REVEALED: The Truth Hidden Behind Makeup [OPINION]

Written by David C. Pack [The Restored Church of God]: What is the truth about makeup? Most women—even some little girls—wear it. Yet few know its history. Even fewer know what God’s Word says about it. Are cosmetics addressed in the Bible? Does it approve their use? Is makeup wrong—sin? What principles apply? Here are the answers!

The cosmetics industry makes billions of dollars annually. Fashion and Hollywood have set the standards for “beauty,” and most people agree with their taste. Women of all ages wear makeup! To most, it is important to be fashionable. But is this practice right—or wrong? Could it even be sin? Is painting your face “fashionable” to God?

Of course, some have no interest in what God says. The Bible has no meaning or value to them. They are not concerned with pleasing God. They are only interested in pleasing themselves or being accepted by people. Yet, others are concerned with what God says, but do not know His will.

The Bible is God’s Instruction Book to mankind. It reveals all the essential truths and principles necessary for salvation. However, most have rejected it as a Source of authority in their lives. They are content to believe traditions without actually taking the time to prove why they do what they do. Most are also content to coast through life believing and operating on assumptions. Others simply practice what they do because of habit—and old habits die hard.

Yet we must ask: Is the use of makeup something that only religious extremists worry about? Are “fanatics” the only ones who would consider such a question? Or is it something you should be concerned about?

You need to know what the Bible clearly states about this subject. If makeup is important to God, it has to be mentioned in His Word—both specifically and in principle.

Wearing makeup is a worldwide custom—yet it is one that has become socially acceptable more recently than you may think. Therefore, to even question the use of makeup may seem old-fashioned or out-dated to countless millions of women—and, of course, men—who have grown accustomed to and comfortable with its widespread use.

Makeup is used everywhere. When was the last time you turned on the television, watched a movie or went to the supermarket and did not see women wearing cosmetics? Probably never. A generation ago, this was not the case.

At the turn of the twentieth century, makeup was viewed as something only proud, even arrogant women wore. With the invention of movies and television, Hollywood injected into the limelight the image of a movie starlet’s face covered with cosmetics. Once this image was accepted by the masses, cosmetics became commonplace.

The movie industry has been most responsible for associating makeup with exquisite beauty, by presenting Hollywood actresses as sex goddesses. It became natural that young girls and women would wish to be as attractive and desirable as world-famous screen idols.

Hundreds of millions of adoring fans want to look like their favorite movie stars. Even little girls can become obsessed with being pretty, when they should be enjoying childhood and playing with dolls and toys. They can easily become slaves to fashion trends that are inseparable from using makeup.

Vanity—the desire to look more beautiful—is what causes women to paint their faces, and is perhaps the most powerful of human drives.

The Pull of Vanity
Pride and vanity are why the Encyclopaedia Britannica defines “cosmetics” as “…products nobody needs—but wanting them is human nature. Today, the desire to look better, smell better, and thus feel better causes consumers worldwide—mostly women—to spend an estimated $65 billion annually on personal enhancement—cosmetics” (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2001).

It is reported that “An estimated 1,282 tubes of lipstick and 2,055 jars of skin care products are sold every minute” (“Beauty in the mind and wallet of beholder,” Minnesota Daily Online, March 7, 2001).

Everyone wants to look or be considered pretty—or even beautiful. The pull of vanity begins early in life. Modern society places enormous emphasis on beauty. As a result, recent studies demonstrate that even very little girls are unhappy with themselves to the point of depression, with many actually contemplating suicide as a result! They feel that they do not measure up to their peers or favorite movie stars. Today, the obsession with being beautiful has led nearly 10 million adolescent and teenage girls into eating disorders.

The obsession with looking young, and turning back the clock, has now gone beyond outrageous. Consider this: 1.6 million women, even some men, are now injecting tiny amounts of a deadly poison, Botox (from botulism), under the skin of the face to remove wrinkles. Within four days, the toxin in the treatment literally paralyzes the facial muscles and temporarily smoothes the skin. (The treatments only last for 90 days.) The goal is to “look the best you can for as long as you can”—for $150 to $1000 per treatment!

However, so many actresses are now using it that movie directors are complaining that they can no longer produce normal facial expressions. While they may look younger, most also look frozen and artificial.

Botox is only the beginning of the threat from various harmful chemicals and toxins that are latent in cosmetics. This has long been understood!

Consider the meaning of the word mascara. If we just accept the word for what it is, then it becomes its own honest statement from the cosmetics industry. It comes from the word mask, and the word masquerade also derives from it. In essence, to wear mascara is to wear a mask—and to masquerade as something that one is not—for the purpose of vanity and perceived beauty.

Even the word cosmetics has a revealing origin. It comes from the Greek word kosmos, which means “of this world, worldly.” For women to be accepted by the world, they must literally masquerade.

The first women to wear makeup were prostitutes! Changing one’s appearance by facial paint is a custom ancient PROSTITUTES have dictated to the modern age. Cosmetics were nothing more than a device used by harlots to, in effect, teach men to break the Seventh Commandment. This is the message of history—yet the whole world lies in ignorance of these facts!

Now that the history of cosmetics has been established, let’s look deeper into the subject. What does the Bible say about it? How does God feel about the use of makeup? Is facial paint mentioned in God’s Word?

Some people reason, “But I’ve never seen a reference to makeup in the Bible!” Understand that the actual words makeup, cosmetics, lipstick, mascara, etc., are not found in the Bible, but direct references to makeup and eye paint are found in three places, possibly four. After reviewing them, you will not doubt what IS directly revealed from Scripture.

Take Jeremiah 4:30 for exactly what it means. Do not add to or subtract from it. It is plain! The context is God condemning His people for abominations within their national conduct—their national behavior. One of the abominations that God hates is painting the face—thereby taking on the nature of a prostitute. I have seen some try to use this verse to justify wearing makeup as long as one is not a prostitute.

The whole point in verse 30 is that painting the eyes is a common method of a prostitute—and any honest person, one truly seeking to please God and find His will, would admit as much!

Women of today may think they just want to “look nice” to the world, when they really look like prostitutes to God.

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Think carefully. Consider those who wore makeup: the false prophetess Jezebel, two whoring sisters, Aholah and Aholibah, and the adulteress Judah are the only Bible examples of women (real or by analogy) who wore makeup!

Now think of the most well-known, righteous women of the Bible. Name a single one (Old or New Testament) who wore makeup. There is no mention of Sarah, Rebecca, Ruth, Naomi, Mary (Christ’s mother), Deborah, Abigail, Esther or any other virtuous woman ever applying or wearing makeup.

The fact that the only examples of those who wore makeup are adulteresses, harlots and false prophetesses serves as a great warning to anyone who cares about the Word of God and wishes to follow the Bible’s righteous examples instead of the wicked.

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SHALOM