Poll: Is ear piercing really too 'liberal'?

[farouk]

Re: Poll: Earring for a man, a positive testimony

If you have to entice the audience with gimmicks then you probably have got the wrong crowd. The idea of christians conforming to the world's mold for it's attention, regardless the subject at hand, is backwards to Christian Principle. I have no interest in discussing whether it is approved or not in the bible as you can justify either with text, but intention is more appropriate. They will listen to you because they see a different breed of person. Jewelry will never earn a true audience.

F:

Actually, I agree with you more than you may realize. When using the term 'positive testimony', I probably over-stated it. More likely it would be better to say, 'wouldn't do any harm'.

Ty for the comment; I appreciate it.

 

[Fedusenko]

Re: Poll: Earring for a man, a positive testimony

Any harm to you or them? If you are doing to be like them so they listen to you then you are harming yourself spiritually so they might benefit, emphasis on might. You dilute yourself to be the sheep in wolf clothing and sooner or later you find yourself surrounded by wolves.

If you do it because you want to have one... I have no opinion.

This comment only extends to intention. It is not based on rules in the bible regarding piercings.

 

[farouk]

Re: Poll: Earring for a man, a positive testimony

Any harm to you or them? If you are doing to be like them so they listen to you then you are harming yourself spiritually so they might benefit, emphasis on might. You dilute yourself to be the sheep in wolf clothing and sooner or later you find yourself surrounded by wolves.

If you do it because you want to have one... I have no opinion.

This comment only extends to intention. It is not based on rules in the bible regarding piercings.

Fedusenko:

I'm confused by your comments. You've lost me there.

 

[Thirstyone]

Re: Poll: Earring for a man, a positive testimony

If you have to entice the audience with gimmicks then you probably have got the wrong crowd. The idea of christians conforming to the world's mold for it's attention, regardless the subject at hand, is backwards to Christian Principle. I have no interest in discussing whether it is approved or not in the bible as you can justify either with text, but intention is more appropriate. They will listen to you because they see a different breed of person. Jewelry will never earn a true audience.

Would you consider the miracles that Jesus performed, gimmicks? And yet what he did drew people to him to listen to his message.

 

[Fedusenko]

Re: Poll: Earring for a man, a positive testimony

Thirstyone: You are grasping at air. Jesus did not do miracles to be liked. He did miracles to benefit others. Curing someone's blindness is not a gimmick such as wearing jewelry so that you can better fit in with a crowd. Also, He did not cure someone's blindness for the benefit of others, but as a reward for faith.

farouk: You adjusted your subject header to read "Earring for a man, wouldn't do any harm". The deciding factor resides in the intention of the earring. Is it to fit in being something you might not do otherwise, or is it because you simply want one? That is the nature of my post. I am considering the harm done to one's self because if you do it to fit in then you start wearing a disguise from who you really are that may continue until you are no longer that person.

 

[farouk]

Re: Poll: Earring for a man, a positive testimony

Thirstyone: You are grasping at air. Jesus did not do miracles to be liked. He did miracles to benefit others. Curing someone's blindness is not a gimmick such as wearing jewelry so that you can better fit in with a crowd. Also, He did not cure someone's blindness for the benefit of others, but as a reward for faith.

farouk: You adjusted your subject header to read "Earring for a man, wouldn't do any harm". The deciding factor resides in the intention of the earring. Is it to fit in being something you might not do otherwise, or is it because you simply want one? That is the nature of my post. I am considering the harm done to one's self because if you do it to fit in then you start wearing a disguise from who you really are that may continue until you are no longer that person.

Fedusenko:

It might not have come over clearly, but what I meant, I guess was that if a guy is involved with youth ministries, of various natures, if he has an earring is something that the youth will already be accustomed to; it won't jeopardize him. But if he was in conference with a bunch of merchant bankers in classy offices, it might look more out of place, and it might sometimes jeopardize the guy.

I don't know what exactly you thought I meant, but this is along the lines of what I was thinking, anyway. Sometimes I don't manage to say clearly what I think, of course.

I don't get your references to the wolf and wolves, though. Maybe this relates to something you thought I said, rather than to what I actually said or intended to say, anyway.

Thanks for your participation, anyway.

 

[Fedusenko]

Re: Poll: Earring for a man, a positive testimony

I misunderstood your intentions with the thread. As for the metaphore, I thought you were asking if one got a nosering to fit in with a group, how can they ever stand out. If you comply to the mold of a group more and more, eventually you become part of that group and not the previous group. One might say moderation, another might say be yourself. But this is not inline with your topic. I was merely replying to the post you invited me to and I misunderstood the context.

