The Bible's takes on beauty and appearance

This subject has been on my mind for months, maybe for almost one year and I guess that I've handled this subject already more or less but this time I'll bring you on some of my new thoughts and inspirations about beauty standards. But why am I bringing this on right now? Because for a while ago I visited Bloggers and there was a really fruitful conversation about secular beauty standards going on. I don't know whether the starter of the conversation was a male or female but surprisingly the nick referred to more male than female in my associations. Anyway, OK, let's say his concern was that he called himself fat and he felt there's a boundary between him and other people because of that and he felt that he isn't accepted because of his shape. I want to note that people gave him mostly some really beautiful and wise responses and the key idea of these responses seemed to be "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". They also said that it matters the most what you think of yourself and when you will learn to love yourself the way you are, you'll be loved in return. But one sentence really touched me because I truly agree:" Even the slim are lonely." They also said that beauty comes from the inside and your inner beauty is reflected on the outside. "Beauty is always found from within." True friends accept you the way you are they also said. From the other hand they also said that he should take more care of his health, maybe to eat healthier and do some exercise. I think that everybody who responded to this conversation were right in their own way.

The reason why this conversation even exists is that media seems to give us a narrow-minded idea about ideal beauty which is that women is ought to be slim and men is ought to be muscley. Or from my point of view this at least used to be ideal beauty about 10 years ago. Once (and not even for so long time ago) I was being dumped by a spiritual guy with creative aspirations for not having big breasts enough or curvier body enough but he was satisfied with my inner beauty. In my opinion this actually seems to be a growing trend: In TV programmes that I've seen ordinary men when being asked on ideal beauty the general of them answered "women's got to have chest" and I actually hear or read more and more men saying that curvy women like Beyoncé and Kim Kardashian are considered sexy. Wow, when I was 11-years-old guys criticized me almost straight to my face for not being beautiful enough because "I was chubby". Well, insecure that I was already then, I dietted for one year - in puberty! And now I'm so mesmerized for hearing that I'm not good enough for being slim?! When I was 11-years-old I even had short hair and I wore glasses until I turned 16. Not standard beauty, eh (or so it seemed to me)? Though I had reached a slim fit and long hair until secondary school I suffered from braces and glasses but by the year 2007 I got them both away and so I had reached the way that I actually look even on this day, now wearing contact lenses.

Actually, to be honest, I've been lately getting really confused about what's the ideal beauty of today. There's no denying that media is still full of those mainly slim women with good-looking abs starting from music videos to the covers of magazines. My current shape is something in between these extremities of curvy and being slim with good-looking abs: I haven't heard anybody calling me fat for about 10 years, so I have to be one of the slimmest kind but without good-looking abs. Well, in my opinion I'm healthy shape for being an average type but I've been asking myself for months, Which way should I go from here? Should I pursue more curves or should I be after good-looking abs? According to media my average type doesn't seem to be sexy. Well, due to my experiences in puberty I'd rather be after good-looking abs or just stay the way I am. But the question is burning inside me, is my average type ever considered beautiful? You see from what I've written in this post that for years I've seen quite a huge effort for improving my looks with natural procedure, without surgery. I'm not even that type of girl who's into make-up but I might use lip gloss at times.
I actually recently started to put a bit more effort to exercise too which has been my weakness for years. I actually already started yoga in 2009 and I had a pretty long break from it until returning to it again. I think yoga is the only exercise that I truly love and that genuinely makes me happy. I've also started to do abdominal workout on a daily basis and tried some dance/aerobic which inspires me but can't beat yoga. As I already pointed out in my previous post the truth is that there truly are moments when I'm feeling myself beautiful or sexy in my own skin, especially when I do yoga. So you would ask me, what's my problem then?

