A little discussion on piercings and tattoos

Hey Becky. I have a most serious question for you. And also ask for your advice. What are your religious views on tattoos and piercings? I have been getting confronted a lot with people asking me how I am living a Godly life but defiling my body. I need some insight on this and you were the first person that came to mind! Thank you!

Hi Well, I can give you my answer, but the answer needs to come out of your relationship with Jesus What I mean to say is that the answer that best shuts up the "creepy religious people" is the one that comes from deep within you that you believe like crazy!
But here's what's true:

The whole defiling your body thing is a load of b.s. The only verse in the Bible that references tattoos is Leviticus 19:28 "Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I [am] the LORD." This was referring to the pagan customs of the day. Egyptians were notorious for marking themselves all over, in remembrance of dead people (perhaps superstitiously hoping to bring them back? the whole preservation of mummies things shows they really believed in a next life). However, these markings again were PAGAN, for PAGAN customs. they were related to worship of other gods, etc. It is no wonder God did not want his people participating. They had just left Egypt and he is telling them not to participate in the heathen customs of Egypt. This is a new order now!

Do ya think that our tattoos are the same as Egyptian tattoos? Let's think about it. When you go get a little kitty cat, are you worshiping the kitty or trying to bring a kitty to life?

Any way... totally different. We are more into self-expression than religious superstition.

Piercings. I've done the research on this. A large majority of the time when the bible speaks of earrings it is speaking of nose rings. Isaac's Rebecca was given a nose ring in Genesis 24:22 "And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten [shekels] weight of gold;" that is the meaning of that word, and why it is singular in the King James Version.

The Old Testament Jews are often referenced as the Bride of Jehovah... They are told in Hosea that when they ran from God, they adorned themselves with jewelry (including earrings, which are defined as nose rings) before they went to their idol lovers. Now before that becomes an indictment against piercings,
Ezekiel 16:12 And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.
That jewel on the forehead is the same word used for nose ring earrings. God himself says he will adorn his bride with a nose ring.
The word in the Hebrew is nexem by the way, if you want to look it up yourself
And I only stayed in the King James. If you look in other versions, they translate every time nexem is used to the word nose ring.
the word for actual earlobe earrings is agiyl

There is no mention of other body piercings specifically like that (that I know of). But this one is cool

Oh, I know I'm rambling, but I love this stuff. HAHA.. the earrings were heavy (shekel weight in Genesis!) They were called earrings because they pulled the nose cartilage down to look like an earlobe. The translation earring is correct. Our tiny gems today are nothing in comparison to the gaudiness of those nose pieces!! ROFL! My namesake was MEGA adorned in GOLD!

Fast forward... Revelation 14:1 "And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty [and] four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. "
Revelation 22:4 "And they shall see his face; and his name [shall be] in their foreheads."
All believers, not just the 144,000 will have His name on their foreheads. God's into inking of his own. Claiming us for his own. It's awesome. We are pierced and adorned with a ring and other assorted jewelry because we are the bride, and we are inked with his name.

Now, as to can we do it now. Like, practical, every day, OMG, are we defiling our bodies in the here and now?
Here are Paul's words:
Romans 7:6 "But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not [in] the oldness of the letter. "
Romans 8:2 "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. "
We are not under the law anymore. So EVEN if the whole Leviticus thing applied to modern day tattoos, it doesn't apply to us. We do not have to avoid markings for the dead, etc. We are FREE from the law. We serve the Spirit of Christ. That old law does not apply to us.
Those who try and stick us under that law are putting us in bondage. Paul says to stand in our liberty! We are FREE! (Gal 5:1)

I Corinthians 10:23 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.
This is the only "guideline" that Paul gives, and honestly it is an easy one. Everything is lawful. But sometimes things just are not worthy, profitable things (expedient). Somethings are not worthwhile because they tear others or myself down, "they do not edify."
Yet, even this is not a firm and fast rule. This is simply something to ask ourselves. Certainly if going into a situation we realize it is completely an unworthy, unprofitable, and unedifying thing it does give us cause to ask WHY we were doing it in the first place!!
However, I have found that my tattoos have been edification for myself and others. Talking points! They all have deep personal and/or spiritual meanings and as such spark conversations I would not have had otherwise. My nose ring is similarly a conversation piece for those who like to go deep (I got it because Rebekah of the Bible is a symbol of the Bride of Christ! I am named for her, and I am the Bride of Christ!)
Some things we do are frivolous and need no explanation. And why should we have to explain to others? Are we not all responsible to God on our own?
People also need to learn to mind their own business. ;-)

Please take my Starbucks survey!! Thanks!!

