“Is Navel Piercing OK?”

Dear Sue,

Recently, I have been thinking about piercing my belly button. I am 13. And you have to be 14, which I will be turning in a couple of months. My mom strongly disagrees, for reasons which I don’t agree with. She thinks it is radical. I think piercing anything on your face is radical. Or your tongue. There are others. But I think your belly button is pretty normal. She was also worried about the health issues.

Some of my friends got theirs pierced, so I want to see how it goes with them. She also said to pray about it. Which I haven’t yet. But I went to Mind Games this weekend, and they mentioned going to Probe.org for questions. So here I am. And I would like to know your opinion on it. I read your article “What About Body Piercing?” but you had only mentioned the tongue piercing, that you disagreed with. But I’d like to know about the belly button.

I’m so glad you went to Mind Games this weekend!! I wish I’d been there to be able to talk to you in person.

I have a question. Why do you want to get your belly button pierced? What’s your motivation? Usually people do it to show it off, but there’s nothing modest about a lady displaying her stomach. Can you show off your body to the glory of God? I don’t believe so. (The place to show off one’s body is for one’s spouse, in private. Check out the Song of Solomon in the Bible.) You would be drawing attention to yourself, not TO Him or FOR Him. We are called to modesty (1 Tim. 2:9), and the whole navel-piercing fad is anti-modesty.

Secondly, lots of people have problems with infection. Body piercing is not healthy, and God wants us to be good stewards of the bodies He gave us.

Third, God’s will is that you submit to your parents until you are on your own as an adult. Parents have a different perspective that comes from having lived longer, and that includes seeing the consequences of people’s choices that are unseen at the time of their choice. If your mom says no, then I can definitely tell you that it is not God’s will for you to pierce your navel and you will be sinning if you do.

I hope this helps!

Sue Bohlin
Probe Ministries