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Long Hair or Uncut Hair: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Rebekah's bangs.jpg|thumb|right|250px|William, Billy Paul, Rebekah (with cut hair) and Meda Branham in the 1950s.]] | |||
{{Legalism}} | |||
Women that follow William Branham's message are not permitted to cut their hair. This is one of the primary legalistic tenets of William Branham's followers. In fact, the easiest way to identify women that are followers of William Branham is the length of their hair and their mode of dress. | Women that follow William Branham's message are not permitted to cut their hair. This is one of the primary legalistic tenets of William Branham's followers. In fact, the easiest way to identify women that are followers of William Branham is the length of their hair and their mode of dress. | ||
=What William Branham taught= | =What William Branham taught= | ||
[[Image:Branham Girls.jpg|thumb|250px|William and Meda Braham with their daughters, with their skirts above their knees and hair to their shoulders.]] | |||
William Branham said: | William Branham said: | ||
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#Joan of Arc was a spiritual woman who heard the voice of God. | #Joan of Arc was a spiritual woman who heard the voice of God. | ||
There are a couple of logic problems with the interaction of William Branham's interpretation of the Bible and the plain reading of scripture | ==Does "long hair" mean "uncut hair"?== | ||
There are a couple of logic problems with the interaction of William Branham's interpretation of the Bible and the plain reading of scripture. | |||
#William Branham taught that it was a sin for woman to have her hair cut, as her hair was her covering. 1 Corinthians 11 also says that it is a shame for her to pray in public with her head uncovered. So, logic would tell us that if hair is a covering, and men are shamed for praying with their head covered.... that means, men should all be BALD. (using "message logic"). | #William Branham taught that it was a sin for woman to have her hair cut, as her hair was her covering. 1 Corinthians 11 also says that it is a shame for her to pray in public with her head uncovered. So, logic would tell us that if hair is a covering, and men are shamed for praying with their head covered.... that means, men should all be BALD. (using "message logic"). | ||
#It also stands to reason that if "long hair" by definition is strictly "UNCUT" hair for women, then "short" hair must mean "cut" hair for men. So a man could have hair halfway down his back, but as long as he trimmed the ends, it's the "short" that Paul had in mind. | #It also stands to reason that if "long hair" by definition is strictly "UNCUT" hair for women, then "short" hair must mean "cut" hair for men. So a man could have hair halfway down his back, but as long as he trimmed the ends, it's the "short" that Paul had in mind. | ||
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As outlined in the discussion below, from a Biblical perspective, while men honor God if they have short hair and likewise women honor God if they have long hair, there is nothing to infer that long hair means "uncut" hair. | As outlined in the discussion below, from a Biblical perspective, while men honor God if they have short hair and likewise women honor God if they have long hair, there is nothing to infer that long hair means "uncut" hair. | ||
Additionally, notwithstanding William Branham's statement that a man is allowed to divorce his wife if she cuts her hair, there is nothing in the Bible to support this outrageous claim. That fact | Additionally, notwithstanding William Branham's statement that a man is allowed to divorce his wife if she cuts her hair, there is nothing in the Bible to support this outrageous claim. That fact he stated this was "thus saith the Lord" would cast doubt where he uses this phrase at other times. | ||
=What does the Bible actually say?= | |||
Message believers in general hold that a woman cannot even trim her hair. But is this what the scriptures teach? | |||
==The wording of 1 Corinthians 11== | |||
1 Corinthians 11:4-5 states: | |||
''Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head...<ref>The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 1 Co 11:4-5</ref> | |||
The New Testament was originally written in Greek, so we need to look at the original text to understand what is being said. Paul states that the man would shame his “head” if he were to have ''“down the head”''; whereas the opposite would prevail for the woman: she would shame her “head” if she were to prophesy “uncovered as to the head.” <ref>Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1987), 495.</ref> | |||
The question, of course, is what having “down the head” means, or to put that in another way, “having what down the head”? | |||
Some have argued that this refers to having long hair “down the head,” because there is some indication in Greek literature that long hair on men was associated with homosexuality, where longer hair was artistically decorated to resemble a woman’s. The problem with this, however, is that these passages in Greek literature always refer to hair, and never remotely resemble the language Paul uses here. | |||
If Paul had intended long hair, this idiom is a most unusual way of referring to it as he simply could have said "short hair" or " long hair." On the other hand, although Paul’s idiom is somewhat unusual, it is not without precedent. In Esther 6:12, Haman is said to have “hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered”. The Septuagint translates this last phrase "kata kephalēs" (= “down the head”). | |||
There three main pillars on which the “no trimming ” doctrine rests, at least as | So also Plutarch speaks of Scipio the Younger as beginning to walk through Alexandria “having the himation down the head,” meaning that he covered his head with part of his toga so as to be unrecognized by the people. Almost certainly, therefore, by this idiom Paul is referring to an external cloth covering.<ref>Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1987), 506–507.</ref> | ||
===Interpretation by message ministers=== | |||
There three main pillars on which the “no trimming ” doctrine rests, at least as message churches teach it, are as follows: | |||
1) The word “shorn” means “cut or clip – period”. | 1) The word “shorn” means “cut or clip – period”. | ||
2) The early church and true Christians have always taught “no trimming”. | 2) The early church and true Christians have always taught “no trimming”. | ||
3) | 3) William Branham believed in “no trimming”. | ||
Meaning of the Word “Shorn” in the Scriptures: | Meaning of the Word “Shorn” in the Scriptures: | ||
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Fee, G. D. 1987. The First Epistle to the Corinthians. The New International Commentary on the New Testament (530). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.: Grand Rapids, MI | Fee, G. D. 1987. The First Epistle to the Corinthians. The New International Commentary on the New Testament (530). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.: Grand Rapids, MI | ||
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