Click here to take survey

Permission to participate in research (for Rebecca Dennison, Liberty University Student):
By clicking on this link, I understand that my participation in this survey is voluntary and that I am at least 18 years of age. There will be no adverse consequences to me if I decide not to participate. I also understand that the results of this project will be for research purpose only and will not be disclosed to anyone; confidentiality will be maintained and my name will be removed from all results.

Faith Without Works - It just ain't happenin'!

Let me start by saying that FAITH is what saves. Works has nothing to do with it. Sanctification is by FAITH. Works has nothing to do with that either. Yet, James says that faith without works is dead. What? Dead faith? I thought faith was life giving?
Well, of course faith is life giving! Faith comes from God! For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. But faith without works is dead? Really? What does this mean?

As a grace person, I have questioned this many times. I know that there is no work for me to do. I know that the only 'work' that Christ has for us is to believe unto salvation. I know that there are no 'shall's and 'shall not's for the Christian. So what are these works?

They are simply the simple outflows of Christ! It is the fruit! By your fruit you will know them. These works are not something that we do, but something that Christ does through us! These works are not something for us, but something for others to see Christ! These works are evidence to a lost world that Christ has made a difference in our lives.

James 2:18 "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works."

So, a random 'good person' walks up to a random 'good Christian.' The Christian says, "Hey, you need to get saved!!" The good person says, "Nah, I have good works, I don't need anything else. I'm ok." (like the man who told Jesus that he had kept the 10 commandments from his youth) The Christian insists that salvation comes by faith alone, and the good person says, "Sure, prove it! I'm living a good life, but you are just talking a good life."

Hmmm... So James says, "I will show you my faith! I will give visible evidence to you of my faith. You will see it in my works. But were they 'James' works?? Did James then strive harder and harder to achieve a Christ-like life? No, of course not. In fact, James was a total grace freak!!! SWEET! :)

James 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Can I just say I'm losing it right now!!!!!! I have heard vs. 22-24 so many times 'be a doer, be a doer, yada yada yada. But WOW! James says those who walk in liberty, those who live totally absorbed in the precious grace of God, those people who are FREE indeed, are doers of the work! These people have looked at Grace, and not turned away. These people have looked at Christ and chosen to surrender all and abide in Him, and works are a natural outflow of that! Christ in us, leading us to work for His Kingdom. Some of these things are works we are not even conscious of until after the fact, some of them are things we choose to do at the Spirit's prompting, but all of them are for one purpose: to show our faith to the lost, that people will be saved and that God will get the glory!

Let's back up a bit: Faith is life-giving. Faith gives life to me! Faith brings Christ's resurrected life to this dead spirit. Faith rocks! But, faith without works is dead because it doesn't give life to others. There is life in me, but not life for others. It's kinda like a married couple that are both perfectly fertile. They have everything they need to pass on their 'life' to a new generation. But they never have intercourse. They never consummate their relationship. Hmmm. Wonder where the children are?? What's wrong? They never 'did' anything! We have life. We are perfectly fertile Christians with the very life-Giver Himself dwelling within us... but where are our works? Where is the 'deed' that brings about New Life?

I'm not saying that we need to evangelize more, or soul-win more, or door-knock more, or start nagging all of our friends. NO!!! That is not the moral of the story!! Those are just works. I'm not talking about plain old works. I'm talking about works that spring up naturally out of love for Jesus. These aren't works you have to write down on a list so you don't forget them, or works that you need guilt-trip yourself over if you neglect them. These are works that the Spirit will guide you into and you will look back and giggle to yourself, and wonder with amazement that He allowed you to be his instrument!

