Re. pierced ears, firstly, I would have thought that very, very few Christians would begrudge a lady getting a couple (or more?) of holes in her earlobes. (Figuratively, the Lord Himself is even recorded as giving earrings - and even a nose ring - to Zion in Ezekiel 16.12.) There is actually another thread about this aspect.
In the book of Exodus, we see the
sons of Israel had earrings. No lawful, historical, or cultural prohibition against them for men exists.
From a
completely personal point of view, women should wear earrings, not men. Nothing religious connected with that personal feeling. (Ha! Just when you thought I was a misguided, religious bigot....lol!)
Neither should women shake hands.
Do you ever read the Huffington Post? and did you happen to see this article a while ago?
Quote from Michelle Gallo-Kohlas :
“’Most of my clients are in the older bracket,’ Gallo-Kohlas told The Huffington Post. ‘We see a lot of women in their sixties and seventies getting their first tattoos.’ Gallo-Kohlas recalls a woman in her sixties who got a tattoo because everyone in the golf clique at her gated community had one. It seemed like the thing to do in order to fit in.’ source: huffingtonpost.com
This is not to suggest this is necessarily good, bad or indifferent and I think that what others are doing should in no way prescriptive of what an individual wishes to do. But the generational observation in this article extract is quite interesting, isn't it? particularly for those who were maybe not so aware of just how prevalent the practice has become across the generations.
Why do we have to know that it's popular among the pagans when considering it's place in the church?
I simply do not understand this twisted logic.