Oxymoronically, I have, so far this year, have done - and intend to do - something which I like to do, but which same thing is something I do not like to do.
Every year when I get into a group to sing Handel's Messiah, or caroling in four-part harmony, it is lamentably and disgustingly expected to encounter the lurid and lewd sight of at least one immodestly-hairstyled woman present visually terrorizing not merely me but other men who also cannot make sexual use of her (and which she also probably has no intention whatsoever of promptly making sexual use of) nearby exhibiting erotically-titillating-but-obnoxiously-irritating selfishly-attention-getting concentration-diverting loose long hair -- sensuous wine but flowing as in a public gutter:
Proverbs 5:16 [paraphrase] Should your [sensuous-body-parts] springs be scattered abroad, [sex-object] streams of water in the streets?
Proverbs 5:17 Let them be for yourself alone, and NOT for STRANGERS with you.
Song 8:12 My vineyard, my very own, is for myself; you, Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.
Song 2:15 [paraphrase] Catch [and destroy] the [mopheaded] foxes, the little [exhibitionist] foxes, who spoil the vineyards, for our [bodily] vineyards are in blossom."
Deuteronomy 32:42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh....with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the long-haired heads of the enemy.
First Corinthians 11:1-16 [paraphrase] The genuine churches of God do not have such a custom of allowing a potentially-contentious woman (or contentious male patsies supporting her) to expose and presume that her glorious loose long hair is a [porno-substitute] prayer covering or veil.
Erotic enticement should be reserved between spouses only -- instead of flaunted indiscriminately to heterosexual public view. And long hair (longer than mouth-level), not having been bound into a single back-of-head ponytail and tied up into a chignon or up-do, is violating a Biblical Prime Directive for female humans to appear modest in general [both-genders] public view:
Romans 14:15 [paraphrase] If your brother is being injured by how you display your female hair, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let general-public-view mopheadedness cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died.
First Timothy 2:9-10 [I would that....] women adorn themselves modestly and non-pornographically in decent apparel, not with plaited hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but by good works as befits women who profess religion.
Song 7:5 [paraphrase] YOUR head crowns YOU like Carmel, and YOUR [mopheaded] flowing locks are entrancing; a king is held [erotically] captive with YOUR [mopheaded] tresses.
7:6 How fair and pleasant you are, loved one, delectable maiden!
7:10 I am MY beloved's, and HIS desire is for ME.
7:11 Come, MY beloved, [MY bride] let us go forth into the fields, and lodge in the villages;
7:12 let US go out early to the vineyards, and see whether the vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened and the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give YOU MY love.
7:13 The mandrakes give forth fragrance, and over OUR doors are all choice fruits, new as well as old, which I have laid up for YOU, MY beloved.
Notice emphasis of the word "my" and "our" and "your" above. That obviously bespeaks of private ownership -- instead of women indiscriminately and/or indifferently carelessly, and of course: ADULTEROUSLY, displaying their glorious loose long hair to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who comes along -- which men (in all probability) MIGHT come along:
Proverbs 5:16 Should YOUR springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets?
Proverbs 5:17 Let them be for YOURSELF ALONE and NOT for STRANGERS with you.
Song 8:12 MY vineyard, MY VERY OWN, is for MYSELF; you, Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.
So, although I love to convey the Scriptural doctrines of the Biblically-worded Messiah of Handel, and the Christian-oriented lyrics of Bible-story-related Christmas carols (which, generally, becomes the overriding factors of me actually joining the groups singing such instead of me staying away), I virulently despise and hate the prospect of having to be visually abused and assaulted by ignorantly-seductive or deliberately-flagrant mopheads imposing their immodest porno-mopheadedness in my proximity.
Another thing, which is less disturbing, but nevertheless noxious, is the outworn and archaic, sometimes wrong-tense mis-worded lyrics of not only Handel's Messiah but most Christmas carols.
Let me illustrate both "traditional" but defective wording -- contrasted with corrective wording of some selections, ensuring that The Vital Message is not relegated to being a ridiculously-anti-historic mindless mantra of meaningless rote antiquity:
WRONG: Hark the herald angels sing
RIGHT: Hear the herald angels sing
WRONG: Joyful all ye nations rise
RIGHT: Joyful all you nations rise
WRONG: Christ is born in Bethlehem
RIGHT: Christ was born in Bethlehem
WRONG: Ris'n with healing in His wings
RIGHT: Ris'n with healing does He bring
WRONG: Born that man no more may die
RIGHT: Born that we no more may die
WRONG: Born to raise the sons of earth
RIGHT: Born to raise us all of earth
WRONG: Joy to the world, the Lord is come
RIGHT: Joy to the world, the Lord has come
WRONG: Let men their songs employ
RIGHT: Let us our songs enjoy
WRONG: Peace on the earth, good will to men
RIGHT: Peace on the earth, good will to all
WRONG: All is calm, all is bright
RIGHT: All was calm, all was bright.
WRONG: Sleep in heavenly peace
RIGHT: Slept in heavenly peace
WRONG: Wondrous Star, lend thy light
RIGHT: Wondrous Star, shone its light
WRONG: Shepherds hear the angels sing
RIGHT: Shepherds heard the angels sing
WRONG: Christ the Savior is born
RIGHT: Christ the Savior was born
WRONG: How still we see thee lie
RIGHT: How still they saw you lie
WRONG: Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
RIGHT: Above your deep and dreamless sleep
WRONG: The silent stars go by
RIGHT: The silent stars went by
WRONG: Yet in thy dark street shineth
RIGHT: Yet in your dark street shown forth
WRONG: Are met in thee tonight
RIGHT: Were met in you then there.
WRONG: We hear the Christmas angels
RIGHT: They heard the Christmas angels
WRONG: The great glad tidings tell
RIGHT: The royal news declared
WRONG: O come to us abide with us
RIGHT: Do come to us and stay with us
WRONG: The cattle are lowing the poor Baby wakes
RIGHT: The cattle were lowing, the dear Baby woke
WRONG: The little Lord Jesus no crying He Makes
RIGHT: As Mary His mother to Him softly spoke
WRONG: The stars in the sky look down where He lay
RIGHT: The stars in the sky shining down where He laid
WRONG: We three Kings of Orient are, bearing gifts we traverse afar
RIGHT: The three kings of Orient were, bearing gifts to give the Lord near
WRONG: Jesus Christ is born today
RIGHT: Jesus Christ was born back then
WRONG: He is in the manger now
RIGHT: He was in the manger then
And of Handel's Messiah?
WRONG: Thus saith the Lord
RIGHT: Thus says the Lord
WRONG: Who may abide the Day of His coming?
RIGHT: Who can endure the Day of His coming?
WRONG: Who shall stand when He appeareth?
RIGHT: Who can stand against His coming?
WRONG: And He shall purify the sons of Levi
RIGHT: And He will purify all those of Levi
WRONG: That they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness
RIGHT: That they do offer to God their Lord an offering in righteousness
WRONG: O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion
RIGHT: To those proclaiming the good news to Zion
WRONG: For unto us a Child is born
RIGHT: Then was to them the Christ-child born
WRONG: There were shepherds abiding in the field
RIGHT: There were shepherds residing in the field
WRONG: And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them
RIGHT: And then, the angel of the Lord appeared to them
WRONG: His yoke is easy and His burthen is light
RIGHT: His work is easy and His burden is light