I have several TBM relatives and friends with beards or goatees. I was surprised to see the first cousin grow one, but that was a couple years ago now. These are men in their 20s or 30s. They all keep them neatly trimmed.
In my TBM wife's stake they recently had a talk from the SP at a leadership meeting about appropriate grooming. In this stake facial hair is still taboo (including nicely trimmed goatees). I suppose that's an easy way to avoid being "called".
Only in the Mormon church is this an issue. We are wasting time talking about facial hair. Funny how as an active lds teen I knew it was important to shave my face but it was forbidden to shave "down there" :)
For a Muslim man, you need to have facial hair and you need to shave down there. Quite the opposite of the Mor(m)on view. I wonder which religion is true. ;)
Anytime the bishop is due to be replaced, let your facial hair grow out and you're off the hook for being called into the next bishopric. Works well for anytime you hear they are shopping for any leadership position in the ward as well.
The next step is to start wearing solid color shirts that are not white to church - that's the next page of that playbook to avoid being called to anything time demanding!
I always asked silly questions such as these (no wonder I didn't fit in, huh?).
The answer I got more than once was "Follow the Bretheren." When I asked what that meant, I was told, do you see any of the GA's or Profits wearing facial hair?
The clear message was that the more similar you looked/acted like the big guys, the more righteous you were.
Jesus also drank wine, associated with the "wrong" crowd, and was against folks using religion to make money... obviously there is need for an example of "righteousness" that is more in line with the LDS narative. Afterall, if Christ was really the examplar mormons claim he is to them, then the church would not look or function the way it does today.
LonelyHusband Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Jesus also drank wine, associated with the "wrong" > crowd, and was against folks using religion to > make money... obviously there is need for an > example of "righteousness" that is more in line > with the LDS narative. Afterall, if Christ was > really the examplar mormons claim he is to them, > then the church would not look or function the way > it does today.
Just me, but I never heard anything in Christianity, Mormonism, (the religions of the majority of my life) that one was to be like Jesus during his time, in how they dressed, or facial hair, etc. Is that Biblical? If so, I must have forgotten.
My comment about “the church would not look or function the way it does today” was not about beards. I was speaking more metaphorically. You know, like how the bishop’s storehouse is only available to you if you pay your tithing, you’re shunned if you dress differently, or listen to NPR… I was being a bit flippant, you’re right we are not supposed to physically look like Jesus, so why then is there pressure to look a certain way at all?
and oh my gosh, he looks gorgeous. He has a real baby face without it but with a beard ... YUM! I really like beards on guys so he gets told he's gorgeous by me a lot. I'm pretty sure he likes that much, much more than he likes the beard itself. My mom said the beard was OK but he better not shave it into a goatee because she's scared of guys with goatees. Go figure.
My favorite beard story was when the bishop's wife made a comment about facial hair and I flippantly replied, "Man, I'm glad DH has a beard - I'd hate it if he got stuck in a bishopric. I'm going to make sure he never shaves it." Yeah, it was a bit thoughtless of me - I really wasn't thinking about what I was saying. But the look on her face was priceless. I don't think it ever occurred to her that people weren't envious of her, being married to a BISHOP. That some people didn't want that dubious status distinction and would actively take steps to avoid what she considered a huge personal achievement for her family. Weird.
They may be more tolerant for nobodies in the church, but in order for you to serve in a calling for Bishop or higher or attend BYU the facial hair has to go