For those of you who like us get challenged by Catholiscism and Christianity or are young and your parents stand against you getting dreads well this page will arm you to the teeth and is irrefutable! ENJOY!!
CHRISTIANITY DREADLOCK HISTORY
The very earliest Christians also wore this hairstyle. Descriptions of James the Just, "brother of Jesus" and first Bishop of Jerusalem, who “wore them to his ankles”. We also suspect its because of how he lived that gave the reputation to many of Dreads being Dirty, when in fact since before the time of John The Baptist they have been the symbol of Holiness! consecration to the lord and cleanliness! hence BAPTISM! (to annoint and clean with water)
however it is verses like this about James the less, a.ka James the Just that has earned dreads this reputation
"James, the Lord's brother, succeeds to the government of the Church in conjunction with the Apostles. He has been universally called 'the Just,' from the days of the Lord down to the present time. For many bore the name of James; but this one was holy from his mother's womb. He drank no wine or other intoxicating liquor, nor did he eat flesh' no razor came upon; his head; he did not anoint himself with oil, nor make use of the bath. He alone was permitted to enter the Holy Place: for he did not wear any woolen garment, but fine linen only. He alone, I say, was want to go into the Temple: and he used to be found kneeling on his knees, begging forgiveness for the people' so that the skin of his knees became horny like that of a camel's, by reason of his constantly bending the knee in adoration to God, and begging forgiveness for the people. Therefore, in consequence of his pre-eminent justice, he was called the Just, and Oblias, which signifies in Greek 'Defense of the People,' and 'Justice,' in accordance with what the prophets declare concerning him" [fragments from Hegesippus' Five Books of Commentaries on the Acts of the Church, Ante-Nicene Fathers, volume 8, page 762. Also see: Eusebius, Church History, 2.23.5 quoted in The Early Church Fathers volume I page 79].Solomon, Samuel, Daniel, Ezekiel, Absalom, John the Baptist, St Paul, and probably the most famous biblical figure with undeniably dreadlocked hair, Samson, who, according to scripture, had seven locks which were the source of his Herculean strength. Read on for the complete information.
The word used for “Nazarite” is based upon the Hebrew verb “rzn”, transliterated as “Nazar”, which means “to dedicate, consecrate, and separate”. It is commonly used to indicate that someone is living as a Nazarite. The Hebrew “ryzn”, noun transliterated as “Naziyr” means “consecrated or devoted one” - it also means “untrimmed”, as in a vine. the greatest physical sign of this was their DREADLOCKS!!
Nazarites seek to be seperated from earthly desires and seek out the lord, it is the Nazarites that gave us a philosophy that in this day and age is used, from T.V and radio through to Rap songs!
"Man is a universe within himself. Don't gain the world and lose your soul"We start with Manoah in terms of recorded history however we will leave him till we get to Samson
The second most famous Nazarite of all time was of course JOHN THE BAPTIST! a factor that modern churches and sermons overlook, Why?, because in this modern politically correct age as well as an age where dreads are associated with hippies and weed, the church cant be seen to align itself with this. However like it or not John the Baptist was Dreadlocked and we know this not from John but from the New Testament, the book of Mathew
" as they drew near to the river Jordan, on the shore they came upon him, John The Baptist, his clothes were made of camel's hair and skin, and a belt of leather around his waist. His bushy wild locks of hair run the course of his back. His food was locusts and wild honey"(Matt 3:4).”
John was an Essene-Nazarite, SO WAS JESUS! it is highly likely that he too had dreads atleast for some period, after all he observed all the other Nazarite vows and declared his intentions shortly prior to his crucifixion as evidenced in the following
The practice of a Nazarite vow is part of the ambiguity of the Greek term "Nazarene"[25] that appears in the New Testament; the sacrifice of a lamb and the offering of bread does suggest a relationship with Christian symbolism (then again, these are the two most frequent offerings prescribed in Leviticus, so no definitive conclusions can be drawn). While a saying in (Matthew 11:18-19 and Luke 7:33-35) are attributed to Jesus, makes it doubtful that he, reported to be "a winebibber", was a Nazarite during his ministry, the verse ends with the curious statement, "But wisdom is justified of all her children". The ad vocation of the ritual consumption of wine as part of the Eucharist, the tevilah in Mark 14:22-25 indicated he kept this aspect of the Nazarite vow when Jesus said, "Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God." The ritual with which Jesus commenced his ministry (recorded via Greek as "Baptism") and his vow in Mark 14:25 and Luke 22:15-18 at the end of his ministry, do respectively reflect the final and initial steps (purification by immersion in water (conducted by John the Baptist his first cousin!) and abstaining from wine) inherent in a Nazarite vow. These passages may indicate that Christ intended to identify himself as a Nazarite ("not drinking the fruit of vine") before his crucifixion.[26]
people find it hard to believe but not the Rasta's!.. think about it... we all see depictions of Christ as white skinned, beautiful brushed soft silky hair etc, but how real is this? He was Middle Eastern by birth! He and all others were born in the middle of a Desert! All his family and Ancestors were at least olive skinned but Christ our lord was white? combs did not exist before the 15th Century! So how was Jesus's hair so nice and pristine when everyone else's was wild, thick, bushy and black! and in Nazareth (land of Nazarites since it was given to them [The Dreadlocked Nazarenes] by Joshua after the time of Moses) had Dreadlocks! Like John The Baptist, James the Just, Joseph father of jesus (for 300 days) john the baptist's father also had dreads for 300 days
Rastafari are enlightened in as much as they don’t believe the sanctified hype and have even gone as far as to depict what the last supper may have actually looked like!! As well as a probable depiction of Christ our lord before the official sanitization process that began in the middle ages and ended in the early 1970’s. ENJOY!
