You Look Very Christian Today

That would be an odd comment to receive. How would you take that? Compliment or Insult?

I guess the real question is 'Are there Christian and/or un-Christian ways of looking?' Most would probably say 'no' but act as if the answer were 'yes.' As a society, we identify people and categorize them based on the way they look. Everything including their clothes, hair, demeanor, skin (tattoos and piercings), and facial hair help us determine what sort of person we are confronting.

Very few today overtly say, 'A Christian ought to look this or that certain way.' A few will use scripture to argue against tattoos, cross-dressing (women wearing pants in particular), women wearing make-up and jewelry, and hair length (long for men, short for women). Frankly, each argument is pretty flimsy. On a more covert level, however, many believers act as if a Christian ought to be clean, kept, neat, and have no tattoos or piercings (unless they got them before Jesus, Lord forgive them).

So what about it? Are there Christian appearance standards?

Issues to think about: Balancing cultural expectations with Christian freedom, The standard of modesty, matters specific to our culture vs. universal matters.