The Interactive Notebook

Discussion - Piercings/Liberalism/PR

Piercings

(Discussion topic requested by - Rey-From-Jakku)

▪Are piercings a sin?▪

▪Are they considered harmful to the body, physical and spiritual?▪

▪Do piercings give out the wrong impression of Christians/Christianity?▪

▪Does our physical appearance/impression even matter?▪

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It's definitely quite a controversial subject. I personally do not find them bad. I have my ears pierced and I love it. My mom has her belly button pierced. I've seen people with several piercings on their lip, nose, eyebrows... To ME, no they're not super attractive most of the time, but I feel like it's just another way of expressing your personality!

The Bible tells us not to harm ourselves because our bodies are God's temple, so that part of it is a little iffy. They do not cause any long term pain or damage unless they get infected or whatever, so I'd say they're okay. Please inform me if there's something more you find in the Bible about this!! It helps!

Impression wise, I'll admit, at first I wouldn't really imagine major piercings when I think of a Christian, but that doesn't mean those who do have them give off a bad impression of Christians, which leads to the next part...

Does appearance and the impression we give out as a Christian matter? To some extent, I think it does. The Bible tells us not to put ourselves under the impression of sin, but I don't think piercings would fall under that category of sin.

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Liberalism
(Definition: 1. open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values 2. favorable to or respectful of individual rights and freedoms 3. favoring maximum individual liberty in political and social reform 4. concerned mainly with broadening a person's general knowledge and experience, rather than with technical or professional training 5. broadly construed or understood; not strictly literal or exact)

▪Can liberalism and Christianity go hand in hand?▪

▪Is being a liberal considered a sin?▪

▪Are you liberal, conservative, or neither/I don't know?▪

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Lately, I've noticed how I tend to take on liberal views. Not that I agree with the things they support (homosexuality, racial equality, abortion, environment protection, etc.), but that I, as a human being, believe in equal rights for everyone. So, to see where exactly I stand, I took at least five quizzes yesterday and sure enough, I lean far more towards liberal than conservative. (Sorry, I know most of you are women and we women don't like to engage in this kind of talk, but it's good for us every once in a while.)

Take into consideration this situation: A while ago, I starting becoming really good friends with a girl and she was (and is) a lesbian. Now, don't just read the word "lesbian" and automatically cringe. This girl is actually extremely loving and funny and accepting of everyone. Now, this was around the time when gay marriage was a huge deal in America. I was attending a youth conference in Georgia when gay marriage was legalized. She immediately texted me saying she was crying she was so happy!