Earrings On Men-Vanity?

What do you think of men wearing (masculine type) earrings

  • I think it's OK for men to wear earrings.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I don't think men should wear earrings.

    Votes: 2 33.3%
  • I don't care one way or the other if men wear earrings.

    Votes: 4 66.7%

  • Total voters
    6
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I have a question for the forum relating to men who wear earrings and how it relates to vanity.

"Vanity" is defined in the dictionary as:excessive pride in one's appearance, qualities, abilities, and achievements.
I am a 51 year old male, I am married and have a teenage son. I also wear earrings.

The reason I wear them is that I like them and as they are just a piece of jewelry, like a ring, necklace or bracelet. I think they look good on me and enhance my appearance. I am a fairly plain looking person and think that jewelry just enhances my look.

Like all pieces of jewelry there are masculine types of jewelry and feminine types of jewelry. There are many types of earrings that I think are for women and I would never wear them because they are feminine looking. I think male and female fashion is different(this is a whole other topic of discussion) and I only wear masculine looking earrings (small studs)

Many men wear bracelets, necklaces and rings on their fingers. Why not earrings in their earlobes? If they are masculine studs or small hoops, I don't see the issue. Men have been wearing earrings on and off for centuries. it was only in the past few hundred years that the idea of men with earrings was effeminate. This antiquated notion is slowly going away, thankfully.

A bit of history:
I wore an earring when I was young (20's) and stopped wearing one when I joined an ultraconservative church in my late 20's. they forbade men from wearing earrings, so I stopped wearing one.

I left that ultraconservative church (mormon church) about 4 years ago and started wearing earrings again about a year ago. Shortly after that, at church an older woman noticed that I was wearing earrings and in a forthright way said that I was being "vain and rebellious".

The rebellious I could kind of see, but vain? The woman was dressed nicely and had her hair styled nice and had earrings herself, but she thought I was vain for wearing earrings? (I had on a plain shirt and jeans)

I don't see how a man wearing earrings is being vain (showing excessive pride in one's appearance) but a woman is not vain for the same thing?.
 
Everything we do on this earth that is not God-centered is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 1:2 (KJV)
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all [is] vanity.​

Still:

Titus 1:15 (KJV)
Unto the pure all things [are] pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving [is] nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.​

 
I have a question for the forum relating to men who wear earrings and how it relates to vanity.

"Vanity" is defined in the dictionary as:excessive pride in one's appearance, qualities, abilities, and achievements.
I am a 51 year old male, I am married and have a teenage son. I also wear earrings.

The reason I wear them is that I like them and as they are just a piece of jewelry, like a ring, necklace or bracelet. I think they look good on me and enhance my appearance. I am a fairly plain looking person and think that jewelry just enhances my look.

Like all pieces of jewelry there are masculine types of jewelry and feminine types of jewelry. There are many types of earrings that I think are for women and I would never wear them because they are feminine looking. I think male and female fashion is different(this is a whole other topic of discussion) and I only wear masculine looking earrings (small studs)

Many men wear bracelets, necklaces and rings on their fingers. Why not earrings in their earlobes? If they are masculine studs or small hoops, I don't see the issue. Men have been wearing earrings on and off for centuries. it was only in the past few hundred years that the idea of men with earrings was effeminate. This antiquated notion is slowly going away, thankfully.

A bit of history:
I wore an earring when I was young (20's) and stopped wearing one when I joined an ultraconservative church in my late 20's. they forbade men from wearing earrings, so I stopped wearing one.

I left that ultraconservative church (mormon church) about 4 years ago and started wearing earrings again about a year ago. Shortly after that, at church an older woman noticed that I was wearing earrings and in a forthright way said that I was being "vain and rebellious".

The rebellious I could kind of see, but vain? The woman was dressed nicely and had her hair styled nice and had earrings herself, but she thought I was vain for wearing earrings? (I had on a plain shirt and jeans)

I don't see how a man wearing earrings is being vain (showing excessive pride in one's appearance) but a woman is not vain for the same thing?.

In my opinion its just like people getting legalistic about a man with long hair, or a woman wearing make up or pants. It's just man made rules and burdens that people place upon others that are no where in the Bible.
 