I actually read through my self-analysis in this post and my point seems to be: Is it worth losing your natural self for the standards of others (meaning the secular beauty standards) IF you after all are truly happy with what you are? Well, my answer is NO without any hesitation. OK, now I'm once again going to surprise some of my friends who have known me for long time: If I'm truly honest with myself and close my ears from the standards I wouldn't necessarily change much of anything in my looks, especially not my shape because I consider it being healthy. I also wouldn't necessarily dye my hair - I've never dyed my entire hair but 10 years ago I tried small amounts of red and blonde (not together though!). Anyway, been there done that. If I'm happy with my God-given features so be it. There's no use for changing yourself for people who genuinely don't love you because God, your true friends and your true family have already accepted you. 

 

But to avoid any misunderstanding I'll highlight: There's nothing wrong with dying your hair, following trends and fashion and mainstream and exercising if you ask yourself:" Is this truly me, am I being real?" and your answer is YES. I'm only saying that there's no use of changing yourself for others but if you consider yourself a brave style chameleon then it's part of who you are and nobody should have any rights to disrespect that. This may work for you but it doesn't work for me and it's all beautiful :).  

The best advice that I would give for anyone or the best that I've gotten is:" Stand behind your words." Yes, it usually means that your deeds must equal to your words but I'm seeing this phrase deeper than that: You could include to this also being true to yourself in the way that I've described in this post because if you're trying to be something that you are not that's not standing behind your words, right? All this blog represents being true to oneself because I'm always outspoken and want to encourage my readers to follow your path, whatever it is as long as you're true to yourself. It's all part of your gift and purpose provided by God. YOU are the gift. 

The Bible and beauty 

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:14 

The idea behind this Scripture is the same as I had in my previous post: God created human as His image. We are His masterpieces and made unique and different on purpose: We don't have to fit in any standards because we already are the standard! God created only biological twins to fit in the same standard but made it surreal and impossible for the other ones. Let's embrace our different genders, ethnic backgrounds, talents, beliefs, dreams, bodyshapes, wealth and health - This all is part of the magnificent plan. 

"But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7 

The world focuses on what people look like on the outside. God focuses on what people look like on the inside. There's nothing wrong with wanting to look pretty and seeing effort to your outfit but as I said in my previous post: God wants us to be and do everything in balance so we shouldn't overdo our efforts towards inner or outer beauty. Both in moderation are good to have.
Now that I'm saying this in my opinion plastic surgery is overdoing your effort over outer appearance in 90 % of the cases. I mean by this that I accept it in cases where your facial features are turned so shapeless that we can't say that you have eyes, lips or nose. I believe that it's part of our human value and rights to have a face. I wouldn't encourage an ordinary healthy person to go and do plastic surgery and I also don't accept plastic surgery done for Down syndrome patients because they do have distinctive facial features.     


"Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised." Proverbs 31:3

Beauty fades with age, so if you are more concerned with your outer appearance, you will be unhappy when the wrinkles come and the number on the scales goes up. God wants us to "fear" Him, which means that we should put Him before any other standards and it doesn't matter to Him that we're getting old: He will still see us beautiful when we continue to reach for Him. 


"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." 1 Peter 3:3-4

This doesn't mean that it would be reprehensible to put effort on your outfit but God would rather see us putting effort on inner beauty which will probably last longer or at least He appreciates it more. I'm saying probably because people do can change in time on the inside and on the outside. 

"Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is much more important, for it promises a reward in both this life and the next." 1 Timothy 4:8 

Exercising and staying in shape is a good thing but God expects us to stay in shape spiritually by reading our Bibles, praying and going to church on a regular basis. In other words, there will be plenty of people who put their time and effort into staying in shape but who are out of shape spiritually. Our heart and soul matter to God more than anything.  

The mysterious woman in this picture is The Queen of Sheba. I chose her because I consider her being a Biblical beauty icon because her legendary beauty is highlighted so much in the Scripture. Also Queen Esther is one of the Bible's beauty icons. But actually if we should choose the most crucial Biblical beauty icon I would name it Mary Mother Of Jesus without any hesitation because as we see the Bible highlights high moral values, justice and inner beauty more than anything else and I think that the Biblical beauty ideals are crystallized the best in Mary. She's been described as humble and diligent putting herself before others.

Bliss is also beauty: when you're happy and smiling and you have a positive outlook on life it becomes easier to appreciate your own beauty and see beauty and goodness in others and around you as well. 

