david j. stewart #fundie jesus-is-savior.com

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.

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