Greetings:
Earrings enhances a woman's aestheticical god's given beauty.In a boot camp(old days),everything came off,and the man(boy) was built up,Earrings on a man brings him down to the degenerate level.
bye
 
Thanks for all the (interesting) responses.
I realize that like a lot of things, men wearing earrings is a polarizing issue, especially in Christian circles.
Some people think it's OK (great even), most don't care, while others think its wrong.

My purpose was not really to debate this issue, (I think its perfectly fine and I will continue to wear my earrings until that day that I no longer want to) but the issue of why I was labelled as "vain" for wearing earrings, when the woman who made the comment was herself wearing earrings and dressed nicely.

I don't understand the distinction.

In the Bible it states that "women shall not put on man's attire and men shall not put on women's attire". I don't view earrings in general as "women's attire". As I related in my original post, there are earrings suitable for women (women's attire) and earrings suitable for men. Just like there are women's rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc.there are men's styles of these same items...including earrings.
 
Thanks for all the (interesting) responses.
I realize that like a lot of things, men wearing earrings is a polarizing issue, especially in Christian circles.
Some people think it's OK (great even), most don't care, while others think its wrong.

My purpose was not really to debate this issue, (I think its perfectly fine and I will continue to wear my earrings until that day that I no longer want to) but the issue of why I was labelled as "vain" for wearing earrings, when the woman who made the comment was herself wearing earrings and dressed nicely.

I don't understand the distinction.

In the Bible it states that "women shall not put on man's attire and men shall not put on women's attire". I don't view earrings in general as "women's attire". As I related in my original post, there are earrings suitable for women (women's attire) and earrings suitable for men. Just like there are women's rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc.there are men's styles of these same items...including earrings.
I think it's just the legalists that like to make laws, like the Pharisees before them, to keep people in bondage and make it impossible to live in peace and joy of the Lord. Read the word of God:

Exodus 32:2 (KJV)
And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which [are] in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring [them] unto me.​

Exodus 35:22 (KJV)
And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, [and] brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold: and every man that offered [offered] an offering of gold unto the LORD.​

As long as anything is not an idol (something more cherished than God), He doesn't care.
 
In the Bible it states that "women shall not put on man's attire and men shall not put on women's attire". I don't view earrings in general as "women's attire". As I related in my original post, there are earrings suitable for women (women's attire) and earrings suitable for men. Just like there are women's rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc.there are men's styles of these same items...including earrings.

Do hou happen to know where this is found?
Thanks
 
Do you happen to know where this is found?
Thanks

yes, Deuteronomy 22:5

i don't know the full context of this verse, because a lot of commandments in the Old Testament are taken out of context and a lot of the OT laws were done away with when Jesus came on the earth.

Still, my opinion is that men should not cross dress but it's not just because of this scripture verse. I think God made us inherently feminine or masculine and that we should emulate the gender we are given as it is an important part of our individual identity.

For this reason, I just think it's wrong for men to wear women's attire and vice versa and as I mentioned before, I don't believe earrings are inherently "women's attire".
 
I think it's just the legalists that like to make laws, like the Pharisees before them, to keep people in bondage and make it impossible to live in peace and joy of the Lord. Read the word of God:

Exodus 32:2 (KJV)
And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which [are] in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring [them] unto me.​

Exodus 35:22 (KJV)
And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, [and] brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold: and every man that offered [offered] an offering of gold unto the LORD.​

As long as anything is not an idol (something more cherished than God), He doesn't care.


I totally agree with this statement
 
yes, Deuteronomy 22:5

i don't know the full context of this verse, because a lot of commandments in the Old Testament are taken out of context and a lot of the OT laws were done away with when Jesus came on the earth.

Still, my opinion is that men should not cross dress but it's not just because of this scripture verse. I think God made us inherently feminine or masculine and that we should emulate the gender we are given as it is an important part of our individual identity.

For this reason, I just think it's wrong for men to wear women's attire and vice versa and as I mentioned before, I don't believe earrings are inherently "women's attire".

Good morning my brother. I see that you have a question about men wearing earrings and in fact you have quoted Deuteronomy 22:5.

I am not an authority on this and I am in no way a logistic person. However I do believe that the Bible speaks to certain things and in some cases is silent on certain things. IMO that is God allowing us to come to the conclusion for ourselves with the information He gives us on that subject.

Consider the fact that with certain issues, such as smoking, use of makeup, celebration of birthdays, and others, there is no specific “Thou shalt not…” regarding earrings to be found in the Bible.

