In our church we were never taught that we couldn't trim our hair. It was not a subject that was preached on ever, really. We were taght in Bible studies that a woman should have long hair. People had differeing opinions on the subject of trimming. I always did trim my hair. We have many black women in our church (one being my DIL) who perm, trim and put alot of prducts in their haier to keep it managable.

I have a friend who listened to some tapes by a well known preacher who preached on women's standards. She decided when listening to these tapes that she would no longer trim her hair. After she made that decision she started to feel a feeling of bondage. It got worse and she studied scripture and then she decided to trim her hair again. She said the bondage was removed immediately. She felt God was telling her that this teaching was one of bondage and biblically incorrect.

If you are not trimming your hair because you think that leaving it untrimmed will earn your way into heaven, then you might as well go ahead and trim it. Shoot, you might as well shave it off!! You cannot "EARN" your way to heaven by following the rules of the church. You will only make it into heaven because of the what Jesus did for us on the cross. The grace that He extended to us by way of Calvary is the only means of salvation.

On the flip side, tho, if you are not trimming your hair because you truly believe that leaving it untrimmed is pleasing to God and your desire is to please Him above all else, then I honor that decision.

Just don't ever make the mistake of believing that what you do with your hair will buy your salvation.

Rebellion is disobedience...disobedience to God, disobedience to authority, disobedience to parents...etc.

I think, simplistically speaking, that when a woman believes that her hair shouldn't be cut, and she backslides and cuts it, that is an act of rebellion against God, because she is going against her own commitments to God and her professed conviction on that issue.

However, a person can change their mind, or be convinced or persuaded to a different point of view without it being "rebellion" or even backsliding.

Also, if a person never held the view to begin with, and were only abiding by the church rules, then it is not rebellion against God (from their perspective), but rather a rebellion (or at the very least a statement) against the church they are/were attending.

We attended a very strict church for awhile, and they didn't believe in women wearing denim, bows in their hair, or married women wearing their hair down. After we left the church (that assembly...not the church in general), I immediately went back to wearing my hair down, wearing my comfy denim and putting the occasional pretty clip or scarf in my hair. Was that rebellion? Of course not! We no longer attended the church, so whose authority would I be rebelling against? Certainly not God's, since there's no scripture against any of those things. And since we had a different pastor who didn't hold those sentiments, we weren't rebelling against our pastor either.

Now...that said...I think some people DO cut their hair, put on makeup, grow their hair long, put on jewelry, wear shorts, put on tank tops, and do everything else they can think of to flout the rules because they are rebellious. That is especially the case if they disobey the rules while still attending or belonging to a particular assembly.

If a person leaves the church or leaves the assembly, they have removed themselves from the authority of the pastor and church (in my opinion), and if there's any rebellion to pinpoint it would only be in reference to God Himself.

You brought up hair in particular, and here's my take: I have friends who keep their hair long, but they still trim the ends. However, their conviction based on scripture is that they should have long hair, (as opposed to uncut hair), and they are abiding by their convictions. I respect them for it, and I don't pick at their beliefs. To me, that's equivalent to one person believing skirts should be below the knees and another believing they ought to be at least to the calves.

As usual.....well said!

One thing I would like to add in (not necessarily to what Annie asked though) is that just because a preacher/person/pastor believes that it truly is a sin to cut your hair it does not mean he is brainwashing anyone - if he truly believes it in his heart. He is doing his best to see that his congregation makes it to heaven. I know of pastors who would change their beliefs on the spot of they felt God led them to believe differently. Maybe they are not all that way but there are some who are. Thank God for the sincere ones!!!

Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread- it helps to hear other thoughts and opinions.

Great post. . .
The bolded part brings up something I remember from when I was younger and questioned the 'hair issue'. . .how long is long? It was explained to me this way: One person's interpretation of long hair/how long can be very different from the next. As long as hair was uncut, then it's long. . .however long it grows on its own w/out having been cut.

If we MUST have LONG hair to be saved them my mama is NOT saved and she hasn't cut her hair for 23 years!!! Her hair barely covers her shoulders yet it is uncut. If she trimmed it it would be even shorter. She had long hair while growing up and when she was like 19 she chopped it off above her shoulders and it has NEVER grew back to the same length - only a couple of inches and she is now 48!!!

Well, my hair was never long, although when I was young I always wanted to have that beautiful LONG Pentecostal hair. When I finally decided to cut mine, it was only about shoulder length (after 15 years or so of never touching it). I only had the bangs cut first, and felt so relieved that I could actually do something with it!! Later, I did end up cutting it, and have kept it cut, but I do not feel convicted by it at all; only condemnation from a few people at first.

My hair is so much healthier now than it used to be. All those years I didn't cut it, my "glory" was dead, broken-off, and in pitiful shape. It was because I have very thin, fine hair and it never looked good until I kept it trimmed. Years of wearing it up had nearly ruined it. I can't even imagine going back to those days, but I respect anyone who feels that they need to.

Well, I guess that settles it. :)