October 9, 2010
But What About Earrings?
Last week we looked at tattoos and body piercing and the article was quite silent on the subject of earrings. Earrings, I fear, is an area much like alcohol consumption for the Christian. The Bible says much about alcohol and from what the Bible says on the subject of drinking one is led to make a strong argument against drinking alcohol if you are a Christian. Likewise, the Bible has much to say about jewelry in general, but it actually makes many specific references to earrings. From what the Bible says on that subject, one is led to make a strong argument against the wearing of earrings.
The one argument I won’t make for the wearing of earrings versus nose rings and tongue rings is the argument that says it’s culturally acceptable. Many ungodly practices today are culturally acceptable, but they are still wrong (divorce, premarital sex, drinking, etc) and what’s not culturally acceptable today, may very well be embraced by Christendom in the decades to come. But God is the same today, yesterday, and forever (Hebrews 13:8) and therefore His Word, and the faith upon which it is founded, should never change to suit society’s changing whims about what is morally and culturally acceptable…that’s too subjective.
So the safest thing to do when arguing for or against something is to not interject your own opinions, fancies, biases, and whatever. No, the smartest and safest thing to do is to let the Bible say what is says and then let you, the reader, formulate your own argument against the Bible, if you wish, and to have you take it up with God Himself. I believe, not opine, but believe that the Bible’s argument will be against the wearing of earrings for the same reasons less culturally acceptable piercing is wrong…so let’s start there by way of review.
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord (Leviticus 19:28). Piercing ones body and getting marks (tattoos) were a heathen and pagan practice from which God demanded separation. So, unless you wear clip-on earrings, you have pierced (cut) your earlobes. So if we will take the posture that piercing body parts is wrong when we pierce the tongue, nose, naval, then we must also accept that piercing one’s earlobe falls under that same category…we cut into our ears. Remember, if you use Leviticus 19:28 to argue against piercing, it doesn’t differentiate between a naval and an earlobe…just “any cuttings.”
Some have speculated, with Biblical references to support their claims, that the wearing of earrings and other jewelry had its origins in commerce in ancient Biblical times. Before money was originated and minted, people paid for things with jewelry. In Genesis 24:22, we find that the servant of Abraham paid Rebecca with a golden earring and two bracelets. In another example of this, when the Israelites left Egypt, their riches were in gold and jewels and jewelry. So when it came time to offer their “money” for the building of the tabernacle, this is what the Bible records: “And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, and brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, and all jewels of gold: and every man that offered, offered an offering of gold unto God (Exodus 35:22). Some have argued that God created these precious things for practical purposes, for the wealth they hold within, and not to be tied up, useless in someone’s earlobe.
When focusing on earrings, you have to go back and understand that just as a tongue stud or a nose piercing, or a bellybutton ring is meant to attract and draw others’ eyes to you, so too is the wearing of earrings. Listen, my favorite color is red. If I wear a red shirt or a red tie, I do so because I see it before me and it pleases me to see the color red. You can’t say you wear an earring for any other reason other than to adorn yourself to look attractive to someone else. I can say that because unlike how I can look at my red tie for my own personal enjoyment, no one has that great of peripheral vision that you can say you can see your own earring. There’s no two ways about it, earrings are worn to attract the eyes of others.
What if a young girl in junior high saw women in the church with pierced ears and went to get their ears pierced as well. What happens if that same girl, who innocently got her ears pierced because the ladies in the church did also, fell into a snare and began getting multiple pierces because she liked the look and feel and attention it got her. The ladies in the church inadvertently became a stumbling block to this one young Christian girl. Your wearing of earrings may be a stumbling block, and that’s a principal that Paul warns against in First Corinthians 8:9-10.
Now think about the problem pastors have. If earrings are allowed for the women, why not the men? Well, before you begin thinking that’s silly, earrings on men is extremely socially acceptable at this time. Remember the NFL football player who lost his earring during practice? No one said, What’s a guy doing wearing an earring? Nope. You know what people said? What’s a guy like that wearing an earring DURING PRACTICE! By the way, his name was Kendall Langford of the Miami Dolphins and his lost earring cost $50,000. Again, practical wealth rendered useless in some guy’s earlobe.