I'm going to make a surprising point: Though the Bible highlights inner beauty I just realized that the entire Song Of Solomon might be the most superficial book of the Bible most of its chapters praising outer appearance as we know and if there's to believe in the lore, the woman praised is The Queen Of Sheba. Having knowledge of both the Bible and Quran I know that both books have similar concepts on outer beauty and appearance because they were both written in Middle East. Knowing the context and era during which both of these holy books were written, they seem to highlight brown eyes, dark skin and thick black hair and as I interpret both books - also a curvy shape as beauty ideals. This is of course obvious because women living in Middle East generally look like this. I also want to highlight the beauty concept of Antiquity because the Bible was written in this era: Against our modern ideal of feminine beauty they actually thought the fatter, the better! They considered slim women like me ill and unsexy! But the ideal beauty concept on men hasn't changed since Antiquity: men are still encouraged to be muscley.

 I'm making a conclusion: The Bible lets me understand that your looks do matter but it would be a much, much bigger loss if your heart and soul were ugly.

 

Beauty secrets from the Antiquity!

      Oils

Oils used in Biblical beauty treatments included myrrh which was given to baby Jesus by The Three Wise Men and later used to anoint his dead body. Esther received a six-month myrrh oil beauty treatment in preparation of her marriage to King Ahasuerus (Esther 2:12). Myrrh moisturizes and heals the skin. Myrrh and other oils, such as cassis oil and frankincense, were also used as perfume at that time. Olive oil was another ancient beauty treatment used for its moisturizing and anti-aging properties:
Woman of Valor teaches how you can make your own Biblical fragrant olive oil treatment: Place a brown glass bottle with cold pressed olive or almond oil, full with herbs on the heater for a period of time. Or heat the bottle with oil and herbs placing the bottle in a pan with hot water for some time or just by placing it in the hot sun. Use this infused oil immediately after showering on your wet skin to make sure the oil absorbs the skin completely. Your skin will not feel oily after using the oil like this.

Nuts

Nuts are mentioned in the Bible for internal and external beauty uses. The staff of Moses' brother Aaron bursts into blooms with ripe almonds in an Old Testament story. Almonds are a source of vitamin E which protects the skin from wrinkles, photo damage and may improve skin texture. Pistachios were used for skin treatments and as food during Biblical times and are believed to have been part of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Pistachios contain carotenoids, a phytonutrient that helps protect the skin from sunlight-induced inflammation.

Fruit

Fruits mentioned in the Bible include the apricot, mentioned in Proverbs 25:11. Apricots are rich in carotene, a phytonutrient that protects the skin from UV damage. Pomegranates were brought back by spies of Moses to give to the hungry Israelites during the Exodus. They contain more antioxidants than red wine and green tea. Pomegranates contain polyphenols, powerful antioxidants that protect the skin from aging. Pomegranates are now used in skin creams, in addition to be eaten.

Dairy products

Milk baths were another beauty staple of the ancient world. Cleopatra, who ruled before the birth of Christ, was one of the first women on record to have utilized this treatment, though she used camel's milk. Milk contains vitamins D and A, which keep skin strong yet soft, as well as beta hydroxy acids, which slough dead skin from the body. Milk's ingredients also soothe and hydrate newly revealed skin. It may also be used as a hair treatment as it removes the small scales on hair follicles that make hair look dull.

Scents, cosmetics and other procedure

Biblical women may have also used scents such as saffron, myrrh, calamus, nard, cinnamon, henna. Women may have used also beet juice and pomegranate seed juice for blush and lip stain. They also surely had honey and oil massages for moist and soft skin after milk baths. 

Questions for readers: After reading my post do you think that Biblical view on beauty differs from the secular one or are they one and same? Also, what's the ideal beauty of today? Have beauty ideals changed in the past 10 years or have they remained the same? Feel free to comment below.      

                              

Christian meditation - Is there one?

