When I grew up in the 1960’s, every boy that was respectable, and had respectable parents, had a crew cut. A crew cut is basically short hair that does not need combing but maybe once a day when you get out of the shower. Other than that, no other attention is needed. Then, with the hippie movement of the late sixties and seventies, long hair came in, blurring the established rules in our society of hair cuts for men. The trend then became longer hair for men. Sometimes it was, and still is, hard to distinguish gender based on hair length.
Genesis 1:4
And God saw the light, that it was good:and God divided the light from the darkness.
When God created this world he divided things. Things like light and darkness, dry land and sea and male and female. He set boundaries for the earth and sky. Everything in creation was in order with separations and boundaries. Each animal was divided by species, fowl vs fish, etc. God was, and still is, a God of distinction and order.
Genesis 2:16
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die
Because God had given man “free will” (the ability to make his own choices), there had to be choices. If God had created man with choice, but paradise without choice, what would be the purpose? Choice would need to have consequences to make it a “choice”. If we are deciding to use red paint or blue paint, the choice is still paint. A real choice has consequences and so God placed an “out of bounds” tree in the garden. There were many trees that God had planted; trees that were pleasant to the sight and desirable, including the tree of life. There was only one tree that God forbid and set “out of bounds” of man; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Its fruit was mixed by being both “good and evil.” There was no distinction.
2 Corinthians 6:14
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers:for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness
The fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil represents mixed or blurred lines. Where does good end and evil begin? What part of evil has good in it? The Chinese philosophy, Yin and Yang, represents this idea. The symbol kind of looks like two tadpoles, one white and the other black. The black one has a white eye and the white one has a black eye. The philosophy basically states that all good has some evil in it, all evil has some good in it. This mind-set is found in every culture. A lot of movies carry this theme with dark heroes that do good, or good characters balancing “the force”.
2 Chronicles 33:1
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem: But did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord…he (Manasseh) caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom
Manasseh was considered one of the most evil kings in the history of Judah. The reason Manasseh was considered so evil was because he allowed, or promoted, the worship of Molech, a god of prosperity. This worship was described as making his children walk through the fire. This practice was an abomination to God. It involved sacrificing the first born child in fire, so the parents would be assured prosperity for the new year. Legend has it that the prophet Isaiah was sawed in half at Manasseh’s orders. There were other prophets in Judah at the time of Isaiah, but they were on the king’s payroll, and would not say anything negative about what he was doing.
Proverbs 14:24
Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
If you look and consider, every person, nation or society, rises or falls based on their ability to distinguish good from evil. If human life is sacred and good, then murder is evil and should never be accepted as good. If treating others as we want to be treated (the Golden rule) is good, then mistreatment of anyone is evil.
Proverbs 20:10
Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the Lord.
There are thousands of injustices in our world that deal with good and evil. Some things that start out as good somehow become evil. Insurance is good, and has good qualities. It helps to off-set losses from sickness, Injury or damage, but with divers (unjust) scales, a person without insurance is charged one thing, while a person with insurance is charged another.
2 Thessalonians 3:10
For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat
Poverty used to be defined as when someone did not have basic necessities of life: food clothing and shelter. Now, it has to do with technology, cell phones or cable. Fairness has blurred the lines of the benefits of productivity and hard work. Having a job is good. It teaches life skills and creativity that leads to building wealth. Now, because of government assistance, jobs are not needed and there are generations of unproductive people that never develop their true God-given potential.
Genesis 2:24
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife:and they shall be one flesh
Marriage is good and was set up at creation by God. It was set up to be an unbreakable bond (blood covenant) between man and wife. This becoming of one flesh, and the life-long commitment, would be the basic foundation of a healthy society. But, because of man’s “free will” in choosing what is good or evil, marriage has become so blurred that we no longer recognize it in its original meaning. Marriage has become a legal union or contract between two people that can be broken by a simple piece of paper. Because of the blurring of the meaning of marriage, the many foundations that kept our society healthy are no longer there.
Psalms 127:3
Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
Having children is good and is a gift from God. Yet, in our world they are considered a curse, a burden, something we become strapped with for at least eighteen years until child support is over. Because the foundational lines of family have been blurred, good becomes evil, and blessings become a curse. Children are now diminished or discarded, so they will not get in the way of our future happiness and prosperity.
Genesis 3:4
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil
When the serpent in the garden told Eve “you shall be as gods”, the idea was that she would know the difference between what is good and what is evil. How many times have we made a decision for good and then ran into unintended consequences of bad? How many good laws are passed, then we find out that evil lurks just underneath the surface? What one generation sees as good the next can see as evil. When did praying to our Creator become evil? When did saying “one Nation under God” become evil? Is racism ever good? Is utopia really a world with blurred family values? Are we better off as a society if we have no rules or boundaries?
In the 1960’s, pastors and priests were accepted at face value with blind faith and the words of the Bible were rarely questioned, Politicians, on the other hand, were always questioned with suspect. Adolf Hitler had left a bad memory for everyone. No one wanted to be led down the path of evil ever again. Now, this has reversed. Anything to do with the Bible, pastors or priests, are suspect. Politicians are now accepted with blind faith, leading us down the politically correct road of “good” that the last generation called evil.
Isaiah 1:18
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Isaiah wrote these word long before Manasseh was king. In his lifetime, Isaiah watched the Kingdom of Judah go from very good to very evil. If all the evil could be blamed on one king, the story would have a simple ending…. get rid of the king. The problem is that somebody had to follow the kings orders to sacrifice the children. Someone had to sharpen the saw that killed Isaiah. In all of us lies the capacity to do evil. If we rely on ourselves, we do not have the ability to distinguish between good and evil. The serpent lied to Eve. Eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil does not make us gods, it only makes us fools. God gave us a blueprint for His wisdom. As we continue on our journey, the Word of God is the only Truth we can depend on.
For the record, I hated crew cuts.