OK, so the question I get all the time is "why do you have a mustache?" Coming in second on the facial hair question scale is "isn't it against the Bible for a man to have facial hair?" Well, It's time I publicly address why I have chosen to swim against the tide of the United Pentecostal Church and wear facial hair.
Most people I know who attend UPC churches are surprised when they find out that the denomination has no written prohibition against men wearing facial hair. That's right, it's not against the national organization bylaws or the Articles of Faith. There is no official position paper on it one way or another. Many pentecostal people are surprised because it is commonly made a "holiness" issue by UPC pastors. However, In spite of this, many are unaware that the "clean"
shaven doctrine has no biblical basis whatsoever.
The most common answers given for the prohibition are that it is a "corporate conviction," or it is tradition based on the decisions of pastors in the 1960's to take a stand against the growing hippie movement. Either answer falls short of passing biblical muster for a teaching that has such far reaching and personal consequences as how one must groom himself to be accepted into the Body of Christ.
Why does this matter to me? As I'll detail in a moment, there are many reasons that I believe the facial hair "ban" actually hurts the Body of Christ, but for me the issue is one of being able to trust my leadership to proclaim doctrines that are
biblically sound. The reason that I became the
"Reluctant Pastor" in the first place is because I began to closely examine the teachings of the United Pentecostal Church against the Bible. As I studied the different "holiness" teachings, I came across the fact that the facial hair prohibition which is taught in so many churches was not supported by
any scripture that I could find.
When I realized the facial hair "standard" was
unbiblical at best, I felt like a rug was ripped out from under my feet. For years I had been taught and believed that it was a sin for a man to have facial hair. For years I accepted this "doctrine" on blind faith. Then, one day I was proved wrong by the very words of God - the Bible. It dawned on me that Jesus would not be welcome in many churches to preach, because he had a beard. It made me start over and examine everything that was being taught by the leadership at my local church and the national organization.
Some tried to dismiss my concern about facial hair as a minor point. "It's not worth arguing over" they said. "Just obey" they said. That kind of blind faith is fine for the Branch
Davidians, but we are talking about New Testament Christian doctrine and teaching here. I even had one pastor I knew try to make the case to me that Jesus didn't really have a beard, and the Romans actually ripped stubble from his face. It had grown out, he said, because Jesus was unable to shave while he was in their custody. However, Scripture does not support that view either.
Once the curtain of blind loyalty had been ripped away from the window of biblical truth, I took on a more
Berean (Acts17) characteristic and studied for myself each doctrine taught by my church to" see if these things were so." I discovered some basic problems with the facial hair "rule" that I should like to share with you.
- Problem 1 - the facial hair ban is an unwritten rule that uses human peer pressure to cause men to conform so they are not thought of as "backslid," "Charismatic," or rebellious.
Read any book on cult like behavior and one thing you'll find they have in common is the idea of controlling people through unspoken and unwritten rules. In a spiritually unhealthy church, when a person questions a teaching, the questioner is seen as the problem, not the teaching.
Many people believe a pastor who bans facial hair has the right to make such a rule, but does he? If that were true then a pastor could instead mandate all men in his church to let their beards grow. Assuming we believed the pastor can make virtually any rule he wants, then a church full of bearded men who are submitted to the teaching of their pastor should be completely acceptable to others in pentecostal circles, but such is not the case. A church full of bearded men would probably be thought of as morally bankrupt by most Pentecostals, even though that church would be teaching a doctrine closer to the Bible than those who are judging them.
I experienced this first hand a few years ago at an Apostolic homeschooling conference when a group of Apostolic Pentecostals from Texas were invited to speak. This group of men resembled the Mennonites more than modern Pentecostals. Each of them wore full beards and dressed in modest clothing. After the conference was over, an attendee stated on the comment form that he felt it was inappropriate having men with facial hair teaching a session. Like it or not, that person expressed the most commonly held view among Pentecostals today. Most of them believe that a man with facial hair is less spiritually minded, than one who shaves. Those who think that way often do so because that is what the pastor teaches, and he teaches it because his pastor did, and so on.
I'm certainly not suggesting that there is any sinister motive by pastors who require a facial hair ban, but just because a pastor teaches something, does not in and of itself make it right. We
Apostolics have long stood against the false teaching of the Trinity by standing on the firm biblical footing of Scripture alone. I'm just suggesting that we do the same for our other teachings as well.
Can a pastor can overstep his authority? Can a judge? What about a police officer? These offices are to uphold the law and must be careful not make their own. God
repeatedly gives us warnings about going beyond what the scripture teaches and making our own rules. A pastor who creates a rule in his church banning facial hair should examine why he feels that such a rule is necessary if the Bible doesn't support it. He must consider the possibility that he has overstepped his authority just as the Pharisees did. Jesus said to them,
"All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition" (Mark 7:9
NKJV). What commandment of God is there for a man to be clean
shaven?
If we cannot give chapter and verse for what we expect people to obey, we are overstepping our authority as pastors. And when the only chapter and verse we can find is that which says "obey me," the larger question remains, to what point is obedience to our teaching required? The answer to that is clear.
The church leadership must teach people to obey the teachings of the Bible, not each pastor's personal philosophy.
Deuteronomy 4:2 You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. And since there is not one shred of biblical support for a facial hair ban we must ask the question, are we then guilty of adding to the Word?
