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. ;-)

Accepted?

People often ask me about my tattoos/piercings, so I decided to give the stories behind them all here on my blog. In order to do that I have to back WAY up to just before I surrendered my everything to Christ in me. My journey into the grace walk was not an easy one by any means! Having posted much on this before I won't go into the whole story again, but I have more to add.

I was terrified to yield to Christ. Absolutely terrified. Before I got saved I was afraid to become a hypocrite. I was afraid to be pressed into the particular Baptist mold that I had witnessed all my life. Then on the brink of abandoning my all to Jesus, I was afraid that once he had me he would throw me away. I couldn't possibly believe that he could accept all of me exactly how I was. How could he? I was hopelessly flawed. Yeah, yeah... I'd read all the stuff Andrew Murray, A.W.Tozer, Steve McVey, and Watchman Nee had written on being dead and God no longer seeing that stuff. And I knew the book of Romans inside and out: there's no condemnation in Christ, he sees me just as though I've never sinned, I'm accepted in the beloved, he'll never leave me nor forsake me, etc. I wasn't convinced. Sure, he saved me and that was pretty fantastic! But wasn't he kind of under contract for that? He died on the cross for redemption, and salvation was offered freely to all who would believe. It was a given. Acceptance however? That was another ballgame altogether. He just couldn't love me when it was all said and done. I envisioned it all too frequently... God would beckon me to come to him and place my life in his hands and I would do so with many tears. He would than laugh maniacally and say something along the lines of, "I've got you where I want you!" This never ended well - there was a lot of crushing and bruising involved.

I had an idea. Maybe not my brightest idea ever, but in my mind I had to formulate a test. I had always wanted to get my belly button pierced for as long as I could remember (super cute!!!) and had even asked Chris if I could many times. If I got a piercing God could either choose to abandon me or accept me anyway. He could either heap loads of guilt on me or shower me with love. I knew people who would never talk to me again if they knew about it, and the question in my mind was, "Is God like that?" So that's exactly what I did. I went out and got it pierced. Strange, I didn't feel different afterwards... In fact, I felt very free in a good way.

Two days passed and the axe didn't fall. I felt the wooing of the Spirit leading me to fall into his arms, and for once I thought maybe I believed him. If you have read my blog you know the rest of the story, for that is the night I knelt on my living room floor and did just that: I entrusted all that I was, all that I had, all that I would be, everything to Him. It's funny... it was so effortless. All those months of fighting it, and it was one of the easiest things I've ever done. You see, surrender is not something you "DO," It's something HE does. I simply laid down yielding to him, and he filled me up. That's it. I felt acceptance! I felt love!

So that's it in a nutshell. My belly piercing was nothing more than a fleece to see if God truly accepted me or if he could only accept me based on who I was. My silly attempt to figure out God! Apparently God didn't care one way or the other, all he wanted was for me to enjoy the perfect union he purchased for me on the cross as fully as was possible. Salvation was far more than the gift of life. It was the gift of LIFE in me! Christ in me! He desired a relationship with me! Wow.