Are we instructed in the Bible anywhere to keep ourselves lookin good to our spouses? I seem to think there are or that it says something about it somewhere but my husband does not. We were talking the other day about beards. I caann't stand it when he grew a beard/. It just looked awful. Its thin an scraggly anyway and until it was longer, totaly looked see thru...ick! Also we were looking at a book that had pic of monks at St. Catherine's monestery and they had like chest length neards. He admires men with beards. I think they are gross and only look decent if they are neatly trimmed--ie. short--and grown in full--you know not scraggly or unevenly distributed across the face.....I told him that i think that a man should take his wife's opinion of his appearance into consideration before adapting his appearance so drastically...His thing is that Since the beginning of Chrisitanily men have worn beards and it was taught that men should have them. Early on, it was only the pagan men that shaved, but obviously styles have changed and it is uite common now. He feels tht men should have beards as was taught in the early curch and I just don't think that it is so necessary. I think that we should consider our spouses when we make changes to our pysical appearance, but he doesn't think that we are commanded to do so and that it really isn't important. What is important is the spirit and your endeavors to be obedient to God. He conpromised and shaved off the dead raccoon and left a goatee..

It seems that I read once that we are to make ourselves attractive to our spouses, but I cannot remember where. Is that so or am I just making it up??

I don't know if there are actual instructions in the Bible in regards to keeping up our appearances. Especially if it's in regards to cosmetic things like how we keep our clothes, make-up, or facial hair.

However, I do think that it's a simple matter of courtesy to try to look our best for our spouses. I think that it's completely unfair when a spouse just allows themselves to look as unattractive as possible.

I know that, for me, when I go out I want people to look at me and say, "Oh... there goes Damali's husband. Look at him! She's a lucky girl!" I don't want people feeling sorry for her when they see me.

On a side note, it sounds (from this and past threads) that your husband likes to pick and choose when he's going to apply old Biblical concepts to the decisions he makes.

This is not necessarily a just a biblical concept-It was taught by the early Christians that men should keep beards. Since our church believes the same things that were taught 2000 years ago and has tracable roots to Christ himself and the apostles...he feels that he should keep with that teaching. Technically it is still taught that men should grow the beard, but in our modern society people haven't held to that as closely. I just don't like beards. If he had his way he would grow it out like this:



(This is an Orthodox monk)

Argh. Your husband frustrates ME and I haven't even met him. It sounds like he is always thinking of himself first....