I have a question for the Evolutionist viewpoint verses the Creationist side: (or what the Moderators would say?)

A Hairy Problem for Evolution...
Why do men have beards and women do not?

Some 'evolutioary scientists' believe that that body-covering fur from ape-like ancestors was phased out because extra body fat added enough insultation. Or perhaps it was a response to incresed sunlight exposure, or because less hair led to fewer fleas, ticks, etc., etc.

These "explanations after the fact" still do not answer the original question of why only male humans have beards.

Do the Moderators have any ideas or suggestions for an answer to this question? Thank you, Abishag <><

As with most things which the goddess of natural selection cannot explain, this one'll be dumped off on the goddess of sexual selection. One could always google, but I'm confident enough in my evolutionology to speak first & google later.

It'll be claimed either men long ago preferred women without facial hair, or that women long ago preferred men with facial hair. The sexual selection goddess is overloaded trying to explain humans, for in some cases it's the males doing the selecting, but most of the time it's the females. In order to obtain consistent results, it'd have to be one or the other (and even then it doesn't really work if you think more than one or two thoughts about it). Darwin always preferred to claim women did all the selecting, and even females among the animals.

Don't expect a satisfactory answer. Do expect a weak chuckle. Really, why would females of a species which was previously indifferent all of a sudden take to having strong, particular preferences? And if they did, what good would it do them? Their competition, the "old fashioned" females would be quite happy about this idea, one expects.

Both men and women have facial hair. Female human's facial hair is typically very fine, short, sparse and light colored. I believe you will find some on your face if you look closely enough (I am assuming you are female...I apologize if this is incorrect). In some races, men have very sparse facial hair.

So, what is the creationist answer to this problem?
Why did God make male human's facial hair so much thicker, longer, fuller and darker?

Why isn't there a clean break between male and female human with regard to the facial hair?
Why do some women have darker and thicker hair on their face than other women and even some men?
If He intended for women to be beardless, why didn't God simply make it so there were no hair follicles on the face of women?

I can tell you that an increase in testosterone levels in men as they reach puberty causes the hair on their face to "mature" into a beard. Hormonal changes in women can cause their facial hair to become heaver and darker.
However, these facts don't really answer the questions of why the beard exists at all and why women have hair follicles on their face if the intent was to have beardless women.

Well, we ask why God did this or that. But why should God NOT do these things?

There are reasons for all this, and often becuase we don't know, it's put down to "bad design" or "pointless" "Non functional". Yet the more knowledge people get, the more they realise the reason and the function.

All these things are also a form of protection. Hair also catches dirt/dust. Why do we have eyebrows and eyelashes and body hair? It's a form of protection and insultation. Perhaps there are more functions, I don't know. I haven't made a study of it. Had we pores to sweat and eliminate toxins, but no hair, we would no doubt have more issues because hair also acts as a kind of barrier, catching onto various dust/dirt/particles. Probably far more than we know. Hair is there for a reason, not just "decoration".

Jesus Himself had a beard apparently.

Did men go out hunting more than women and require thicker hair as a result? Is it possible that this also came about after the fall, when men were required to work from the sweat of their brow? Or even later? Or perhaps it was there all along? I don't know the answer to everything because I wasn't there.

God would not have intended women to have "beards", because most of us don't (you get the exception of cause, but they are often an imbalance). But because women don't have beards, that does not mean God intended them to have no hair follicles on their face or anywhere else. Instead it is most often downy/soft/fair and barely visible, rather than coarse, and still provides a form of protection.

We must also remember that how it was in the beginning, to how it became after the fall would have been VERY different once sin entered the world. So we can't really KNOW for sure whether the first man walked around with a full beard or not.

There are PLENTY of cases of hormonal imbalances. Even just a "tilt" can cause an overproduction or underproduction. So it's not bad design at all, but we are reminded continually that we don't live in a perfect world, nor are we ourselves perfection. Defects are everywhere.

Take me for example. I grew up with an overproduction of body hair. I had to put up with thick/coarse/dark hair covering my arms and legs, even as a child. I was taunted for it quite often. "Ape" etc. Yet the rest of my family had no such problem. Why me? I have no idea. I still suffer this, but thankfully there are plenty of methods to remove it. I know there is an imbalance and that maybe why I suffer other health problems also. One thing can often lead to another.

