If I can comment upon the constant misuse and misapplication of what Jesus actually said? The full text is in the Gospel of Saint Matthew and is part of the "Sermon on the Mount."

It is not a call to moral relativism - don't judge anyone, and so on. That is an illogical position since one is then passing judgement on others passing judgement.

Jesus never ever said to refrain from judgement! (Go teach all nations… and teach them to observe what you teach [paraphrase] Also, when he sent the apostles out two by two prior to His death, he told them to 'kick the dust off their sandals" and move on when any town did not accept their teachings.

If one judges, be prepared to have God (not other people) judge you by the same measure.

A lot different from a blanket prohibition arising out of a mistaken use/reading of Sacred Scripture.

I hope I remember His teaching.

(Edited - I apologize for not having read Winston Boogie's excellent post of this a.m. before I posted. He says it much better than I.)

There are tattoos and then there are tattoos, There is cleavage, and then there is cleavage. There is makeup and then there is makeup. There is jewelry and then there is jewelry, there is perfume and then there is perfume, there are bathing suits and then there are bathing suits.

How we present ourselves with decoration tells a story. With some it is a lovely story, with others a mystery, and for others it is a for sale sign..

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and is an overall affect. Dolly Parton used her cleavage to draw attention to herself but that couldn't cover her sweetness, charm and warmth. She was never tawdry to me.

I think what is being discussed is how people of our age might perceive that another is dangerous or at least suspicious.

I do profile. Most people do. They should. We cannot defend ourselves or run as fast as we once could. We have to make judgments about others on their appearance. It would be dangerous not too.

But I frequently profile when I look into a crinkly pair of older eyes smiling at me too.

We all judge people on some level whether it is conscious, or not.

When deciding if someone is to be a friend or not, to being on the street and see someone, who may alarm us. In a perfect world, no one would judge another person.

GOD does not judge a person till the end of his/her days, who are we, to judge? Dale Carnegie

Well said. Yes, I guess we all profile to a certain extent. I'm just uncomfortable when I feel it's being over done.
I was with some one a few weeks ago. She saw a gal with a tongue piercing and said "what a piece of trash." I said she is one of the nicest people I know. The person I was with then said "I wouldn't even want to know her."
Yes, we have to be aware of the people around us. Just remember how handsome Ted Bundy was. We never know.

I am so lucky to live here with people like y'all.:a040:

One of the loveliest guys I ever knew had a skull on the side of his neck, tongue piercing, eyebrow piercings and a bunch of other garbage on his body. He also had a teardrop by his eye. Most of you would have run from him (he wasn't a small guy). He did not know the teardrop signified a murder. He had it put there for all the tears he had shed for those he had lost.

He never had a great-paying job. Didn't want one. As he put it, he made enough to get by and enjoyed his life. He never seemed to envy those who had more and tried to help those who had less.

I will admit I was uncomfortable looking at all of his mutilations but I am so thankful I got to know the person behind all of that mess. He was the one who would always be there to lend a hand, the first to help anyone in need, the most gentle soul I've ever met. I was so fortunate to have him in my life.

The innate nature of man is "flight or fight" sight sound feel touch smell work on a continuum and are changed and reinforced with experiences. My life's work taught me that first impressions did influence me and if I was to remain objective in my work I needed to test those first impressions.

My friends and I grew up influenced by those clean cut collegiate types sharps creases in our slacks izod shirts white and black saddles, etc. We rejected the black leather jacket long side burn types.

It came as a pleasant surprise when a personal situation brought me in contact with a black guy with braids tats, piercings. I found the guy to be genuine kind ,considerate, intelligent. We embraced after this encounter
Yet i agree if you saw that guy in an alley way you would have been quite concerned for your safety and the flight/fight stimulus would have kicked in

As a 15 year old I would walk across a railroad bridge nightly to my now wife's home. In the thick of the greenery were hobo's . I got in the habit of stopping to talk with them and sharing my cigarettes. One night John one of the hobo's I knew best confronted me his eyes burned bright red and I knew it meant danger. I had to thread my way over the train track to escape John. John was found two months later floating face down in the canal below these train tracks

I always told my children to trust their instinct. If you get a felling in your belly or something tells you you're uncomfortable trust it. I live by that myself. While I don't like some of the "tats" or rings etc. I go by that feeling I get as to weather someone is "not ok" to be around more than anything.
I also do a lot of family history and one of the things I have to keep in mind is the "thinking of that period of time" and not todays. For instance what we knew medically back then, the politics and belief systems etc. Which makes family stories even more interesting.

