A Question For Christian Men Only About Vanity?

Question

If you believe our body is a temple, a gift from God, designed by Him, do you not believe that every part of our body has a specific purpose, each purpose designed by God?

With this being the case why do we alter His design to follow current trends or fashion styles? Think about this and be honest please.

An example would be the hair on your face. If the hair was put there by God, by His design, then why do we shave it off as soon as it grows?

The Amish don't do this. Early Christians didn't do this. Nor did early Mormans. So why do we men do this now.

Are we saying that God made a mistake? That He provided us with body parts with specific functions that are useless? That it is our duty to correct His mistake?

Or are we simply giving in to our own vanities and peer pressure?

I know this isn't exactly one of life's more profound questions but I've wondered about this.

What do you guys think?

Answer 1

Medically there is one part of the Male Human Body that seem to have no purpose, and that is the nipples. Of course in women it has a very noble purpose.

Answer 2

Early Christians--who were Jewish--DID alter their bodies. Particularly the men, and I am not talking about hair. They did this according to their law. It is not necessary or recommended for Christian men to emulate that behavior; it's just a historical and cultural fact.

God is not anthropomorphic...however, if you will excuse my anthropomorphic language to talk about Him...

Your question assumes that God is purposeful. Therefor it would not be sinful to cut one's hair if one worked with machinery, or if one lived under circumstances where long hair would be hard to manage.

Aesthetics are purposeful as well. Even in terms of...attracting a mate...as God intended... The danger is vanity...personal conceit...pride...all dangerous. Anything that reinforces the ego is dangerous.

The solution is to live purposefully and egolessly. Two different men could do the same thing...one might carefully groom himself to please his wife or to show respect for his role in life, while another might do the same thing for personal vanity. Paul wrote about this phenomenon. He suggested being careful not to let your own actions lead others into sin.

The Amish intend to live intentionally (purposefully) but also _simply_ so as not to become too caught up in temporal, worldly things. The Amish beard is by the way a signal that a man is married. Unmarried Amish men shave their faces.

Personally I think some facial hair is useful, to look more masculine (I have a moustache, but the avatars all seem to be clean-shaven). Some races do not grow facial hair (eg, most Amerinds and some Island races) but they have other means such as clothing or mannerisms to distinguish the genders.

God does not make mistakes but God changes and therefor the world changes. There is a reason that we do indeed have vestigial body parts. Facial hair isn't necessarily one of them but the appendix seems to be one, and the tonsils don't do much. This is not a mistake, this is change. Accept change.

Answer 3

Heh, I'm not a guy, but I got interested. (you know what they say about women, they can't stay out of something they were told to leave alone, or that was just for men) Anyways, I don't think it is vanity. Think about it, nothing we have is "natural" just the way God made it. If it was, we wouldn't need shoes, clothes, houses, cars, or anything else like that. We would be living like animals. God told us to have dominion over the earth, and I see no reason why that can't include your body. Make it look nice. It's when you start obsessing over it that is becomes vanity.

Answer 4

It also says that we shouldn't be concerned about what we wear. To be like the lillies. Does that mean we should walk around naked if the laundry hasn't done itself (or been done by God)? Or that we needent bother to bathe as if God wanted it done he would have arranged it?

I belive as representitives of God we should be presentable. Not unkempt. If a beard is appropriate then wear a beard. If not, then shave.

Answer 5

Culture. if we need it we can still grow it back. I don't think it has anything to do with vanity. I don't feel it is a sin to cut my hair. only Samson had that problem

Answer 6

The body is just a shell for the spirit. When you go to Heaven your body turns to dust.

Answer 7

i am going to ascertain your element. For me, in my view, I attempt no longer to live on such issues. That leads me to the enemy's poison disguised as piety, making assumptions about human beings's causes, and so on. We analyze a youthful wealthy guy in Mark 10:17-31. very in many circumstances human beings cite this passage with reference to Christians (or absolutely everyone else, for that remember) having wealth. what's amazingly in many circumstances ignored, in spite of the indisputable fact that, is the first sentence in verse 21: "Jesus regarded at him and loved him." quite than annoying a lot about human beings's causes and shortcomings, the Lord has shown me instead to love human beings. I, myself, doesn't stand a probability for salvation if it were no longer for God's sheer grace, given freely out of His love, which I receive humbly by potential of religion. there is grace adequate for individuals that placed on extreme makeup, grace adequate for all undeserving human beings of the international, and beauty adequate for you and for me. Peace be with you.

Answer 8

I used to shave to please my lady friends who said the beard, no matter how long, scratched. So I would rib them about their leg stubble till I found that asians and other races don't have leg hair, or facial hair. Lucky dogs...anyway I think that as long as what you do to your body to please others, and I do mean the plural its not vanity.

Answer 9

Depends on your culture. Why do you cut your finger and toe nails? They grow too? Maybe personal hygiene is the answer. You tell me?

Answer 10

I think you are splitting hairs (pun intended) PS its Mormons not Mormans.