Hairdo's and Don'ts in the Bible

Our scripture scholar answers your questions about braided hair, witchcraft, Jesus' bankroll, and more.

BY: Ben Witherington

Continued from page 2

Why are there two stories of creation?

The creation story in Genesis 1 gives the general overview of all God's creative work. The story in Genesis 2 is not an alternate version of the story but rather a close-up focusing particularly on the creation of man and woman in the image of God.

What race was Jesus? Some believe that He was African American or white. The Bible talks about him having hair like wool, and I believe that He was African American.

Jesus was a first-century Jew, and so neither black nor white, but rather a Middle Eastern person. His mother Mary was a Jew from Nazareth in Galilee, not an African. The fact that Jesus' family fled into exile in Africa briefly to escape the wrath of King Herod tells us nothing about his genetic heritage or appearance.

You are perhaps thinking of the "white as wool" passage in Revelation 1:14, which is most likely an allusion to Jesus. However, it is based on the description of God in Daniel 7:9, and certainly the author of Daniel was not thinking of an African genetic trait. In any event, in antiquity both Semitic and African peoples were known for their 'wooly' or tightly curled hair.

During the first century A.D., Mithraism is the dominant faith in the places Paul travels to. Is it not probable that early Christianity was mirrored after this pagan faith in order to gain new converts?

Mithraism was indeed a rather popular religion in the first century A.D., but there is no evidence that it influenced early Christian practice or doctrine at all. Early Christianity was a development out of early Judaism. It is indebted to the various forms of early Judaism, not to pagan religions.

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Faiths

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