Men did have their ears pierced in the Bible, but like you’ll see in a few moments, references in the Bible to earrings is always in a spiritually poor light. In fact, the spiritual contexts associated with the Bible’s references to earrings are not what serious minded Christians should be striving for. In Exodus 21 we find that if a Jew had a debt and he was unable to pay, he could be bought by another Israelite master and forced to pay off his debt by being a slave to this master for seven years. After the seven-year period, the slave was free, with the debt no longer being owed. However, if the slave loved his master more than his freedom, and wanted to stay bound to his master, the master would take him to the judges to make it legally binding and then they would take the slave to the doorpost and pierce his ear through as a sign that he would be a servant to his master forever.
Here’s the negative spiritual context. We had a debt we could not pay. In due time, God provided a way for us to be free from the debt. However, to reject the offer of freedom from our sin debt, we show that we love this current world more than God and therefore choose to remain enslaved to our master (the devil). In essence, having one’s ear pierced was a sign of giving up the freedom that was available to them by virtue of the Law God had given to the Israelites, and turning their backs on what God had afforded them. Read Exodus 21:5-6 and then quickly read Matthew 6:24.
Another spiritual aspect to be aware of relating to earrings is that they offer the person an opportunity to fall into another sin. Obviously if you adorn yourself with earrings, and you desire to be noticed, you run the risk of falling into a prideful state. Satan, originally known as Lucifer, was adorned by God in all precious stones and jewelry (Ezekiel 28:13-19) and it led to his downfall. As one commentary puts it: “If pride is deadly enough to destroy a most powerful and wise being, how much more should we mortals take heed not to walk independently of the Lord!” There’s another way the tradition of earrings gave the Israelites another opportunity to sin. In Exodus 32, the people, under Aaron’s command took off their earrings (vs. 2-4) and that’s what they used to fashion the golden calf that caught the ire of God that day. They may have found other things to use to fashion the golden calf, but it’s interesting how readily available sin was because of the earrings they had been wearing…like the heathen were. God dealt with the Israelites about that sin in Exodus 33 and commanded them to strip themselves of their ornaments.
Remember when God met with Moses and said this: “And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground (Exodus 3:5). God expected Moses to meet with Him properly. When Jacob wanted to build an altar to God in Genesis 35 in honor of God’s deliverance from his enemies, Jacob put a command to his family: “And let us arise and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem (Genesis 35:3-4). If wearing earrings was a pagan practice, it obviously was understood by Jacob that his family could not commune with God under those circumstances. Thus, they cleaned themselves up…purified themselves…and met with God.
Let’s not forget that a big component to the verse in Leviticus 19:28 was extended also to the priests: “They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh. They shall be holy unto their God and not profane the name of their God (Leviticus 21:5-6). Apparently God feels that cuttings in the flesh (piercing) is unholy, else He would not have reminded the priests not to do something in order to remain holy. How can you not at least wonder about the status of pierced ears in God’s eyes?
So, without actually taking the stance that the wearing of earrings is a sin, I can confidently say that wearing earrings is not helpful to a Christian in any way when it comes to being more godly and adding one iota more of spirituality. In fact, we have seen how it can be detrimental to one’s spiritual walk in many different ways:
Again, some Christians refuse to gamble in a casino for high stakes, but don’t feel so convicted about buying a $1 Powerball ticket. Either gambling is wrong…or not wrong, and it has nothing to do with the severity or amount of gambling. Other people refuse to get drunk because they’re Christians, but they feel it’s OK to have a glass of wine at dinner once in a while. Either drinking is wrong…or not wrong, and it has nothing to do with the amount one drinks. Some Christians refuse to get nose, tongue, naval piercing, but don’t feel so convicted about piercing their ears. Either piercing one’s body is wrong…or not wrong. It’s got nothing to do with what is pierced and how many times it’s pierced.
Get the point? What you do with what the Bible says will match the level of conviction you have on the subject of pierced ears and the wearing of earrings. It may seem like a little thing, but many little things can lead to one’s downfall (read the July 3, 2010 article about Sampson). Then again, what we may feel is a little thing, was important enough for God to make several specific references to earrings, and show them in a bad light. Be prayerful about what God would have you to do with this subject. Also, go back and look at the summary of the seven ways earrings could lead one away, and see if there are any areas in your life right now that you are weak in and ready to fall into a snare…then go from there to decide if giving up the earrings isn’t such a bad idea and one you could definitely live with.