My mum revealed some details of my birth that I hadn't known until this day. For a while it had seemed that my heart was beating less but for some reason God wanted to save me. Ten years later God saved me also from the eye of storm that could have killed me and the rest of our small family. He saved me once again for some reason. Also there was to be the third incident that might have endangered my ability to breath... I have realized that I might have some difficulty with it as I breath heavily. I chose a couple of pictures of rainforest for this post as they're the lungs of Earth and in my today's subject, Christian meditation, breathing is the central point.

But to continue about my breathing it's like I haven't lived fully until this day and as if my struggle of existence would be a metaphor of that. Now that I've explored some Christian meditation from books and Internet and started practicing it daily, it has opened my eyes to see my existence from a renewed ankle. It's a lot more than about breathing. It's true that my life is now happier, fuller and more balanced than ever before, because I've found love and I'm convinced that it fills me - but still there's something missing. My dreams are just about to be realized, but despite all this mercy and love I've forgotten to love myself. I've given up some things, because others have told me that I couldn't or shouldn't do them. They have told me that I shouldn't dream of translator's job, because I couldn't cope with my Maths learning difficulty in university. They have told me that I wouldn't be a true Christian if I practiced yoga - I gave it up 1,5 years ago though it helped me and I read that during positions I could meditate on my personal manifestation of God which is Jesus. I'm now 20-years-old and I'm convinced that this is the best time of my life to use all my potential. So why wouldn't I use it? Despite others' narrow-minded beliefs I'm working so hard to graduate, because even if I failed I could be at least proud of myself because I didn't give up without trying. During these past years I've learned that I'm blessed in my struggle, because it draws me closer to God. Wonders of Jesus told in New Testament show how God can turn impossible into possible: those before blind see and the crippled walk etc. Isn't it time to follow our calling forgetting all doubts set on us and just lean on God? Will you join me with this new possibility of being closer to God and starting to live fully with all of your breathing capacity?

Meditation in the Bible

It is believed that Jesus and John the Baptist practiced meditation and here are some Bible references that let us know meditation is accepted for Christians:

Psalms chapter 46:10 tells "us to be still and know that I am God".

Psalms 63:6 ask us to spend hours in grateful meditation if we're sleepless at night.

I'll ponder all the things God has accomplished, and give a long, loving look at His acts. -Psalms 77:12

Joshua chapter 1 verse 8, admonishes us to meditate on God's word day and night.

Psalms chapter 4:4 persuades us "When you are in your beds serach your hearts and be silent"

David desired in Psalms 104:34, that his meditations be pleasing to the Lord.

Isaiah declared in Chapter 50:4, "He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught."

Moses spent 40 days on the mountain abiding and learning from God (Exodus 34-35)

Paul received revelation and saw visions from heaven (2 Corinthians 12). John wrote visions that are recorded in the book of Revelations.

The Bible says even Jesus spent hours alone with God (Luke 5:16; Mark 1:35)

How to do Christian meditation?

Meditating with a mantra or a Bible phrase

This can be accomplished each day by carving out time each day to sit quietly before the God where you are free from distractions. The ocean or secluded areas of nature are great places to meditate, but a quiet area at your home works just as well. Initially, meditating on Lord by abiding may be difficult because our mind tends to be restless and wander but with consistency you'll gain more and more control over your thoughts. Many meditators choose a biblical passage or word to focus on and anchor their attention, often called a mantra. Your mantra or biblical phrase could be "the Lord is my Shepherd", "I walk by faith", "the joy of the Lord is my strength", "I cast my cares upon the Lord" or "peace be still". You can also say "Come Lord Jesus" which is suggested because of its relevance in scriptures and its lack of an emotional or mental references, which inhibits our minds from creating a mental attachment to the word.

Meditating with a Sacred word or Scripture passage

You can also select a sacred word like "Jesus" or "Jehovah" to meditate on. Meditate in silence or recorded music playing in the background. It's best to time the music or use a timer so that you're not worried about being late for work or missing an appointment. As you meditate, become fully present by paying attention to your breathing and your sacred. As you breath in and out, think about the breathe of life entering your lungs and penetrating every cell of your body. In Genesis, it says that God breathed the breath of life into Adam. Visualize God's breathe entering your lungs and filling you with heath, energy and life. You can silently repeat your sacred word in alignment with your breathing or anytime your mind begins to wander off. You can also create a mental picture in your mind to focus on like sitting at the foot of Jesus or touching his garment. AS you practice being still and calming your thoughts you'll sense a greater feeling of God's presence and a greater sensitivity to hearing his voice.

