Why would God care what your wearing in church or dressed like?
Jesus was worshiping naked on a cross with a crown of thorns on his head and nails in his wrists.

If I wear my welding boots and coat and have long hair walking into church, I don't think I'll be sent to (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) for that.
If some people want to look down on me for not having a Sunday suit, then screw em.

Beware of the pharassees who walk in long robes.

Have tried reading the Bible several times.
Got lost in it not understanding the verbiage.
Now, I just do what I think is right and let God figger it out when I go.

Really doubt he'll punish me for having long hair?

Try reading a New International Version with study notes. The text is in plain language and then the notes explain what you just read . Wish I had one when I was younger.

Sincere question Mark. I'm not trying to argue the fact because I don't know, but are you saying that if it was not for Paul, we would not have or know the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John?

Is Paul's writing's to the churches the only reason we know the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

I see it as the gospels give us the eye witness account. Paul gives us putting into practice.

As for the passage regarding long hair on men the key word is nature not actual length.

Basically, he is admonishing men to be men in appearance and how they carry themselves and not to adopt effeminate mannerisms. Same for women. So this can be as much cultural as it is actual length of hair. Paul is teaching us to dress and act according to God's plan for us.

I know, strange concept in today's world of 3542 different genders. But ask yourself why the left is going down that path.

I believe the Trudition may have come from judges 13: 5 For , lo, though shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head; for the child shal be a Nazerite unto God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
There is no place in the Bible that describes Jesus's hair length. I could see how some may think Samson was a forerunner of Jesus , the jews were looking for a WORLDLY king, and he was also a Nazerine.

For me, eyewitness account and the teachings of the Son of God is good enough.

Do we need to read and adhere to Paul's teachings in order to understand what Jesus said to be saved? Mark's post has me mind screwed right now because I never thought/realized that if it were not for Paul, I would not know Jesus' teachings.

Paul was the main church planter and missionary that carried the message out of Judea. Were it not for Paul Christianity may have remained just a Jewish sect.

With the development of churches across a diverse gentile world, a world without the historical understanding of old testament prophecy and doctrine, it took a scholar of Paul's ability to teach and guide.

Paul was unique. A jew of the old school fully educated in his culture and religion. Educated under Gamaliel, who is still to this day regarded as one of the most influential rabbis in judaism. He was also a hellene or hellenized jew of the diaspora as part of the culture of the greeks so he was also schooled in Greek logic and would have been knowledgeable in the classics of Plato and Aristotle, Stoism and Epicureanism. He was of the merchant class coming from the trading town of Tarsus so he knew the trade routes and movers and shakers. And the icing on the cake, he was a Roman citizen. A rarity in his day as citizenship could only be bestowed by Rome it was not birthright citizenship as we practice today.

You could say Paul is to Christianity what Thomas Jefferson is to the US. Probably moreso.

But no, Paul does not add to or detract from Christ. He takes Christ's teaching and applies them to where the rubber meets the road.

Warrior,
That’s the best breakdown, no nonsense, to the point, concise description of Paul I ever heard.
Needed that. Thank you.

There was a young man that had got his driving license and was wanting to borrow the family car to take a girl out on dates. His dad said , Your grades are terrible, you don't keep the yard mowed and you need a haircut. Time went by and the boy got his grades up and mowed the lawn weekly. He told his dad that he had got his grades up and had kept the yard mowed, and he wanted to drive the car on a date for the weekend. His dad said yes you got your grades up and you've kept the yard mowed, but what about that long hair? The boy said, you know, I have been reading the bible and Sampson and John the Baptist and Jesus all had long hair. To which the dad replied, I've been reading the bible too. And I find those guys you mentioned all walked to where they went!

Good one

Hippie, did you go to Woodstock?

Maybe where some of disliking of long hair comes from the story of Absalom, where Amnon conspired a plan to take advantage of Tamar by playing sick and getting her as a nurse . Then after raping her threw her out of his house to live in shame. David knew of the situation and did nothing about it, perhaps that is an example of sins of omission. Absalom avenged his sister by setting up Amnon and having his servants kill him. Absalom became very prideful in his hair. Long, beautiful hair was a sign of strength. It caused his death when he was fleeing and got it hung up in a low hanging branch. People only remember part of a story , in this case maybe it is only remembering the long hair that caused that caused Absaloms' death.

Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a story about a deer that was very prideful of his beautiful antlers. He was also very ashamed of his rough ugly feet. One day a hunter got after him. He escaped quickly by the use of his ugly feet by running across an open field. But the beautiful antlers he was so proud of got him hung up in the brush on the other side of the open field and the hunter killed him. Thus his feet which he was ashamed of saved him, but his antlers which he was so proud of got him killed!

Pose this question to Phil Robertson...

I like Phil, I've listened to his testimony several times.

Nicodemus, Gamaliel, and probably Paul, were all members of the Sanhedrin. Pharisees. Interesting mix when you consider their roles and how they all likely became followers of Christ.

I wish!! I was only 7 in '69 so I would've had to hitch hike to there.

Just a long haired kid.


What I looked like after a summer of being a river rat.

What God wanted was for His chosen people to live different than the world around them. One of the verses in the Old Testament that shows this is "Leviticus 20:25 Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.
Le 20:26 And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine."
A couple others are "Deut. 14:2 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.
Deut. 26:18 And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments;"

God wanted the Jews to stand out, wanted them to be different than any of the other cultures around them. My belief and i believe the bible would back it up, was He did it for their protection, not cutting hair was only one of the things that God used to make them separate and stand out, another was their diet, the day they worshipped, and a host of other things.

Hope that answer what you asked.

Don't know anything about Phil Robertson, but I do remember meeting Phil Joel after a concert in my long-haired youth.

Yes.
Reminds me of that old hymn:
Just as I am without one plea
But that Thy blood was shed for me
And that Thou bid'st me come to Thee
O, Lamb of God, I come, I come.