Metal Adornments

The following is taken from Section 6 of the “Introduction to Volume Five” of APA:

"In every democracy, there is a disconnect between reality and perception, with this disconnect voicing itself in the people voting for politicians that promise unfunded prosperity as if a person could borrow his or her way to being wealthy. The argument is that right investment—say, investments in education, in green energy, in the environment—made with borrowed money will bring about full employment of a population that looks too much like it has fallen down a flight of stairs while holding a tackle box of fishing lures (Dave Ramsey’s expression) … seriously, has not the person with multiple facial piercings in lips, nose, cheeks, eyebrows made him or herself unemployable? This person would be an employment liability for such piercings are distractions, both to the person and to fellow employees. And while the person has, in a democracy, the right to whatever body adornment the person chooses—a right conferred by citizenship in the democracy—an employer in the same democracy has the right to not hire anyone, or even relocate his or her manufacturing plant to a nation that isn’t rich enough for its populace to practice self-mutilation or self adornment via facial studs and rings.

There is a historical tendency for men to wear earrings shortly before the culture collapses, with the collapsed culture being replaced by a more austere, minimalist culture, one that spurns male head and face piercings ….

 The Lord said to Moses, "Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'To your offspring I will give it.' I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people." When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, "Say to the people of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.'" Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward. (Ex 33:1–6)

A correspondence existed between personal adornment and being far from God, with the removal of personal adornment being a form of humbling oneself before God; of coming before God without haughtiness.

What would the Lord have done with ancient Israel if the nation hadn’t taken off its personal ornaments? Would there even be an ancient Israel, or would there have been only a nation derived from Moses?"

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Can this be the reason why women are to cultivate a meek and quiet spirit instead of outward adornment? (1 Peter 3:3-4)

No Makeup Look … an idea whose time has come

https://www.yahoo.com/style/the-no-makeup-look-is-getting-a-new-face-tracey-103015493458.html

How does one escape the world?

It’s hard to become engaged in politics and not become part of the world. It’s pretty hard to follow the dictates of fashion and not be a part of the world. It’s even harder to keep up with the Joneses and not be part of the world. And it’s pretty hard to keep the holidays of the world without becoming enmeshed in worldly things.

In the democratic West it is an implied part of good citizenship to vote and to volunteer on committees, for school and all of the other places where civil government is formed. Yet, if one is to come out of the world, one gives up allegiances to all and becomes devoted to the kingdom of God.

If you are not at the mercy of the latest fashion whim, one will dress modestly, not adorning oneself with jewels and costly array. One will begin looking like a plain dresser who is not one step behind the fashion police but lives separated from the dictates of fashion. Clothing now serves a functional place of both identifying gender as well as covering the body, keeping it warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

If one is not concerned with what the neighbors have or the car they drive or the toys they possess, then one becomes truly independent and liberated from bondage to the expectations of society. Why does a person need a half-acre of mown grass for a front yard and the riding mower required for its maintenance—why not a half acre of blueberries or whatever the property owner desires? The dictates of fashion and cultural expectations restricts the freedoms of a person and changes liberty into servitude.

Why celebrate the holidays of this world if one wants to come out of the world? Why succumb to the shopping madness that causes half of all retail sales to occur in the weeks before Christmas? Why do one's major shopping on the Sabbath--if a person really wants to come out of the world, why not keep the Sabbath? But that might be asking too much of even those who profess to desire to come out of the world. If a person wants to truly come out of the world a person will give up all of those things that originate in implied and unstated social obligations made to the prince of this world.

Yet to be a witness and a light to neighbors, near and far, adherence to certain social conventions are necessary. A person cannot reek of BO and produce any favorable impression. A person cannot look as if she were a troll living under the nearest bridge and be a positive witness for Christ. So escaping isn’t possible—all that remains possible is exercising control over the freedom extended by being called out of the world. Exercising this freedom comes with the price of being a reliable witness for Christ who lived as an Observant Jew. Freedom from bondage to disobedience does not mean freedom from the law. Too many who desire to leave the world keep one foot in it by maintaining the shackles of disobedience.

By faith I keep the laws of God to the best of my ability. I keep the Sabbaths of God and the principles of clean and unclean meats to the best of my ability. I try to keep in the forefront of my mind “But he [is] a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision [is that] of the heart, in the spirit, [and] not in the letter; whose praise [is] not of men, but of God (Rom 2:29)." My modest dress is moving towards plain as plain dressers’ obedience should begin to encompass obedience to all of the laws of God, not just nine of them.