Real Men Do Not Shave Electric!
What kind of title is this, you might wonder. Do I have something against people who shave electrically?
Absolutely not.
This discussion is about purism: the insistence on traditional canons of correctness of form or purity of style or content. It's about strict adherence to particular concepts, rules, or ideals of form, style, etc., either as formulated by the artist or as dictated by a school with which the artist is allied.
Consider men and fathers, about 50% of the human race that developed the wonderful country I'm allowed to live in. The other 50% were the women these men lived with and were made one with. Purists are people who strictly adhere to particular concepts, rules, and ideals, as formulated by our God Almighty.
This is not a discourse advocating that we should not shave because Moses didn't, or that we should all start shaving with a straight edge. It's really not about shaving, electric or otherwise. The title is about slogans that box us in and force us into certain behaviors.
In the city of Austin, not far from us, you see an increasing number of bike paths and bicycle stores. Why?
A certain group of people have invested effort and money into the statement that riding a bicycle is healthier and overall better than driving a car. True, but in Austin, perhaps not as much as in London, these bicyclists, seeking health, ride amidst traffic and fumes of gasoline and diesel. In London, where I lived for 26 weeks of the year, colleagues who rode their bicycles to work wore special face masks. When they removed these masks, the soot and deposits on their faces were evident.
So, is pedaling healthier than sitting in a car, or is it more dangerous?
Another example: Margarine became popular in the early 1900s, overtaking butter in popularity by the 1950s. By 1960, heart disease became our number one killer. Is this a coincidence? Margarine, a hydrogenated oil, is a main cause of heart disease and atherosclerosis, not butter, contrary to what the American Heart Association might suggest. Due to trans-fatty acids, margarine is correlated with more heart disease than any other food, including butter.
Throughout the centuries, people have enjoyed tobacco. In the 1920s, Philip Morris began advertising filtered cigarettes with a red-colored band to women, implying that filtered cigarettes were healthier and feminine. Now, nearly a century later, what is found in most of these cigarettes bears little resemblance to real Virginia tobacco, all thanks to image consultants, advertising agencies, and gullible consumers. A cigarette can contain up to 599 ingredients – why is that?
You might be wondering why I am discussing all these things and what they have to do with the statement that approximately 50% of the founders of this country were men, and 50% were women.
Ah, that is the PURE truth that comes out of God's word. The Creator gave men and women dominion over the land and the animals. Adam and Eve were 50% of mankind – men and women. This fact cannot be changed, warped, twisted, transformed, trans-fatted, additified, or altered for profit.
Puritans
Many of those who came to our wonderful country were Puritans.
The Puritans were a group of people who grew discontent in the Church of England and worked towards religious, moral, and societal reforms. The writings and ideas of John Calvin, a leader in the Reformation, gave rise to Protestantism and were pivotal to the Christian revolt. They believed the Church of England had become a product of political struggles and man-made doctrines. The Puritans, one branch of dissenters, decided that the Church of England was beyond reform. Escaping persecution from church leadership and the King, they came to America.
The Puritans believed the Bible was God's true law and provided a plan for living. They contended that access to God was only possible within the confines of "church authority." Puritans stripped away the traditional trappings and formalities of Christianity, which had been building for the previous 1500 years, in an attempt to "purify" the church and their lives.
Most Puritans settled in the New England area. As they immigrated and formed individual colonies, their numbers rose from 17,800 in 1640 to 106,000 in 1700. Their society was founded on religious exclusiveness. Their spiritual beliefs were strong, permeating their entire society and laws. Each church congregation and individual was personally responsible to God. The New Testament was their model, and their devotion was so great that it influenced their entire society. People of opposing theological views were either asked to leave the community or convert.
Their interpretation of the scriptures was harsh. They emphasized redemptive piety, focusing on conversion rather than repression. However, while repression was not encouraged in principle, it was evident in their actions. They believed God could forgive anything, but man could only forgive by seeing a change in behavior. Actions spoke louder than words, so actions had to be constantly controlled.
Today, we don't find many Puritans. Some groups, like the Amish, Ana-Baptists, and some Mennonites, have moved or stayed out of modern life, but they are not like the original Puritans.
So, should we be like the Puritans, going back to pure biblical roots?
No, and yes. We should adhere to our biblical roots, but we don't need to be like the Puritans. How, then, should we live our lives? That is the question. The truth is only in the word of God and in the history of God's people.
We can learn a lot from what happened to God's people, the people of Israel, the people of Judah. But often, we read these stories as mere history, not as direct life lessons. Then, suddenly, there is a revival, and people start to see the importance of the Lord's word and actions in their lives.
After many kings who turned to idol worship, there came a young man after God's own heart, as we can read in
2 Kings 18:1-7a:
"In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abi daughter of Zechariah. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.) Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook."
