Bible Question: Does the Bible prohibit body piercing? Please give Scripture with your answer. |
Bible Answer: There are two passages the that I am familiar with concerning this subject: LEV 19:26-28' You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor practice divination or soothsaying. You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads, nor harm the edges of your beard. You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead, nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord. and EXO 21:2-6 "If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment. If he comes alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out alone. But if the slave plainly says, 'I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man, then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently. One passsage seams to deal with the occult and forbids altering the body. The other passage deals with a healthy relationship. The latter also speaks of a specific mark done a specific way to present a specific message. The former speaks to a general cutting. I think that body piercing is unattractive, unnecessary and potentially unhealthy, but that is an opinion that is cultural, and personal. However does the Bible ban it, I don't think so. But then again, I don't see people who are serving Christ getting their bodies pierced, but again that may be cultural. |