God has His specific reasons for how He created male and female. I think He did a very good job too! It is not Him that made things imperfect - we can attribute that to sin entering the world as we were told. What that has to do with hair or no hair? Not alot, but imbalances do!

Thankyou CTD, LinearAq, and Bex,
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It would be consistent to think that it simply pleased the Creator to outfit humans and other creatures with certain visually appealing characteristics.

"But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him" (1 Corinthians 15:38).

In addition to this, and by His grace, God provided humans with the ability to recognize and appreciate beauty. Only with this ability can people give God proper credit fron inventing human beards, lion manes, peacock feathers, salmander spots, crustacean coloration,and the ultraviolet color patterns in deep sea fish (where there is no ultraviolet light). All these creatures could conceivably serve their purposes and be ugly, but instead they seem to have been uniquely adorned by a Master Artist.

A Creator God who appreciates beauty and wants others to appreciate His handiwork must be responsible for the origin of aesthetic features. Men have beards--some thick, some sparse--because it pleased God to adorn them so.

Since beards are routinely shaved, it seems there is no pragmataic biological function for them. Yet according to Darwinian evolution, nature selects individuals with novel, advantageous features. If, for vertebrates in general, "the developmental origin of hair is...mysterious" for evolution, then the specification of adrogenic hair on male humans is even more so.

On the other hand, if everything was created by a God who exists outside the physical world, there is a ready answer, one with broad application: beards present a certain appearance. Aesthetic features were emplaced by Someone who knew how things look in addition to how things work. Beards do not confer any selectable survival advantage to humankind, but they do serve to add distinction to men, perhaps as different features distinguish women.

Yes, Linear, deep in the brain, the hypothalamus produces surges of gonadotropin-releasing hormone, a small chemical that acts like a key to turn on the manufacture and export follicle-stinulation hormone and leutenizing hormone (LH) from the pituitary gland. A scientist might explain that men have beards because in males LH stimulataes testicular Leydig cells and other tissues to produce yet another hormone, testosterone. Hair follicles in cerain areas of the body build "androgenic hair," which includes beards.
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Once again, "But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him"(1 Corinthians 15:38).

"All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds." (vs.39)

ICR
Brian Thomas, M.S.

We must give all glory for His designing of mankind, to Him, and Him alone. We did not evolve from any ape-like mammal. Jehovah God made all mammals unique.
We (humans), were 'created in His own image, in the image of God , male and female created he them.' Genesis 1:27

Yes, Bex, hormonal imbalances do/can cause excess hair to grow on ones' (females) body. Thank you for sharing.

Have a blessed Resurrection Sunday in the Lord Jesus, Abishag <><

Yes, and mercury causes DHT to rise in both males and females.

High DHT in males causes hair to fall out/balding.

High DHT in famales causes body/facial hair to grow.

That's interesting Russ, because I was poisoned very early on. I believe in the womb.

Testing was done in my early twenties. It showed too much steroid hormone? Or something like that - high DHEA I think they said. And I was at the lower end for oestrogen, but still within the normal range. So he said it's not enough to treat me. He said something was causing it, but he did not know what. So he just said "maybe stress". He really couldn't explain what was going on.

A doctor specialising in mercury also did a test and found the same thing and he said "this is an indication that mercury maybe at work".

Hi, interesting discussion. Just adding a few thoughts really.

From an evolutionary standpoint, our ancestors were quite hairy. Maybe the question shouldn't be why we have hair, but why we seem to have lost so much of it. And as Linear said, this does vary quite a lot in different populations. The tops of our heads certainly would be vulnerable to UV from the sun and our hair there probably protects us, though that doesn't explain why we have it elsewhere.

I think, also, that evolution itself is not one-and-the-same as the theories which explain it. That the fossil record shows changes in organisms over a great span of time, seems to me beyond doubt. We think we know the main ways that this has operated. I feel sure that we do not understand them all. It seems rather silly to look at questions about the mechanisms of evolution and instead of trying to answer them, saying that these questions disprove that evolution actually occurred. It's like denying that gravity exists because we don't know how it fundamentally occurs. (Isn't that intriguing BTW.) Not fully understanding how it comes about, doesn't stop us from observing its existence and its effects on the macroscopic world.

I seriously think that morphic fields and consciousness have also shaped evolution.

