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Contradictions Debunked Immoral Evidence Silly Debate

Contradictions Debunked Immoral Evidence Silly Debate

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Is it OK for men to have long hair? · Apolog

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ContradictionsReading order 195Bible context 3 min read

Is it OK for men to have long hair?

Uncut hair marks dedication in some passages, while Paul treats male long hair as shameful and Ezekiel requires priests to keep it trimmed.

Textual conflict: Interpretive tension; The passages pull in different directions, but the conflict depends on how their wording, scope, or narrative context is read.
Importance: Major; A major event or claim with wider implications.

Paul's general claim that male long hair is shameful conflicts with its divinely required use in consecration, although different roles have different rules.

An editorial assessment of the quoted passages. Importance describes the stakes; it does not increase certainty. Reading order weighs both.

PreviousHow should adulterers be punished? NextShould we follow our own hearts?

Religious vows require allowing hair to grow uncut

All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.

Numbers 6:5

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Numbers 6

For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.

Judges 13:5

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Judges 13

PreviousHow should adulterers be punished? NextShould we follow our own hearts?

And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.

1 Samuel 1:11

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:1 Samuel 1

Long hair is declared shameful for a man

Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?

1 Corinthians 11:14

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:1 Corinthians 11

Zadok's priests must trim hair without shaving or growing it long

But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God: They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge. And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within. They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat. And when they go forth into the utter court, even into the utter court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments; and they shall not sanctify the people with their garments. Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads.

Ezekiel 44:15-20

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Ezekiel 44

Understanding the contradiction

Numbers 6:5 requires the person under a separation vow to let hair grow and forbids a razor during the vow. Judges 13:5 applies lifelong uncut hair to the promised male child. 1 Corinthians 11:14 instead claims that nature teaches long hair is a shame for a man.

That appeal to nature sounds broader than a local grooming preference and conflicts with long hair functioning as a divinely required sign of male dedication. Ezekiel 44:15-20 gives a third standard for Zadok's priests: neither shave nor let locks grow long, but trim them. Different roles can carry different rules, so Ezekiel's priestly instruction does not directly prohibit a Nazirite's separate vow. The strongest tension is Paul's general judgment of shame against a practice specifically required for consecrated men.

Topics

contradictionNumbersJudges1 Samuel1 CorinthiansEzekiel

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