You'll begin to sense the yearning of the Holy Spirit as he drops words or impressions on your heart. As you practice this form of meditation you'll find old weights and worries seem to disappear. No evil thing can stand in God's presence.

Using Guided Christian Meditations

Guided meditations are another method hat can help you to meditate on Christ. Guided meditations are usually on CD, MP3 or cassette. Guided Christian Meditations are great for beginning meditators and are a good transition to learning to meditating by abiding or with a mantra. Some people need the added stability and structure of being guided through their meditation experience. Most guided meditation CDs begin with relaxation exercises followed by a scriptural narrative. Some are filled with biblical stories; others are more visual or interactive like taking you on a walk through nature or nailing your cares to the cross. Guided Christian meditations can also cover a wide variety of topics that help you trust God for healing, to control negative thoughts, or to release painful memories of the past.

Meditate on God's Word

Another popular and more historical way of meditating is what the Christian's monks called contemplative prayer. This form of meditating involved selecting a short scripture or biblical passage and then reflecting on it for the entire day. During their reflections, the monks would think about how these particular scriptures were relevant to their lives. They took ownership of the scriptures by making them their own. They measured their behavior by them and contemplated what changes they needed to make so that their life personally reflected the passages. You can add this form of meditating to your daily devotion, by selecting and writing down a particular passage and then ask God to make this passage real to you. Interestingly, the passage will seem to take on a life of its own. Scripture says that God's word is like a two edge sword, it is alive and it quickens us (Hebrews 4:12). We are changed by the word; but the word has to get into our heart and our spirit and not just our minds. Meditating on the word by taking small bites and then chewy them slowly is transformative and much more effective than just reading whole chapters of scriptures.

Join a Christian Meditation Group

Lastly, consider joining a Christian Meditation Group. Through the World Community for Christian Meditation WEbsite (WCCM) (http://www.wccm.org/) or Contemplative Outreach (http://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/) you may be able to locate a group in your area. If no groups are available, consider starting your own. The organization provides resources on how to start and maintain a Christian Meditation Group. By joining a group you can receive instruction on meditating as well as benefit from the knowledge of some veteran meditators. Just like corporate church worship can be uplifting, energizing, and unifying, meditating on God collectively also ushers in the sweet spirit and presence of God. Groups usually meet once or twice a week and are free of charge. During the meeting, a short teaching relating to meditation or spiritual growth is shared by the facilitator. THis is followed by a time of meditation which last for about 20 minutes. Afterwards, there may be a shared a discussion or believers may be asked to leave quietly as to not to disturb those still waiting on the Lord.  

Try Christian meditation right now!


Some phrases you can try to meditate on that have especially helped me: 1. God has blessed the works of my hands 2. With my faith and patience, I receive all God has promised 3. Nothing is Impossible to him who believes 4. I receive whatever I believe. I also have a Christian Morning Meditation in my mp3 player (of course recorded by Rhonda Jones) and I find it a true blessing to be able to begin my day like this :). According to my experience Christian meditation purifies your mind for a moment from stress and worries and it blesses your life with new ankles to it.


You can meditate on any phrase or passage by using this simple form:


1. Read the phrase or passage 3 times aloud. Each time you read it, place emphasize on a different word.


2. Take a deep breath in... exhale. Repeat.


3. Close your eyes and silently repeat the meditation 3 times in alignment with your breathing.


4. Take in another cleansing breath and and exhale.


5. Spend a few more moments enjoying the silence.


6. Open your eyes.


7. Ask God to make these words alive in you today.


8. Ponder the meditation throughout the day.


9. Thank God for His divine love, guidance and protection.


All the credits and rights of this information I shared about Christian meditation in this post belong to Rhonda Jones (picture above) and they're based on my FREE daily Christian meditations and lessons on the subject that I receive from her through e-mail. Got interested? Please visit Rhonda Jones's website http://www.thechristianmeditator.com/ for more information and Guided Christian Meditations on CD and MP3 to be purchased. Also the instructions that I presented in this post for doing Christian meditation were provided by Rhonda Jones's e-mails that anybody can receive for FREE by subscribing in her website. Find "The Christian Meditator" also in Youtube. 