But there are principles in Scripture to which we can look at.

One is found in I Corinthians 11:14.........
“Does not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame to him?”

What is Paul saying here?????? Paul is saying that common sense—“nature”—tells us that men should look like men, not women. They should not have long hair, because it is —“a shame.”

IMHO which anyone and everyone is welcome to reject this principle applies to earrings. Typically and historically, it has been women who wear earrings. Even in today’s liberal, laid-back society, it is still mostly women who do this. Also factor in that, in recent decades, men choosing to live “alternative lifestyles” often chose to pierce their ears as a signal to others.

You quoted Deuteronomy 22:5 and I ask you notice that........
“The woman shall not wear that which pertains unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord your God.”

Then in Zephaniah 1:8 we see this......
“And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord’s sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.”

The Jamison, Fausset and Brown Commentary explains “strange apparel” as “…garments forbidden by the law—e.g., men’s garments worn by women, and vice versa.” So we can now see why it is wrong for men to wear earrings. It is a shame for men to appear effeminate!
 
We know what the meaning for effeminate is today. What was the meaning when it was written ?

Now this may or may not be true because I do not have the resources to do this study on my
own..... I did do some reading a long time ago from those who had dug deep into this. They painted a different picture of the word effeminate.

Men who were placed in charge over harems and other such groups of woman.
Many tended to act like the modern day Casanova and charm and use authority and seduce the woman. It was said they got the label of effeminate.

Now then the same thing about men in woman's clothing.........
There were some armies of the time that began to dress like woman and would begin advancing towards their enemies. Now of course their enemies only saw women walking so did nothing and we're slaughtered.

The same with long hair.....
Womans hair was important to a woman and it was worn very long. At least to the waist or longer. This was long hair.

Now hair to the shoulders would be considered short to the length worn by woman.

Again I do not know if this is true or not.
I don't have the resources to dig through all the original writings and meanings.

But I can say, I have seen words and meanings change generation after generation myself.

If I were to give letters written by my grandmother to young people today....well they would haver her words twisted and perverted by their own human understanding and reasoning of the day.

So again I am not saying what I have written is true......but I am saying that it is possible man has been speaking much of what has been written in God's word falsely over the generations.

Blessings
FCJ
 
Thanks for the responses and input on this subject. I'd like to add to my comments.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I agree that men should not wear women's apparel and vice versa. I see lots of guys wearing clothing that straddles the fence in terms of what is considered masculine attire and feminine attire. Indeed our society today has blurred the lines more than any time in history in this regard.

A lot of clothing has masculine versions and more feminine versions. I see some guys in frilly lacy scarves and I think that it looks effeminate. I personally would not wear any type of accessory that appears feminine, be it boots, scarves, shirts, or pants or any type of clothing...or jewelry!
What is considered feminine and what is considered masculine? Thats another topic in itself.

I guess what I'm getting at is that I don't consider earrings to be inherently feminine attire. There were times all throughout history when men have worn earrings, it's only been in the last few generations where the "feminine" connotation was attached to them. Why was this? I have no idea. Fashions change, society changes, we are always changing or views on what is appropriate and not appropriate. It was not that long ago considered inappropriate for women to wear pants. Now it's acceptable in our society.

I'll bet that once upon a time someone somewhere was discussing "Is it appropriate for women to wear pants?" and there were those who thought it was OK and others didn't.
The same thing with earrings.

So if we go by the Bible, no where does it specifically prohibit men from wearing earrings or at least no one can show me where it does. The only biblical issue is the "men not to wear women's attire and women not to wear men's attire" and again I don't consider earrings "women's attire".
 
I think one can always remember that honestly God looks at the heart, and the motive in ones heart. And a lot of times what's in one's heart is going to show on the outside. (Matthew 12:34-35).

The rest a lot of times falls on judging someone when its not our place. For God looks on the heart and man looks or judges on the outward appearance (1 Samuel 16:7)

Blessings
 
As I was praying.... jtbrock.... You know what's in your heart. You know your motives, and so does God. So if you feel convicted for the positive or the negative...only you will know. And if you have any hidden or alterior motives...only you will know.

So in all honesty the only ones approval you need is God. Its between you and Him. All other man's or peoples opinions mean nothing in the end.

Blessings
 
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