Why are we opposed to tattoos but not to cosmetic surgery?
Question
Hey Gramps!
I don’t understand why the church is okay with surgical body modification but not tatooing. To me, the vanity and rejection of the body God has given us involved in plastic surgery seems a much greater defilement of our temples than a skin-deep procedure that can commemorate important life moments or deep meaning for the recipient. If you can help me understand this better that’d be great.
Thanks!
John
Answer
Dear John,
I think the difficulty lies in the fact that plastic surgery is a very broad topic. I assume you are talking about plastic surgery in the terms of what is elective and would be considered for “vanity purposes” only. But plastic surgery, generally speaking also includes fixing cleft plates, and third degree burns and other trauma.
It appears this is an issue where the Lord expects us to “not be commanded in all things”. But we have been given some guidance to consider from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland:
“Frankly, the world has been brutal with you in this regard. You are bombarded in movies, television, fashion magazines, and advertisements with the message that looks are everything! The pitch is, “If your looks are good enough, your life will be glamorous and you will be happy and popular.” That kind of pressure is immense in the teenage years, to say nothing of later womanhood. In too many cases too much is being done to the human body to meet just such a fictional (to say nothing of superficial) standard. As one Hollywood actress is reported to have said recently: “We’ve become obsessed with beauty and the fountain of youth. … I’m really saddened by the way women mutilate [themselves] in search of that. I see women [including young women] … pulling this up and tucking that back. It’s like a slippery slope. [You can’t get off of it.] … It’s really insane … what society is doing to women.”
In terms of preoccupation with self and a fixation on the physical, this is more than social insanity; it is spiritually destructive, and it accounts for much of the unhappiness women, including young women, face in the modern world. And if adults are preoccupied with appearance—tucking and nipping and implanting and remodeling everything that can be remodeled—those pressures and anxieties will certainly seep through to children. At some point the problem becomes what the Book of Mormon called “vain imaginations.” And in secular society both vanity and imagination run wild. One would truly need a great and spacious makeup kit to compete with beauty as portrayed in media all around us. Yet at the end of the day there would still be those “in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers” as Lehi saw, because however much one tries in the world of glamour and fashion, it will never be glamorous enough.”
So I think the best advice is to prayerfully consider any proposed body changes. Some, like repairing third degree burns, are a blessing, while others may be “spiritually destructive”. As always, the Holy Ghost is your best guide.
Gramps
I would agree that obsessive body remodels are not a good thing. As with most everything you can find a middle ground. We can use Marie Osmond as an example, no question she’s had major surgery. But I think somewhere in between is acceptable.
Aside from medical procedures like Gramps mentioned, I feel it best we treat our bodies as a temple. I wouldn’t go spray paint the side of the Salt Lake Temple with graffiti or chisel up the wall to make it look better, so why would I ink myself up or try to change how I look?
This is just my opinion, but I think women look beautiful just the way they are; so do men. When people think of a beautiful woman, who do they think of? Personally, I think of my own grandmother with her snowy white hair, familiar chuckle, and welcoming smile. How about a handsome man? I think of my uncle with is combed back hair, deep voice, friendly demeanor, and the twinkle in his eye to let you know he’s glad to see you.
Regarding other common trends that may be less permanent than a tattoo, here are a few things for both genders to think about:
1. If God didn’t shave our eyebrows, because he knew it would keep the burning salt in sweat out of our eyes, why do we, and then try and paint what’s not there back on?
2. Why do we darken our eyelids with eye shadow and eyeliner to the point we look like raccoons, and in applications seriously gone wrong, someone who lost a fight and ended up with two black eyes?
3. Why do we tan our skin, so when our shirt sleeves ride up and collars droop it makes us look like a zebra, and puts us at risk for skin cancer later on in life?
4. Why do we dye our hair, when in the old days, graying was a sign of wisdom?
5. Why do we pierce ourselves with every kind of pointy accessory under the sun, including tongue barbells that can make unable to speak clearly, nose rings that make us look like some kind of domestic animal, and so on?
6. Why do we use ear gauges that can make us look like the Dr. Seuss character, Horton?
Also, I think when it comes to looks, we men, especially, need to do a lot more complimenting and showing the women in our lives that they are infinitely beautiful the way HEAVENLY FATHER created them. We should stand up against Hollywood and makeup/fashion companies trying to make a buck off our women and who prey on their insecurities. In fact, I think if we as husbands, fathers, brothers, and so on treated women like our Heavenly Father would, they would take confidence we see past any perceived “flaws” and love them for who they are and not how they look.
Personally, my wife has shed most of the makeup she used to wear as a young woman, and rarely puts on anything, because she knows I love her for her. And if any man doesn’t know what the smile of a woman looks like who truly knows she is loved, he is sorely missing out. A smile from a woman who is confident she is loved lights up a room and gives joy to all those around her. And that, in my eyes, is worth its weight in gold and much more.
The late apostle Joseph B. Wirthlin once came and visited my mission with his wife many, many years ago. But what I remember most about his visit was not meeting him, in particular, but the piercing blue eyes and radiant smile of his wife. I probably shouldn’t say it, but I was more excited shaking her hand than his, because of the aura she had about her. There was nothing fancy about her looks either; she was dressed in a neat and simple manner. That is how the temple is, too. And if simple is beautiful, then why not be that way ourselves?
Lastly, if the sisters could kindly remind some of us self-conscious brothers (who won’t admit it), from time to time, that things like our receding hairline aren’t the end of the world and that worthiness in the priesthood is much more manly than anything we can add to ourselves, it would surely go along way to helping us not go off the deep end when mounting social pressures rear their ugly heads.
I agree with what you wrote. As an LDS Sister, I don’t wear make up, I have no piercings or tattoos and cannot remember the last time I colored my hair (I’m 52 and graying by the second). I’ve never had constructive surgery (I had a C-section, that doesn’t count) and I don’t wear jewelry except for my medic alert bracelet and even that I have to force myself from removing. I don’t wear short dresses, only long ones and I never show anything below my neck. Heavenly Father felt I looked good just the way he made me. I don’t dare alter anything. I used to think that was why I remain single but I figure that’s the single brother’s loss.
About tattoos. When you are young you might have a beautiful natural wood chest of drawers. Then you put a sticker on it. When you get older you visit your old house and go to your old bedroom. By this time, you are an adult. And you think ‘How foolish, how what a mess, how immature’. Also : if you had a prestige car would you write graffiti on it ? So, if you wouldn’t to a valuable object why would you do it to something priceless, something beyond price, something irreplaceable ? Also : If someone gave you a gift would you deface it, pierce it, graffiti it ? Then why would you do that to a gift that Heavenly Father has entrusted you with and has come through great pain and sacrifice to your parents ? The General authorities have explained that the meaning of the word jealous in the scripture ‘I the Lord am a jealous God’ in the Hebrew means ‘sensitive, possessing deep feelings’. Are we considering His feelings ? Personally I think tattooing another person is a form of abuse. You might ask how is it abuse if it is consensual. But if you think about it : abuse is still abuse whether it is consensual or not.