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In our ward (read "congregation") There are two men with long hair. That would be me, a red-blonde middle aged fellow with Norwegian genes, and another fellow who is Native American. No one questions his hair, of course, but it seems a major issue that I have long hair. Mormons cherish the clean-cut look, as most know.. I am growing my hair because I want to, not for social reasons. Interesting, though.. My Viking ancestors wore thiers long just like Indians, so why don't people think of it in the same way, as an expression of culture?
i am mostly of British blood but my ancestors wore their hair long as well i wouldnt worry about what other ppl think they can go to hell lol
Don't Mormons also value ancestry? Perhaps you should bring up your Viking heritage up with those who have issues with your hair length. On a side note, the same Mormans who prefer clean-cut males, also have a preference for long hair on females. I rarely see a Morman female with anything shorter than shoulderlength, and young girls wear their hair way down their backs. That same sort of hypocrisy shows up among fundamentalist and many evangelical congregations too. It's that darn passage by Paul to the Corinthians, which has been widely missinterpreted.
Carol
" Perhaps you should bring up your Viking heritage up with those who have issues with your hair "
I have tried that numerous times.....It don't work....lol
a.
Ignoring the intolerant is your last resort. It is, after all, their problem, not yours. God surely has no problem, or He wouldn't have given us the ability to grow it so long. Terminal would have been at 1 or 2 inches. My theological opinion for the day, and I'm sticking to it! :-)
Carol
You go girl!
I know that you are right. If God didn't want humans to have long hair, etc,,, then we wouldn't have it.
jeffrey
It's a curious thing that people view long hair as cultural for Native Americans and not for us Northern Europeans. At the time our two cultures first made contact most of us still had somewhat long hair too. What distinguished them from us was more their lack of beard hair, the length of their hair being fairly unremarkable at the time.
But now, you are seen as part of the mainstream culture, and short hair is seen as part of that. To them, you are not 'ethnic'.
That can really vary by subculture. I was raised Mormon and many people always assumed that my long hair was related to this in some way. In fact, all of the other women in my family wore their hair quite short - between pixie and bob length. Having somewhere between classic and knee-length hair when I left the church at 18, I was already feeling pressure from people who felt my length was just a little too weird and extreme, even though long hair on women is supposedly encouraged.
Above all, Mormons do tend to place very high value on appearing "respectable" in the world and they are highly motivated to conform to a standardized "acceptable" appearance. If the societal standard in the world for successful businessmen and male politicians were to wear shoulder-length ponytails, then I'd bet you dollars to donuts that you'd see Mormon men sporting the sleekest and shiniest ponytails you ever did see! ;)
Hi, Dianyla. Good to see you over here.
Alun
Hey, nice to see you too! :D
I personally think that religion is Satan's finest work. You will never find God in a man made religion. I suggest that you find God on your own and grow your hair as you please.
jeffrey
Hello Jeff, the 1895 book by John Uri Lloyd, beautifully illustrated w/ B and W paintings commissioned especially forit, "Etidorhpa", is a favorite "secret" novel whose main two protagonists are Mormon. Link of an illustrated page attached. They're longish and longer haired. Granted, you may be referencing looooong hair as opposed to longish, but, hey, I rest my case.
I'm Scots-Irish a/k/a/ Ulster Scots, French-Canadian, English, German (my mother's side is exclusively from Thuringen, Germany), and a dollop of an extinct Northeastern Woodland Indian nation-tribe, the Aquewung.
I'm sure "we" jus' started to cut our hair short in the later half o/t 19th c.
http://holloworbs.com/Etidorchapter_xiii.htm
That page from ''Etidorhpa'' w/t illustration . . .
LOOK UP ORRIN PORTER ROCKWELL THE AVENGING ANGEL. HE WAS TOLD TO NEVER CUT HIS HAIR OR SHAVE AND HE WOULD NEVER BE INJURED.