Israel and Judah were torn to pieces, and large sums of tribute were given to Assyria, including even the temple's gold and food. Idols were placed in high places, and God's temple was transformed into a place for these idols. During this time, God was not in the forefront of the people's lives, resulting in their suffering and struggle.
Hezekiah, who was miraculously saved from being sacrificed to Moloch, witnessed his brother being thrown into the fire of Moloch. His grandfather, Zechariah, was taken prisoner or exiled. However, this man of God was not a role model in the young boy's life. Hezekiah became king at the age of 25, and it was then that he was reunited with his grandfather and God's law.
History often repeats itself in human nature. In the fourteenth year of his reign, Hezekiah did not trust in the Lord's power but relied on his own. This moment marks a significant point in Hezekiah's life and reign, reflecting the ongoing struggle between human self-reliance and divine guidance. It serves as a reminder of the importance of faith and humility, especially for those in positions of power and influence.
In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong. Depart from me; what you put on me I will bear.” And the king of Assyria exacted of Hezekiah king of Judah 300 talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house. Then Hezekiah stripped off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the doorposts which he, as king of Judah, had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh [the high officials] from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem with a great army. They went up to Jerusalem, and when they arrived, they came and stood by the canal of the Upper Pool, which is on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. When they called for the king, there came out to them Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the king’s household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder. (2 Kings 18:13-18, Amplified Bible)
Then, as you can imagine, the Lord removed His anointing from the king, and the kingdom went into disarray again until the coming of an 8-year-old king named Josiah. Josiah was eight years old when he began his thirty-one-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Jedidah, daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. He did right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the ways of David, his [forefather], and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. (2 Kings 22:1-2, Amplified Bible)
The wonderful story we read in these great pieces of history is a story of redemption; it is a story of the Heavenly Father welcoming back His children when they went astray. The Heavenly Father has set rules to live by, and when repentance is given, the temple is being restored; God will take His seat back in the Holy of Holiest. We can see that redemption in the first Letter to the Corinthians. A call to be pure and to live to the likings and standards of God.
“Don’t you know that people who are unjust won’t inherit God’s kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Those who are sexually immoral, those who worship false gods, adulterers, both participants in same-sex intercourse, thieves, the greedy, drunks, abusive people, and swindlers won’t inherit God’s kingdom. That is what some of you used to be! But you were washed clean, you were made holy to God, and you were made right with God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. I have the freedom to do anything, but not everything is helpful. I have the freedom to do anything, but I won’t be controlled by anything. Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, and yet God will do away with both. The body isn’t for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. God has raised the Lord and will raise us through his power. Don’t you know that your bodies are parts of Christ? So then, should I take parts of Christ and make them a part of someone who is sleeping around? No way! Don’t you know that anyone who is joined to someone who is sleeping around is one body with that person? The scripture says, ‘The two will become one flesh.’ The one who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. Avoid sexual immorality! Every sin that a person can do is committed outside the body, except those who engage in sexual immorality commit sin against their own bodies. Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you? Don’t you know that you have the Holy Spirit from God, and you don’t belong to yourselves? You have been bought and paid for, so honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-20, Common English Bible)
So, with all of that said, fathers, men, and men to be, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit; it is the dwelling place of God Almighty within you. Treat your body as a temple; when you are married, you are one with your wife, treat her as a temple. The place where you live, treat it as a temple; have all of this be pure and dedicated to the Lord.
Joshua, another man after God's heart, said it when he addressed the struggles of his days with the gods that were brought into the society he lived in. “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15, New International Version 1984)
Thus in closing
When God's house is your house.
When your body is God's house.
When your family is God's family, to that you promised God to take full responsibility for what has been given to you by Him: your own life, your wife, your children, your grandchildren?
Men, have you promised to protect them, to serve them, to teach them these truths of God, are you the spiritual leader of your home?
Are you faithful to your wife, and do you love and honor her, are you willing to put down your life for her, as Christ laid down His life for the church?
Do you bless your wife, your children, your grandchildren?
Do you train those under your influence to respect authority, to live responsibly, to confront evil, to pursue justice, and love mercy?
Are you praying for others and treating others with kindness, respect, and compassion? Do you work to provide for the needs of your family?
Are you able to forgive those who wronged you, reconcile with them, learn from your mistakes, repent from your sin, and walk with integrity as a man answerable to God?
Do you seek to honor God, be faithful to His church, obey His word, and do His will?
When you are a man of God, you are able to walk with integrity, and in this integrity say, "Yes, I do" and "Yes, I will."
Advertisement and slick image consultancy do not influence your decisions because you ARE a man after God's own heart.
Amen.