Now we come to Manoah!
Judges 13. “A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. 3 The angel of the LORD appeared to her and said, "You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son. 4 Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, 5 because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazarite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines."
So who was the son? Manoah was the father of SAMSON
we all know the story of Samson and Delilah and of her betrayal but how and why did she betray him??
“He then falls in love with a woman, Delilah, at the Brook of Sorek. [The Philistines approach Delilah and induce her (with 1100 silver coins(Shekels) each) to try to find the secret of Samson's strength. Samson, not wanting to reveal the secret, teases her, telling her that he will lose his strength should he be bound with fresh bowstrings. She does so while he sleeps, but when he wakes up he snaps the strings. She persists, and he tells her he can be bound with new ropes. She ties him up with new ropes while he sleeps, and he snaps them, too. She asks again, and he says he can be bound if his LOCKS are woven together. She weaves them together, but he undoes them when he wakes. Eventually Samson tells Delilah that If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man (Judges 16:17) I will lose my strength with the loss of my Locks. Delilah calls for a servant to shave Samson's Seven locks. (Judges 16:18) "She lay him on her knees to sleep, and called for the man, and she shaved the seven LOCKS of his hair, and began to torture him; his strength was removed from him." Since that breaks the Nazarite oath, God leaves him, and Samson is captured by the Philistines"
Later on when Samson was restored again various scriptures record how god caused his seven long locks to grow forth once again, instantaneously just before he destroys the city and dies within the rubble.This is not the only evidence, it is written how Samson’s locks of 7 made great noise as they clashed together when he fought the lion. His locks are clearly visible in this 16th century depiction of the fight.
Judges 13. “A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. 3 The angel of the LORD appeared to her and said, "You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son. 4 Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, 5 because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazarite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines."
So who was the son? Manoah was the father of SAMSON
we all know the story of Samson and Delilah and of her betrayal but how and why did she betray him??
“He then falls in love with a woman, Delilah, at the Brook of Sorek. [The Philistines approach Delilah and induce her (with 1100 silver coins(Shekels) each) to try to find the secret of Samson's strength. Samson, not wanting to reveal the secret, teases her, telling her that he will lose his strength should he be bound with fresh bowstrings. She does so while he sleeps, but when he wakes up he snaps the strings. She persists, and he tells her he can be bound with new ropes. She ties him up with new ropes while he sleeps, and he snaps them, too. She asks again, and he says he can be bound if his LOCKS are woven together. She weaves them together, but he undoes them when he wakes. Eventually Samson tells Delilah that If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man (Judges 16:17) I will lose my strength with the loss of my Locks. Delilah calls for a servant to shave Samson's Seven locks. (Judges 16:18) "She lay him on her knees to sleep, and called for the man, and she shaved the seven LOCKS of his hair, and began to torture him; his strength was removed from him." Since that breaks the Nazarite oath, God leaves him, and Samson is captured by the Philistines"
Later on when Samson was restored again various scriptures record how god caused his seven long locks to grow forth once again, instantaneously just before he destroys the city and dies within the rubble.This is not the only evidence, it is written how Samson’s locks of 7 made great noise as they clashed together when he fought the lion. His locks are clearly visible in this 16th century depiction of the fight.
parallels exist and academics posit that the biblical stories are just middle eastern versions of the Greek, Roman and Egyptian myths of old. Hence Samson (Samshum) is the Hebrew word or name for Hercules, therefore Hercules (Who was a real man this is an undisputed fact, his powers are disputed though) had Dreads. this biblical fight with the lion is equivalent to Hercules's Second Labour, the Nemean Lion.
Nazarite vows were not just a pre-Christian practice. The apostle Paul, a man who wrote much of the New Testament, took a Nazarite vow on occasion (Acts 18:18, 21:22-26) (see also On The Road To Damascus and Paul's First Missionary Journey and Paul's Second Missionary Journey and Paul's Third Missionary Journey).
Nazarite vows were not just a pre-Christian practice. The apostle Paul, a man who wrote much of the New Testament, took a Nazarite vow on occasion (Acts 18:18, 21:22-26) (see also On The Road To Damascus and Paul's First Missionary Journey and Paul's Second Missionary Journey and Paul's Third Missionary Journey).