 

[farouk]

Re: Poll: Earring for a man, a positive testimony

I misunderstood your intentions with the thread. As for the metaphore, I thought you were asking if one got a nosering to fit in with a group, how can they ever stand out. If you comply to the mold of a group more and more, eventually you become part of that group and not the previous group. One might say moderation, another might say be yourself. But this is not inline with your topic. I was merely replying to the post you invited me to and I misunderstood the context.

Fedusenko:

Again, thanks for your contributions; they are all appreciated.

I guess I also need to fine-tune the terms I sometimes use in order to make my intended meaning clearer than it might otherwise seem.

 

[farouk]

Re: Poll: Earring for a man, a positive testimony

There are parents that piece the ears of their young boys when they are very young.

PS: Thirstyone:

Yes, this is true.

I wouldn't argue in favor of this practice. (I wouldn't necessarily argue against it, either.)

But it's true that it happens in not a few families.

And it's undeniable as a consequence that not a few young men are growing up who have known it as a custom, and are not actively aware of a time when it might not have been a widespread custom.

In any case, Christian testimony will move forward regardless among the young generation (whether or not some older people might have different dress and jewelry preferences).

Blessings.

 

[Speculative]

Re: Poll: Earring for a man, a positive testimony

Well, I personally wouldn't wear an earring, but if it is helping this person better relate to, and serve the youth he is working with--if it makes them feel more comfortable to be around him, or gives him some credibility with them, then I'm fine with it.

 

[Fedusenko]

Re: Poll: Earring for a man, a positive testimony

I shall wear an earring to relate with them. I shall wear a certain name brand to relate to them. I shall act a certain way to relate to them. I shall do as they do to relate to them. I am no longer relating to them because I am them.

Speculative, you just illustrated what I was saying and I drew it out for context. The respect grows from 'them' seeing your integrity to be who you are. Without integrity there is no trust, and no witnessing. Play games if you like, but your crown will just be one of evergreen.

 

[Kidron]

Re: Poll: Earring for a man, a positive testimony

I was in high school during 1976-79 not all that far from San Franscisco which had a thriving gay community back then, and I do remember the rumor that if a guy had his right ear pierced it meant he was gay.

Left ear pierced it meant he was a sailor who had sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and surivived to tell the tale.

The only stright guy I knew back then who had a pierced ear (left) was my Uncle Max, but he was always a bit .... different...

there is always down home southern ethics to consider when considering which ear means "gay" or "what"..

As Billy Ray Mac once said....
"now just which pierced ear means gay and which one means suspect?????"......





K

 

[aquamarinesky54]

Re: Poll: Earring for a man, a positive testimony

I voted I don't know because.... I don't know.

I genuinely don't see how something small like an earring can help lead someone to the Lord. Simply because in today's society it's so commonplace and doesn't have much meaning behind it. Since so many people have pierced ears, I think the whole gay connotation has slipped.

I know that when I'm around men with piercings I generally don't notice it until I have to look at them to talk with them, and even then, I think nothing of it. I'm just "meh" about it, and I feel society is too.

I could easily be wrong, but I don't think that it's so different to have a pierced man who's also Christian that pierced non believers would change their minds based just on him. So if you're getting pierced just to be a witness to somebody, I think you might be disappointed and making a mistake.

But if you're doing it just for yourself and because you like it, I can't judge at all. It'd be hypocritical of me, since I'm triple pierced in my earlobes and have one cartilage piercing. I always wear something in them. But they were never done to witness to someone.

 

[farouk]

Re: Poll: Earring for a man, a positive testimony

I voted I don't know because.... I don't know.

I genuinely don't see how something small like an earring can help lead someone to the Lord. Simply because in today's society it's so commonplace and doesn't have much meaning behind it. Since so many people have pierced ears, I think the whole gay connotation has slipped.

I know that when I'm around men with piercings I generally don't notice it until I have to look at them to talk with them, and even then, I think nothing of it. I'm just "meh" about it, and I feel society is too.

I could easily be wrong, but I don't think that it's so different to have a pierced man who's also Christian that pierced non believers would change their minds based just on him. So if you're getting pierced just to be a witness to somebody, I think you might be disappointed and making a mistake.

