Okay, so I had this idea ingrained into me by my mother that "Your body is the temple of the Lord", so you shouldn't get your ears pierced. When I grew up, I decided to. After thinking logically about it, I realized:
1) It's not deforming the body (such as disfiguring it, or altering the function of your body in some way).
2) The verse she was referring to was specifically talking about sexual sin.
3) Motives are the most important issue here. If my motive was that I wanted to destroy something God made, then it would be sin for me to do it, but if I wanted to pierce my ears because I thought it looks pretty to wear nice earrings, then my motive isn't sinful; it's enjoying His creation. My intention was not to just stick a hole in my body for the sole reason of putting a hole there, but to allow earrings to be worn.
So, I have logical ideas as to why it can't be sinful; another reason being God commanded circumcision, piercing the ear of a servant, and also talked of giving His bride earrings (though I can't prove they were pierced earrings, it seems likely they were, knowing that ancient people in those times did have pierced ears) which was all "body modification", and if God commanded those things, it wouldn't seem He would think it a sin for small ear piercings.
Though, at times I also start having thoughts like, 'What if it is a sin?', 'We're made in the image of God, which did not include ear piercings, so maybe it's wrong.', 'It's unnatural to have holes in my ears, so maybe I'm not supposed to have them.', 'What if it's disfiguring the creation He made, since what God made is beautiful, and God saw all that He made and it was good?'
I read this on a website: "When God created the human body and soul He declared it good. Why do we need to improve on what God has already made beautiful?"
I also know that God made a lot of us creative and we enjoy beautiful things, such as jewelry, cutting our hair in different styles, dying it different colors, and painting our nails; all things that are not "natural" to the body which God did not put on us. So I started looking at it as another form of creativity/self-expression. There are differing Christian viewpoints though; some say basically the same ideas I stated, others say it is wrong and marking up our bodies, and 'we are not our own, and bought with a price', so we don't have full freedom to do what we want to it. I think that verse is talking about the actions we do with our body though? With the message something like this: 'Christ died for your sins; He purchased you, so now you want to use that body to glorify Him. Don't have immoral sex because it's using the body you're given to engage in sin.' I also glean from the verse that we aren't to use our body in other ways besides immoral sex, such as don't use your hands to punch someone and don't use your tongue to speak evil of someone, but make sure that you use your body for good. It seems that to think God meant don't pierce your ears, is superficial and God is concerned more with our actions and motives than a fashion statement?
Anyway, let me know your thoughts on this. I really want to know if it is wrong or not; sometimes I feel absolutely confident that it doesn't matter to God, and other times I start thinking it's a sin and feel guilty. Don't know if it's false guilt/legalism or conviction, if it is my mother speaking or God speaking.
1) It's not deforming the body (such as disfiguring it, or altering the function of your body in some way).
2) The verse she was referring to was specifically talking about sexual sin.
3) Motives are the most important issue here. If my motive was that I wanted to destroy something God made, then it would be sin for me to do it, but if I wanted to pierce my ears because I thought it looks pretty to wear nice earrings, then my motive isn't sinful; it's enjoying His creation. My intention was not to just stick a hole in my body for the sole reason of putting a hole there, but to allow earrings to be worn.
So, I have logical ideas as to why it can't be sinful; another reason being God commanded circumcision, piercing the ear of a servant, and also talked of giving His bride earrings (though I can't prove they were pierced earrings, it seems likely they were, knowing that ancient people in those times did have pierced ears) which was all "body modification", and if God commanded those things, it wouldn't seem He would think it a sin for small ear piercings.
Though, at times I also start having thoughts like, 'What if it is a sin?', 'We're made in the image of God, which did not include ear piercings, so maybe it's wrong.', 'It's unnatural to have holes in my ears, so maybe I'm not supposed to have them.', 'What if it's disfiguring the creation He made, since what God made is beautiful, and God saw all that He made and it was good?'
I read this on a website: "When God created the human body and soul He declared it good. Why do we need to improve on what God has already made beautiful?"
I also know that God made a lot of us creative and we enjoy beautiful things, such as jewelry, cutting our hair in different styles, dying it different colors, and painting our nails; all things that are not "natural" to the body which God did not put on us. So I started looking at it as another form of creativity/self-expression. There are differing Christian viewpoints though; some say basically the same ideas I stated, others say it is wrong and marking up our bodies, and 'we are not our own, and bought with a price', so we don't have full freedom to do what we want to it. I think that verse is talking about the actions we do with our body though? With the message something like this: 'Christ died for your sins; He purchased you, so now you want to use that body to glorify Him. Don't have immoral sex because it's using the body you're given to engage in sin.' I also glean from the verse that we aren't to use our body in other ways besides immoral sex, such as don't use your hands to punch someone and don't use your tongue to speak evil of someone, but make sure that you use your body for good. It seems that to think God meant don't pierce your ears, is superficial and God is concerned more with our actions and motives than a fashion statement?
Anyway, let me know your thoughts on this. I really want to know if it is wrong or not; sometimes I feel absolutely confident that it doesn't matter to God, and other times I start thinking it's a sin and feel guilty. Don't know if it's false guilt/legalism or conviction, if it is my mother speaking or God speaking.