Individual and cultural fasting

Now that we're having the second day of muslims annual fasting month Ramadan, I decided to dedicate one post for the subject as fasting is touching Christians as well. And because my fiancé comes from Islamic culture I'd like to highlight Ramadan especially today to respect him and his friends. Anyway, fasting was set to Christianity for 40 days before Easter in 300 AC and before that we used to do it also on Wednesdays and Fridays. We Protestants do it seldom anyway, but Roman Catholics and Orthodox still practice it. In Orthodox Church fasting means avoiding certain food ingredients and avoiding to hurt others by words and deeds. It also means separating from those ways and manners that separate human from God. They do it for spiritual growing and achieving similarity to God. They fast also when preparing themselves for a great churchy celebration. In Catholic Church fasting means days when according to church they must decrease their daily eating for one full meal and to two small ones as a separation from abstinence which means refusal from eating meat especially on Fridays before Easter. Because the reformation of Luther criticized fasting as an outer action that can't cause salvation we Protestants don't do it often, at least not for religious reasons. In Judaism they fast in seven days of Jewish calendar and five of them are so called "smaller fasting days". The holiest day of Judaism is jom kippur and it's the second of those most important fasting days. In Buddhism there's no actual fasting but in the monasteries of some schools they eat only one meal a day and after noon they don't eat anything. In the greatest days of celebration laymen following these trends don't eat after noon. They want to set the all afternoon free for practising religion. In Hinduism they practice religious fasting in ekadasi which is the 11th day of every Moon's half section. In strictly followed fasting time they don't eat or drink and it begins from the sunset of previous day until the sunrise of the next day.

Ramadan

Ramadan is the 9th month of Islamic hijra calendar. Its most important event is religious fasting, saum , during which healthy adult muslims eat only in the dark daytime. Even drinking, smoking and sexual interaction is forbidden at light time. Fasting during Ramadan is one of the 5 pillars of Islam so it's one of the most important ways of practicing religion. When fasting muslims gets closer to God by giving up things they enjoy. This brings out their stable devotion to God. Believers know that God loves them when they're ready to give in earthly pleasures for God. Fasting is also more than refusal of food and drink: it also means giving up falsic words and deeds, inappropriate talk, arguing and fighting. So fasting helps to improve good behavior. Fasting teaches also feelings of brotherhood and solidarity when muslim experience how does it feels like being in lack and hunger as his brother. During Ramadan muslims usually work only in forenoon. After the end of fasting they'll celebrate Id al-Fitr feast which takes place in the next sawwal month's 3 first days. During the celebration they may hand gifts for friends and relatives, visit friends, buy a new dress and eat good food. Because Islamic calendar isn't a clear moon calendar Ramadan doesn't take place every time in the same season but in 30 years it will circle around all the seasons. This year Ramadan started in the August 11th and will end at September 9th.

Health causes of fast

The medical pros and cons of fasting aren't well-known but it's said to have beneficial influence on intestines' action. For example in Europe and USA we fast for health reasons more than spiritual ones as we want to stay in good fit and control overweight. But for remaining results you should have permanently healthier and lighter diet. Even before important medical operation you have to fast, because it effects crucially in the results. So what happens in our bodies during fasting? The body uses first as its sources of energy glycogen storage of muscles and liver and fat. If fast is a longer-term one body begins first to produce ketone compounds from fat for nervous system and begins to disperse muscles' protein for a source of energy. Fasts held for healthy reasons are usually water, juice or soup fasts. Water fast is the worst possible option from health's point of view, because body bears it healthy just few days. Otherwise from juice and soup fasts body gets anyway some sugars and other nutrients too to survive. Fast isn't recommended for old people, expecting mothers and small children.