Parable of the Plastic Beauties
The Kingdon of Heaven is like two top bloggers who are both plastic beauties.
No Not barbie dolls ….
No insult to barbie dolls that were originally created with ideal beauty and perfection, but the human plastic beauties are pretty much barbie-doll-wannabes who would go to extreme measures of mutilating parts of their faces in attempts to meet a certain standard of worldly beauty, inevitably cheating God-ordained nature and ethnic genetics.
One is an Atheist/Agnostic while the other is a Christian.
Caught up in the quest for false eternal beauty rather than eternity in heaven, the Atheist Plastic Beauty (APB) probably worships her body rather than God.
As for the Christian Plastic Beauty (CPB), only God knows exactly what she worships.
As netizens watched with amusement the action-packed drama of finger pointing, pulling of each other’s hair and cutting of each other’s throats as they fought to establish who is more popular and less plastic, truth be told that both are plastic and both are popular. Never mind the number of surgeries each has undergone in order to prove which one is more plastic and fake. There are more important things in life to look into for heaven’s sake, and trying to determine the lesser of two evils is out of the question as one is already a Christian.
So what exactly are they popular for? Will they have achieved fame and fortune sans plastic surgeries?
They say money makes the world go round. Apparently these days, false beauty has joined hands with mammon to make the world go round.
As a matter of fact, the more the enhancements, the more they want to show off, the more curious netizens get, and the closer they stalk the plastic beauties to see if their faces melt and collapse anytime ! (think Michael Jackson)
Perhaps both the top bloggers will be living low or average profile lives as writers or something sans plastic.
Both of their human flesh will rot and decay someday when they die. With plastic, perhaps they will leave behind some foreign objects, or cremation might get more explosive than usual !
The crucial difference of course lies in their spirits. Assuming having true Christian faith, the CPB gets to enjoy eternal life in Heaven, while the APB will burn in hell forever unless of course she repents of her sin of unbelief prior to hitting the bucket. That is a Biblical fact. How awesome that God judges no one one based on outward appearances ! After all, the commandment of “Thou shalt not have plastic surgery” does not exist in the Bible, so go ahead and be plastic all you want, as long as it does not cross over into addictive rituals based on perverted views of beauty, attractiveness and sexual appeal as presented by the secular world.
Most assuredly, it is hard for one who is obsessed with self or living in sin of hedonism to enter the kingdom of heaven.
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But what exactly defines “beauty” ?
God created everyone in the planet, but why are some people deemed more beautiful, attractive or good-looking than others? Based on what measure and whose standards? Or it just a deception of the eye or individual perceptions ??
Christians often argue that in God’s eyes, everyone is beautiful… REALLY ???
Did you know that “beautiful” women are singled out and given special mention in the Bible? Noteworthy characters are Sarah, Rebekah, Esther, Bathsheba and Abigail.
Even uniquely “handsome” men like Saul and Absalom are not spared the special mention in the Bible.
(See Scriptures in orange below)
Bearing in mind that the Bible is the inspired written Word of God, does it not imply that God has indeed DELIBERATELY created ONLY SOME women beautiful and SOME men handsome? If ALL humankind were equally created beautiful and handsome, then there was absolutely no need to make special mention of a few selected good-looking characters.
So if the characters above were deemed “beautiful” and “handsome” according to Biblical standards, surely it must automatically follow that there were “non-beautiful” and “non-handsome” people according to Biblical standards.
As a matter of fact, the Bible distinctively features women like Sarah, Rebekah and Bathsheba as VERY beautiful, while emphasizing a few other women like Esther and Abigail as “beautiful”.
This then brings us to 3 distinct categories of women – VERY beautiful, beautiful and Non-beautiful. Problem is, no pictures are available of the biblical characters that existed more than 2000 years ago, so there is no way of gauging what exactly is “Very beautiful”, “beautiful” and what is “non-beautiful”.
In the world today, women are using barbie dolls as role models to emulate beauty and perfection as if that’s how beautiful women in the Bible looked like !
Interestingly the Bible also talks about “beauty treatments” and “cosmetics”.
Esther 2:12
Before a young woman’s turn came to go in to King Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics.
12 months of beauty treatments? Wow, that sounds like a nice Spa & beauty package ! Sounds costly too, perhaps FOC during those times.
Looks like beauty played a big part then as it does now. So who is to say beauty treatments are not important or necessary when the Bible certainly seems to promote it to a certain degree, although it neither specifically commands it or forbids it.
But wait, this is an issue of temporary beauty treatments versus permanent plastic surgeries. Plastic surgeries did not exist during biblical times, so beauty treatments were as far as women can indulge in. But are plastic surgeries necessarily evil and sinful just because the bible does not mention about it ?
I don’t believe any true Christian is going to hell just for turning into a plastic beauty. In Jesus’ own words, “If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” (Matthew 5:29-30)
So Jesus doesn’t seem to have a problem with mutilating your features as long as you don’t end up in hell !
Some women see their single eyelids or flat noses as such traumatic stumbling blocks like they are sinful parts that deserve to be removed, replaced or reconstructed. Good news is, mutilating them isn’t going to cost them their salvation if plastic surgeries can help them achieve their desired looks, boost their morale and bring them joy and peace of mind. I mean, God surely wants us to be happy AND saved, so it is better to be a happy plastic Christian than a Non-plastic Non-Christian ! Let’s not forget that many plastic surgeons are Christians too. They aren’t involved in some kinda abominable trade that will drag them and their patients down to hell someday !
Interestingly the Bible also specifically mentions that Jesus was NOT a handsome man.
In this one and only passage of Isaiah 53:2 in the entire Bible that provides a sharp glimpse of the physical appearance of Jesus, He is respectfully and subtly implied as “ugly”. How strange that God would create many people beautiful and handsome, but His only beloved Son ugly. But why make this special mention? Who cares whether Jesus was handsome or not? He had a bitter sweet earthly life where many people adored Him while others despised and rejected Him. His physical looks had nothing to do with how He was treated or mistreated. Perhaps God the Father found it necessary to send an ugly Son and give us a sneak peak of his hideous looks to show the world that it was not HOW He looked like but WHO He was and WHAT He did for mankind that matters.
But the world today simply cannot seem to accept the fact that Jesus wasn’t a good looker, instead constantly portraying Him as a handsome and charming young man. If a bad-looking Jesus was portrayed instead of a good-looking one, would the world have respected Christianity any less ? Have ugly people gotten so abominable in society that they cannot accurately be portrayed and appreciated for how they really look like, instead of having to endure painful plastic procedures in order to look like a million dollars? It’s becoming increasing impossible to tell a real beauty from a fake one these days – pretty much like the transgenders or gay people.
I do feel sorry for plastic beauties as they do not choose to mutilate their faces out of their own freewill but out of duress and societal pressure. Inferiority and insecurity of their hearts drive them to view their looks with disgust and in desperate need of repair so that they can finally get to flaunt their improved looks and feel good and proud about it.
But thank God that like the Samaritan woman in the Bible who was not condemned by Jesus despite living in the secret sin of bigamy and adultery by having 5 husbands and even lying about it (John 4) , and never mind that Jesus Himself was ugly and had no time nor the interest for beauty treatments, God does not condemn the plastic culture, for only He knows the motives and attitudes of our hearts.
Yes life is unfair, blame God for it, but it does not necessarily mean that there’s nothing one can or should do about it that does not violate the Holy Bible. In fact, a Christian plastic beauty should remain humble and grateful to God for plastic surgeons, the new look that makes her more appealing and confident, and the consequent success and favors she may get to enjoy as a result of the surgery.