But if you're doing it just for yourself and because you like it, I can't judge at all. It'd be hypocritical of me, since I'm triple pierced in my earlobes and have one cartilage piercing. I always wear something in them. But they were never done to witness to someone.

aquamarinesky54:

Actually I'm inclined to agree with you. I think that my original post was probably not phrased well in the first place. Or I didn't quite succeed in saying what I wanted to say. Or whatever.

Yes, it's rather nice to do.

If you want it, or want them all, I say just go for it.

It's a kind of classy development isn't it.

(Getting multiples put in also often seems to spread among family members, too.)

Blessings.

 

[aquamarinesky54]

Re: Poll: Earring for a man, a positive testimony

It's hard to convey everything you mean through text sometimes. I've seen many a fight over someone's intentions not being clear because of the method of communication.

It's true in my experience about the family thing. My mom has multiples and couldn't deny me mine when I asked for them since it'd be hypocritical of her. And my sister had them in high school, but they were irritating her skin, so she stopped wearing them. I think she was just wearing a cheap metal, but...

 

[farouk]

Re: Poll: Earring for a man, a positive testimony

It's hard to convey everything you mean through text sometimes. I've seen many a fight over someone's intentions not being clear because of the method of communication.

It's true in my experience about the family thing. My mom has multiples and couldn't deny me mine when I asked for them since it'd be hypocritical of her. And my sister had them in high school, but they were irritating her skin, so she stopped wearing them. I think she was just wearing a cheap metal, but...

aquamarinesky54:

Yes. I know what you're saying.

Like, if you think about it, having doubles done in each earlobe is a custom that women have been doing in increasing numbers since around the late 1970s.

So really if, say, a woman aged in her late 20s then had doubles put in, she would be in her early 60s now, and both her daughter of around 40 and a granddaughter of 18-19 might have had doubles (or more) put in, too.

(I'm almost coming to the point of thinking that rather than being old fashioned for a women not to have pierced ears, even doubles, it might soon be regarded as almost avant-garde not to have had them done! One day, not being tattooed might be regarded as avant-garde, too, rather than a bit old fashioned.) See what I mean?

So I don't know, really; it all seems to come full circle.

I know what you're saying, anyhow.

Blessings.

 

[aquamarinesky54]

Re: Poll: Earring for a man, a positive testimony

aquamarinesky54:

Yes. I know what you're saying.

Like, if you think about it, having doubles done in each earlobe is a custom that women have been doing in increasing numbers since around the late 1970s.

So really if, say, a woman aged in her late 20s then had doubles put in, she would be in her early 60s now, and both her daughter of around 40 and a granddaughter of 18-19 might have had doubles (or more) put in, too.

(I'm almost coming to the point of thinking that rather than being old fashioned for a women not to have pierced ears, even doubles, it might soon be regarded as almost avant-garde not to have had them done! One day, not being tattooed might be regarded as avant-garde, too, rather than a bit old fashioned.) See what I mean?

So I don't know, really; it all seems to come full circle.

I know what you're saying, anyhow.

Blessings.

I'm also inclined to agree with you.

*exit thread* Peace.

 

[farouk]

Re: Poll: Earring for a man, a positive testimony

Do I think it's wrong? I don't think it matters what I think.

Thirstyone:

There are some things that are definitely right or wrong.

There are other things, customs, cultural things, which are so often neither right nor wrong.

More like Romans 14 matters of Christian liberty, really.

Blessings.

(My two cents'.)

 

[Thirstyone]

Re: Poll: Earring for a man, a positive testimony

Thirstyone:

There are some things that are definitely right or wrong.

There are other things, customs, cultural things, which are so often neither right nor wrong.

More like Romans 14 matters of Christian liberty, really.

Blessings.

(My two cents'.)

Do I think it's wrong? I don't think it matters what I think.

What I was trying to say is, what a person does is none of my business since each person has to answer for what they do. It's not my place to tell someone what they can and can't do. Customs change...does that mean that Christians should change and go along with them?

 

[farouk]

Re: Poll: Earring for a man, a positive testimony

Customs change...does that mean that Christians should change and go along with them?

Thirstyone:

No, it doesn't mean that Christians must change their customs. What I think it does mean is that some things can be seen as a matter of opinion, personal taste, etc.

For example, some older Christians might be unaccustomed to seeing young men wearings earrings, because when they were young it wasn't a custom. But I read an article called 'A History of piercing' which says: "Nowadays, pierced ears are almost the norm for men in some parts of Western society." Is this desirable? not necessarily. Is this undesirable? well, I would say, not necessarily, either.

(If this makes any sense?)

Blessings.