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You name the issue, and various groups of Christians have probably disagreed.
Theological quarrels have erupted over stained glass vs. clear windows, organs vs. pianos, wine vs. Welch’s, and the King James Version vs. everything else.
Church leaders have even threatened to banish each other over beards.
During Christianity’s earliest centuries, grooming policies represented one of the clearest proofs that East and West were going in different directions. Eastern Orthodox clergy wore full beards – a traditional sign of spiritual devotion. Roman Catholic priests were clean shaven – a public way of saying, “Don’t ever confuse us with those guys.”
The war over whiskers kicked into high gear, however, during the Protestant Reformation of the 1500s.
Leading Protestant luminaries such as John Calvin, Martin Luther, and John Knox let their facial hair grow long, knowing full well that beards represented an act of defiance against Rome.
Pope Paul IV (1555-1559) pushed back, declaring that external appearance reflected internal conformity. Beards became a battleground.
The pope (who had formerly helped lead the Inquisition) insisted that clerical beards suggested sympathy with Protestant heretics. Shaving became a spiritual discipline. Reluctant monks were ordered to comply. Rebels who refused to purchase Gillette Mach 3’s were threatened with excommunication. That meant losing both vocation and salvation.
The irony, of course, is that first century Jewish males all wore full beards. Jesus and his apostles would not have been exceptions.
After the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), facial hair finally ceased to be a theological issue. The ban was banned. Although most American priests continue to shave as a nod to tradition, Catholic clergy in Africa and Latin America, in particular, have been relieved that the supernatural is no longer needlessly entangled with the superficial.
So, who was actually right all those years during the battle of the beards?
Without exception, the various sides – East and West, Catholics and Protestants – believed they were honoring God. And all the sides were fairly certain that the other sides were outrageously wrong.
The Bible has something to say about that.
When the apostle Paul wrote his letter to the young church at Rome, the battle amongst believers concerned beef, not beards. Some Christians thought it was good and right to eat meat, even if it had been offered to idols. Others were horrified at the very thought.
Paul declared in Romans 14:3, “The person who eats everything must not look down on the person who does not, and the person who does not eat everything must not condemn the person who does.” Why? “For God has accepted him.”
Paul is saying that whatever is on your dinner table isn’t going to make or break your relationship with God.
Two verses later, he adds this: “One person considers one day more sacred than another; another person considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.”
One of the Bible’s best-kept secrets is its teaching that there are a number of issues – issues that are not central to Christian theology or ethics – where I can think one thing, and you can think just the opposite, and we can both be right and blessed by God.
We can both be right about whether secular tunes should be “in” or “out” at worship. We can take genuinely different approaches to “good parenting,” and both end up raising healthy kids. We can come to different conclusions about interpreting Genesis, which political party more accurately represents God’s desires, and whether or not every business should join Chick-Fil-A and close its doors on Sunday.
So what do we do when we have such disagreements? We choose to do what God does: We accept each other.
As we noted in a recent reflection, the word “accept” comes from the Latin words ad capere, which means, “to take to oneself.” Strange as it may seem, offering acceptance to another human being is actually a form of receiving.
If I accept you, it doesn’t mean that I agree with all of your opinions about every subject. It does mean that I welcome you into my circle of care and concern. I take you and your interests – even though you think differently – to myself.
All too often, that spirit is hard to find.
Christian circles can be tainted by a winner-takes-all mentality. God wants me to come out on top because God has assured me that I am right. And that means it’s time for you to get in line with the truth – which means coming around to my way of seeing things.
Paul, to his everlasting credit, is having none of it.
He wraps things up in Romans 14:13: “Therefore, let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother or sister’s way.”
It’s time to ditch the I’m-right-and-I-know-it attitude when it comes to non-essential matters.
Like the Christians in Rome, we can discover that next Sunday morning’s preacher may be bearded – or not – and it can still end up being a great sermon.