Continuing the conversation
Haloscan restored my "lost" comments sometime last night (after more than 48 hours!), so I caught up on the comments to my Friday post on man-made rules.
Quite a conversation I missed there. :)
I'm going to try to respond to Gnilil's comments:
- We don't swear or curse or wear tattoos or whatever that's under the "don'ts", not because they are our so-called modern ten commandments, but because as Christians, we ought to be living walking testimonies of God. You may say such things do not reflect on our faith in God, but the fact is that not everyone thinks that way. First impressions do count, and people tend to judge one another, consciously or not. Besides, if you love your body and think that you ARE God's perfect unique creation, why 'decorate' your body? I would dare say that it's a way of telling God that you don't like the way He made you.
In short, think of what God would think when we want to try something 'forbidden'. or else, try WWJD.
Sorry if I sound harsh; it's just my POV.
On the other hand, we can't live our lives in fear of what others would think, worrying that something we do or say will cause them to turn away from God.
I see it as a question of focus. If we live our lives wondering, "What will people think of me, a Christian, doing this?" then our focus will be skewed. But if we live our lives asking God, "What is it You want me to do?" then our hearts and minds will be in the right place - and He will surely guide.
In the preceding verse, Paul writes, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." For me, it is also a question of motive. Because it is the motive that will determine whether one is "compromising" or trying to conform to the ways of the world. Why do you want to get a body piercing? Why a tattoo? Why wear make-up, or jewellery?
Because, if we are going to talk about "decorating" our bodies, wouldn't make-up and jewellery come into it also? Or, for that matter, the choice of clothing one wears? If clothing is just to cover our bodies, why not just wear grey, ugly sacks? But noooo, we choose the most flattering cut, the most complementary colours. Don't we?
What I have discovered is that it is easy for me to say I am doing something "for the glory of God", whilst feeling all self-righteous about it. Pride is such an insidious thing. I start feeling all "spiritual" if I just manage to do something as simple as read the Bible every day. Let's not even bring service and ministry into it. ("Oh, I'm doing so much for God!" - somebody please slap me...!)
As far as being a testimony for God is concerned, if we Christians go around saying, "Christians shouldn't have tattoos!" (or body piercings, or whatever), what kind of testimony would that be to those people with tattoos?!
Paul said he became "all things to all men" for the sake of the gospel. Back on Feb 11 I linked to this article. Read it and remember that God is concerned with the heart, not the outward appearance. It was a good reminder to me, too. :)
Being "set apart for God" doesn't mean to react against what the world does and do the complete opposite. It means to live for Him and have Him as the focus of our lives. Also remember that we may be called to be God's ambassadors to the conservative people, but our brothers and sisters might just have a different calling.
As the article above says, "[Rev] Smith was reminded that God is never left without a witness - even a few colourful ones to keep us on our toes and remind us that He is covering all the bases."