LOL I asked my kids to imagine if they're mother had the peace sign or l o v e tattooed on her knuckles and how that might look now. Hummm maybe I will. "What NO!!" They all said. I also said that the only thing they should ever consider might be the word "mom" as her love would always be in style, but that they could say it was supposed to say "wow" and they were drunk and put it on upside down.
The result is no tatt's, hummmm. Lol, which had more effect, could have been the "stupid" ones some of their friends got more then anything. Someday I'll ask them as i'm sure in reality it had little if anything to do with me. till then I can dream.

I always wanted to get my pets pawprints over my heart, then I realized that I have lost so many over the years there wouldn't be room. Never did it and wouldn't you know as you get older the "billboard" area got bigger but I guess they'd no longer be over my heart-LOL. I don't think pawprints on my midsection would have the same effect.

I find service tats very sexy, back in the day I went out with a guy who had been in Airborne and had a small parachute guy.

[quote=Pointer;946068]I always told my children to trust their instinct. If you get a felling in your belly or something tells you

Trusting your instincts.

A handsome young man came to the Reebok booth at The National Sporting Goods Show in Atlanta. He was handed to me because he was from Ohio and that was the territory I represented for Reebok Clothing.. He told me to be in Columbus at nine on the next Monday and threw down his card and left. He came across as very arrogant and far from polite. I didn't like him. He owned several "Just Sweats" stores with his partner, a man called Hanson.

I braved a serious snow storm to drive from Cincinnati to Columbus, I arrived at nine, and was told to wait. I was shown into his office at shortly after one in the afternoon. I was steaming. The interview went downhill from there and he said he expected advertising money, returns, and a lot of extras. I said that would depend of course on the amount of business we could do together, (the usual negotiating argument.) He said "when you deal with me, you do it my way" I had a product that was much in demand at the time and I was steamed and I made the call to say, I don't think we can do business at this time and rolled my apparel rack out and left.

His name was John Hawkins and a couple of months later he would become nationally famous and on the national most wanted list involved with murder and an insurance scam. He was finally caught, I think in Europe somewhere.


Notorious Swindler Recounts Notorious

In our culture hair length, hair color or whatever someone does with their nails never bothered me. It sends the message, here is where I am right now. I get it. I've been there.

It's all wallpaper. I wouldn't pick out the same wallpaper today I hung 30 years ago.

All of the other kookiness that can't be changed, sends the message I will never change. Their thinking is too closed minded for me.

[I did not read all of the posts before I gave my opinion. I would like apologise to anyone who loves someone that has tattoos and piercings. It was selfish of me.]

It's hard to judge a book by it's cover now a days and if we don't rely on our instinct and fight or flight messages we can easily find ourselves in trouble. I have always relied on that little inner voice for direction. So far it hasn't failed me. Some people by the way they present themselves give the impression of danger. Then there are those like the Ted Bundys of the world where you hope your inner voice sends you that message to stay clear.

40 Amazing Face Tattoo Designs

Some of these are interesting facial tattoos. I suppose if I were at some 20 something targeted concert I would have a more open approach to seeing a tattoo like some of these.

Uncanny story...
In the early 70's we had a new girl start working where I worked. She was loud, nasty & mean and none of us liked her. We used to kid and tell each other she was probably a murderer.
She worked there for about a month and left. We laughed and said she was probably in prison.
2 months later I had to go to court for my divorce. All of a sudden I heard the judge call her name. Her lawyer was there asking for more time.
She was accused along with her mother of trying to kill her husband !!

I form an impression of a person when I see them, but it can be subject to change. I tend to judge a person when I hear what they have to say, and that can be more difficult to change.