accused him of compromise because he refuses to lie down on the ground in front of abortion clinics to protest. Yet if he did go to protest, other Christians would criticize him for being unethical. There is a fine line between faith and foolishness friend. We must be careful not to place restrictions upon people in our churches which God has not.
I didn't create this website to impress anybody. I made this website to proclaim the TRUTH, primarily the great truth that Jesus Christ is the ONLY Way to Heaven. This website is very unique. I don't know of any other sites just like it. You've got everything exposed from False Religions to corruption in government. You've got health warnings, old fashioned preaching, Christian music, soulwinning, etc (and if I think of other things that will benefit you)...I'll add them as well. I could have looked at all the other Independent Baptist websites and "conformed" to the crowd. That is exactly what I didn't want to do. I don't want to be like everyone else. I want to be unique the way God made me.
Having said that, I do NOT believe it is wrong or unethical for a man to wear a beard. There is a danger is conformity. When everyone is required to conform to a standard, what happens when that standard falters? That's right, people will conform to the new lower standard! Is this not the exact thing that is wrong with denominationalism? Sure it is. As Dr. Jack Hyles used to say, If the mother ship goes down, she'll take all the little boats with her. The Southern Baptist Convention went down the tubes spiritually and so did all the churches associated with her. This is the great importance of "Independent" Baptist churches. If your church dips it's sails, it won't affect my church because I'm not looking to some organization to set policy and standards...I'm looking to Jesus!!! This is the beauty of the local, Independent, soulwinning, separated, Christ-honoring, sin-hating, people-loving, fundamental, Baptist, New Testament church. God works through churches.
Jesus had a beard (facial hair long enough to be grabbed and plucked from His cheeks). For the soldiers to be able to grab Jesus' beard, it must have been at least of moderate length (definitely not a short beard). Isaiah fifty speaks as a prophecy concerning Christ's hours of torment before the cross. Yes friend, our Lord and Saviour had a beard.
Let me say that I firmly believe Jesus had short hair on top of His head. I do not believe Jesus looked like a hippie. I've read Dr. Jack Hyles great book titled "Jesus Had Short Hair." I agree 100%. The custom of Jesus' day was short hair. Jesus never took a Nazarite vow. I believe Jesus was a strong man, a carpenter without power tools. Jesus was no wimp. Peter was a rugged man and would not have followed Jesus if He were not a great man. I believe that Jesus had the utmost respect of those whom He did business with. People like honest people, who work hard and don't play games. Jesus said what He meant and meant what He said.
Jesus may have had short hair, but He also had a beard. Let us be realistic about small issues such as beards. There is no moral principal hear as with a woman wearing pants. A woman wearing pants promotes unholy lusts in men's hearts. This is why it is very sinful for a woman to dress immodestly. Many women are apathetic concerning this evil. Even some Christian women have not matured in this area of proper dress. A woman who wears provocative clothing HURTS other men spiritually. She makes it much more difficult for them to live right. It is a moral issue. However, a beard is not going to tempt someone else to sin (maybe to throw something at you and call you ugly, but that's about it). Seriously, we need to let go of this idea that people should conform to "a certain look."
When I was in Bible college years ago, I met a few characters. I usually wore an all white dress shirt to chapel, but every so often I'd wear an all black dress shirt just to be different. When I did, I was the only guy wearing an all black shirt out of hundreds of guys in all white shirts. I felt out of place but I didn't let it bother me because I knew that God looks at the heart, not at the color of my shirt. And by the way, unsaved people don't care what color shirt you are wearing either. If you love people with God's love, they'll likely eventually allow you to share the gospel with them. I wanted to be different, so I wore a dark shirt. Do you what some guy said to me? He came up to me and said "You are not right with God for wearing that black shirt!" I thought he was kidding, but he was very serious. He told me I wasn't right with God because I was wearing a black shirt. I'm not kidding. He even called me "a rebel." Do you see how immature we can be if we're not careful? I didn't think bad of him then nor do I now. I'm sure now that he's older he has since matured. How silly when we judge people simply because they're not exactly like us. There was no rule at the college requiring white shirts. He judged me because I wasn't "conforming" to what he thought I should be. May we all learn our lesson.
Just because a man wears a beard doesn't mean he's not a fundamental Baptist. London's greatest preacher ever, Charles Spurgeon, wore a big beard (and smoked a big cigar). Dwight L. Moody wore a beard. I'm not justifying great men's weaknesses. I'm simply saying that we need to be real careful about ostracizing people in the name of Biblical "separation" simply because they wear a beard or don't wear their hair at quite the length we think it should conform to. I play a pedal steel guitar. I've played it now for fifteen years. I love the country and Hawaiian sounds of the steel guitar. I loathe the lousy so-called country "music" heard on the radio today. I like instrumentals with no words. I realize that most country music is nothing more than a three minute soap opera. Do you know what you get if you play a country song backwards? You get your wife back, your home back, your job back, your car back and your dog back. Just as with the piano, the steel guitar can be used to play ANY type of music. I don't play in a band. I never would because I'm a Christian who loves the Lord. I could never use my God-given talents for the promotion and sale of alcohol. So I play at home for my family to hear (those poor souls). Actually, they seem to really like it when I play the guitar. There is no music this side of heaven to me any more beautiful than the pedal steel guitar. However, I know that some Christians would consider the Pedal Steel Guitar only as a "honky-tonk" instrument played in bars. It surely is not.
I am a separated Christian, I hate the world and all the wickedness in it. I am fully aware of 1st John 2:15's warning not to love the things of this world. Nevertheless, it is ok to be different from other people. I like to be different. I wanted this website to be different in as many ways as possible. I like to be unique. That's just me. I want to build this website to be what I believe is going to help you the most, not what I think will impress you the most. I don't care if your impressed, I do care if you get THE TRUTH while your here. My goal is to help others, not impress others. There's impressive websites all over the internet, but there's not a webmaster out there who wants to reach people any greater than I do. That is my goal, others.
One last thing before I finish this article. I knew a Bible college student years ago who dropped out of school and stopped going to church. A few years later she went back to church and tried to pick up where she had left off. I remember how discouraged she was at the time. She said something to me that I shall never forget. She said, "You have to walk a fine line at the church. If you veer even a little bit to the left or to the right, they'll reject you. You have to dot your "I's" and cross your "T's" just right." I've learned over the years that there are two sides to every story, and then there's the truth. The truth usually lies somewhere between. It was obvious to me that this young woman had a bad attitude because she had made some mistake, but I also believe that there is much truth to what she is saying. What is it about us that makes us tend to be unfriendly towards people who aren't exactly what we think they should be? We need to rise above these personality conflicts and try to befriend those who are reaching out to us for help. They won't ask us for help but it should be obvious when they come into our churches. People need our help. This young woman was made to feel unwelcomed, like she had a contagious disease or something. Dr. Jack Hyles said it best, "The Christian army is the only army in the world that slays it's wounded."
The next time your tempted to ignore someone or judge them based upon what you think they should "conform" to, just remember that your Lord and Saviour HAD A BEARD.
God bless you,
Dave