Beards on men? Sexy, when well groomed and not too long. Maybe there's something about sexual selection there after all.

Speaking of God's design, can someone suggest a reason why a man was designed in such a way that a knee in the groin incapacitates him? Men are pretty vulnerable there. Can anyone offer an argument for this being optimal design?

Happy Easter Bex, are you enjoying it?

Accepting the fact that beards are on men only is for a reason, your ideas seem to fall outside of what Abishag wanted.


As you have said, we weren't there. Any "reason" put forth is speculation. The validity of that speculation is determined by evidence supporting it.

While this too is speculation, it probably has a reasonable chance of being accurate. Jewish men allowed their beards to grow as a sign of maturity. Jesus would have followed the traditions and requirements of His faith and society to the extent that they would not cause Him to violate His Father's requirements.

Have you gotten any insight as to why God made you that way?

Greetings Linear,

As the Holy Scriptures read, EXODUS 4:11 --

"And the LORD said unto him [Moses], Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?"

As the article reads, "But God giveth it [humans/creatures] a body as it hath pleased Him." 1 Corinthians 15:38

'It is the LORD that makes perfections and imperfections.' (Matthew Henry / Bible Commentator/ Preacher).

1 SAMUEL 16:7 "But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature;...for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart."

I do like Bex's reply, and I agree with her in that the LORD alone knows His reasons for the various ways He forms all of His creatures (including humans).

Abishag <><

The prophecies of Yahweh are being fulfilled before our eyes.

Those who do not believe this will experience a rude awakening soon (according to the signs we see occurring). I most certainly hope it is as few people as possible, yet I do understand the horrible consequences of human rebellion.

Hello Linear,

I needed to do more Bible study before answering another statement that you made to Bex. To her comment, "Jesus himself had a beard apparently."

Your reply was, "While this too is speculation....a reasonable chance of being accurate."

I disagree with that statement , ... 'speculation.....a resonable chance of being accurate'.

The reason being, that one of the most remarkable 'PROPHETIC BOOKS', Isaiah, clearly informs us in ISAIAH 50:6 ...."I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting." KJV

---------------(another rendition)------------

"I gave My back to those who stike Me, and My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting." NASB- ISAIAH 50:6

Although this is not mentioned in the New Testament, MOST Bible believing followers of Jesus, take it to mean this is exactly what Jesus endured for us, before his crucification.

A wonderful Bible Teacher, J. Vernon McGee, (now with the LORD), refers to these Chapters in Isaiah as 'Salvation (poetry)' --- Salvation of Jehovah which comes through the suffering Servant, Jesus...Redeemer of the whole world, who is God's Servant/Savior.

Thank you, Abishag <><
"A Soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger." PROVERBS 15:1

Yes and Amen! Thank you, Russ, for this 'warning' of impending judgment. You are right on!

All one needs do is turn on the Television, look in the Newspaper, or even read the Internet.

We have been warned....it's all right in the Word of God, Jehovah Tsidkenu (The Lord our Righteousness).

HEBREWS 10 informs us that: The Sacrifices of the Law were insufficient, The old Sacrificial System Abolished, Christ's Sacrifical Work Finished, Access to God through the Priesthood of God, Christ is the Way, and (as you so aptly said, a rude awakening)...The Peril of Dishonoring Christ.

We are to "draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of faith...Hold fast the profession of our faith, without wavering; consider one another to provoke unto love and good works, ......

"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.....How much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?"

"For we know Him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." !

Same-sex marriage (as in the day of Sodom and Gomorrah), abortions, fornication, .....etc, etc, killings, murderings, the list goes on and on.

Yes, Russ, if we all are honest we can say with you, that we understand the horrible consequences of human rebellion. 'But for the grace of God go I.' All of us are under judgment, and if we do not repent and turn to the Lord, we will suffer the Great White Throne Judgment....

All of us must stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, and then He will separate the sheep from the goats (believers from unbelievers).

I quote from ICR, "Every Christian should seek to win people to Christ, of course, as soon as he himself meets Christ. He should also begin immediately to search the Scriptures (e.g., the Bereans, in Acts 17).

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2Timothy 2:15.
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I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see.

Blessings and thank you, Russ for BEING His
servant, JESUS IS COMING BACK!
Abishag <><

We serve a God of love, yes, but also and primarily of righteousness and judgment.