But, you still have to take the initiative. We all have the option to look into the law of liberty, face that mirror, see what the Spirit wants to do in our lives to affect the lives of others, and only talk about it.

Trapped or Free

Today I have a job interview. I am excited. I can almost taste what it is like to be back in the work place again! After 4 1/2 years of being home with children, I am headed back out into the world of 40 hours a week and Friday is payday. (I'm not dead set on 40 hours though... I'll probably start at 30 and see how it goes? We'll see) This is not really what I had planned at this stage in my life, as I was going to wait until both of my children were in school, but our financial situation demands it. Strange. I should feel forced into working, or angry... I should feel trapped. Why am I not feeling this emotion? For years I was trapped by being home all the time, when what I really wanted to do was work... yet for the love of my children, I stayed home. At the same time, I never wanted to work because I had too, and anytime it was brought up I felt forced into the situation... again trapped. I think for the first time in my life, I am realizing that I can choose how I feel. And when it comes down to it, I want to work. So why should I let my issues of being cornered into it affect my joy in this?
Chris preached on the word 'Trapped' in Sunday School yesterday, and the quote on the top of the page was "Freedom is Frightening." Yeah, it's kinda like that. I'm so used to the feelings and emotions of being trapped in my life... stuck in my circumstances... that old Mr. Fear comes along and says that I can never be free. I can never have joy. I can never let go of my depression. Mr. Fear says that there is no door to exit; the only solution to my problems is death. But what Mr. Fear doesn't know is that I am opening my eyes to something HUGE! I have the key to get out of that feeling. I have the key to change how I perceive a situation. I have the key to give thanks in all things - to see that silver lining on the cloud!
The first key is that God is sovereign in my situation! He foreordained it to happen. He knows what's going on. He sees it all. He saw me all of those years as I cared for my children while I felt lonely, unfulfilled, and without purpose. He sees our financial situation that would force me into finding a job sooner than I had planned. He knows. He sees. He brought it upon me! That is the second key. He brings things upon me to prepare me for the ministry that he has for me! Here I am excited about today, but also dreading it. Dreading escaping the box of my house, and fearing that I am just entering one more box at work. Is there really any freedom? What would I do with it if I were truly free? This is the wrong attitude. Jesus is bringing each circumstance into my life to shape me for that perfect plan He has in mind. He created me to do a specific something, and designed special circumstances to shape me into exactly what he had in mind. Everybody has an opinion on what they think about me going back to work... positive, negative and neutral... but the bottom line is that this is an experience God wants me to have right now for his glory in my life. The third key is that even if I feel alone, Jesus goes through everything I go through right along with me. The coolest thing that Chris said about feeling trapped was that 'When God is conspicuously absent it is when he is most omnisciently present." When I don't feel him, don't see him, and feel like I'm just going to have to figure things out on my own, He is still there. In fact, he is probably orchestrating circumstances so that I will look to him and tell him that I'm in over my head. He is just waiting for me to ask him to do things for me. He brings everything upon me to bring me to my face on his altar of surrender. He is ever there patiently waiting for the day that I stop playing tug-o-war and give each situation to him.
So here I am right now on the morning of my interview, and I want to do something I have never done before. Something that I am completely unable to do, but that I believe that Jesus wants me to do. I want to thank him for my life circumstances. I want to thank him for the years that I've stayed home with my children; there are so many memories that I will always cherish. I want to thank him for our financial situation. I have learned much about God's provision and faith. I want to thank him for allowing me to go back to work even though it is not in optimum circumstances in my life, he has a plan. And I want to surrender to him my future. I don't want to feel trapped any more by anything. It's such a silly emotion. I'm saved! I have Christ in me! In Christ is perfect liberty and freedom. I want to be able to give thanks in everything, and feel joy and freedom in everything. Chris said it was a choice - choose to complain and stay trapped, or choose to surrender and find freedom. I choose surrender.