I enjoyed reading your remarks about ear-piercing, and the replies that were posted. There's one verse I didn't see mentioned, and that is Ezekiel 16, where the prophet compares Jerusalem (the people of Israel, or the Church) to an abandoned new-born baby covered with blood, whom He adopted and cared for: "Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil....I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head." He is using these jewels as metaphors for spiritual gifts, as St. Peter explains in I Peter 3: "Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." If God hated earrings he would not use them as a metaphor for spiritual gifts: I think the lesson from both scriptures is that physical adornments are fine and good, even ones involving piercing. If jewelry or piercing becomes an obsession that distracts our thoughts from God's will (i.e. loving our neighbors), then it is a problem. But if we view the ornaments of our bodies as symbols of spiritual ornaments (and it seems most jewelry and piercings do carry meaning for people), then I think it pleasing to God.

Take care,
Mark