To Beard or Not to Beard, That is The Question

[TK Burk]

Originally Posted by coksiw

I wasn't in California when the Hippies stuff, however, I have a question:

Aren't hippies/gang identified better by their clothing, jewelry, etc..? A decently modestly clean dressed beard man would like like a Hippie or a gang member?

I somewhat spoke about this when I wrote:

I do agree that there are circumstances where the leadership of a church can establish a standard not found in the Bible. An example would be preaching against wearing certain clothing or colors that could misidentify a saint as a member of a local gang. Wearing such things might hurt a saint’s testimony and possibly even endanger his or her life.

And...

In my almost 35 years in the UPCI, I’ve heard preaching against facial hair began as a way to separate apostolic men from their Hippie counterparts. I was born in 1962, and I remember what Hippies wore. That said, the clothing choices of each group should alone have made this distinction very clear…I mean, we are talking about the difference between wearing a tie and tie dye. But if that is the reason, who today would think a man with facial hair is a Hippie? I mean, any Hippie alive today is a Grandparent living on Social Security. So, surely this excuse against facial hair is no longer valid.