Getting Piercings
Body piercings continue to be a highly debated topic in the Christian community. While some Christians don’t believe body piercing is a sin at all, others believe the Bible makes it quite clear that we need to treat our bodies as temples and not do anything to damage it, including body piercings. The Old Testament prohibitions against cutting or piercing the body as in Leviticus 19 were prohibitions that related to pagan religious customs which were to be avoiding. Yet, there is no mention of piercing in the New Testament. However, the New Testament does discuss taking care of our bodies. First Corinthians 3:16-17 says, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.”
We have this command in 1 Peter 3:3-4: “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine cloths. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” In our culture, much emphasis is placed on outer appearance, but that’s not where our beauty lies. In the same way, body piercings are outward adornment and we should be careful to give more effort to the development of the inner self.