- Problem 2 - The facial hair ban is inconsistent with other holiness teaching
One of the most prominent features of Pentecostal churches is the teaching against the use of make-up by the women (and by extension the men). One of the underlying principles used to support this teaching is the idea that women should be happy to be what God created them and not try to conform to a fickle idea of worldly beauty put forth by a corrupt and sensual society, lest they insult their maker. It is considered "worldly" for a woman to be pressured into "improving" her appearance with make-up to become more socially acceptable. This teaching has its roots in the biblical principles of modesty and separation.
If we apply that same principle to the men in our churches, we would be teaching them that shaving off the hair God places on their face would be trying to improve on the appearance God intended for them. It seems wholly inconsistent to ask only the women to be content with their natural beauty, while the men completely change their natural appearance by shaving everyday.
To further complicate things, the men are taught they ought to shave because it is "more socially acceptable" to the culture. Again, if we applied that logic to the ladies, we would be teaching them to be more concerned about "being acceptable" to the culture than biblical. The job of the apostolic pastor is not to make the church more acceptable to the culture, it is to declare the Word of God in spite of what the culture thinks.
Secondly, requiring a man to shave is inconsistent with God's distinction between the sexes. In Genesis, God created them male and female. Thousands of years later our godless culture is doing everything it can to blur or erase the lines of gender distinction. We in the UPC and other conservative Christian groups address this attack by teaching women the value of wearing feminine clothing like skirts and dresses, and letting their hair grow long.
However, again when it comes to the men, we completely do the opposite of what God originally intended and require men to shave off a prominent masculine trait that he called "good," because it is socially unacceptable, or because a certain pastors just don't like it.
God made facial hair a
secondary sexual characteristic. It is only possible for men who have passed through puberty to grow facial hair (excluding of course those individuals with a hormone imbalance). When you look at a portrait of my family you will see only one person with facial hair. I am the only one with a mustache because I am the only man in the family. I am the only one in my family whom God has placed the ability to grow facial hair at this point. One distinctive gender characteristic of the man of the family is facial hair. For thousands of years facial hair was seen as a symbol of manhood in many cultures. This was also the case in the brief history of America until radical feminism began to get a foothold in our culture.
What logic is it to require that a man shave himself which makes him take on a more feminine (and boyish) appearance while we teach the ladies against becoming too masculine and displeasing to God? It's obviously a rhetorical question because it makes no sense at all. I guess the phrase "consistency, thou art a jewel" would apply nicely here. I'm not suggesting that men be required to grow beards. I am suggesting that we quit judging a man by his use of a razor. Since Gentiles were never required to have beards but neither is there any scriptures
prohibiting them, let's forget it and move on.
- Problem 3 - It hinders the spread of the gospel
The last issue I'll address is that of hindering the gospel of Jesus Christ on Earth. Fifty years ago when the great bands of hippies roamed the earth, it was enough to just tell Christian men they needed to be shaved because that's what the pastor wanted, but times have changed.
Google "United Pentecostal Church" and you will immediately be hit with articles about manipulation and cult like behavior. Much of this
criticism is unjust but some could be avoided by simply following the teachings of scripture. We are living in the information age where younger people get most of their information from the Internet. Even grandmas and middle aged businessmen have their own
Facebook pages now. The days of a pastor being able to demand blind adherance to his teachings are mostly gone now. The times demand that we be ready to give an answer for the things we teach people to obey. It is no longer enough to say "do this because I'm the Pastor and I said so, that's why." If it's just a matter of obeying the pastor, they will just go find another pastor who teaches something different.
It may seem like a minor issue to some, but excusing even one "false teaching" in the church, no matter how insignificant it may seem to some, just because "that's the way it's always been taught" is not biblical. Others claim that it's important to adhere to this facial hair teaching for the sake of unity in the organization. Are they really suggesting allowing an unbiblical teaching in the church for the sake of unity? If so, what other teachings without scriptural support are we going to allow for the sake of "unity?" So unless we don't really care about doing things the biblical way, it's time we addressed this issue in the church.
Based on the scriptures, shaving is a personal choice that a Christian man must make between himself and God. Beards are not mandated for gentiles, and neither is being
shaven. To mandate this issue either way is to overstep the boundaries of biblical authority. Requiring a man to shave in order to be accepted into fellowship or be used in body ministry makes us no different than those who tried to require circumcision for New Testament salvation. There may be times that an individual feels that being without facial hair is the best way to reach certain others with the gospel. However, the same might be true of those who feel a beard or mustache might make them more accessible to others for the sake of the gospel. We should get out of the way and let God use people as he sees fit.
Personally, I teach the principles of modesty and moderation in our assembly. If a man has facial hair it ought to be moderate and not overdone, i.e., not scraggly or unruly. Further it ought to be modest and not styled in ways that draw attention to oneself. Both of these principles when applied to facial hair are on solid biblical footing. We have many men in the assembly including younger men with facial hair and not one looks wild or worldly.
I have chosen to have a mustache. Some might say it's a facial hair compromise. I still shave everyday but I still have facial hair. People ask me why I have it when it is so much easier just to go along to get along? I usually ask them why I should have to explain why I have one? Why not have one? It puzzles me that anyone would even need an explanation. It would be like me asking a woman, "why do you feel a need to style your hair like that?" The question itself suggests some wrong is being committed and puts the person on the defensive.
But if you must know, I believe that facial hair is a gender distinction that was given by God to distinguish men from women. I don't want to wear a full beard and I don't like goatees. That's why I have a mustache.
I recently purchased a new Bible from Cambridge Bible, one I consider to be the finest in the world. I bought a leather bound NKJV wide margin. I am particularly glad that Cambridge decided to get into this market as I have been looking for a quality NKJV wide margin for a number of years and never found exactly what I wanted. I prefer a wide margin Bible because I like to take a lot of notes right alongside the text.
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