Why don’t Seventh-day Adventists Wear Jewelry?
Why don’t Seventh-day Adventists Wear Jewellery?
Seventh-day Adventist Christians refrain from wearing ornamental Jewellery and limit their Jewellery wearing to wedding jewels (rings and chains depending on the culture). The topic of Jewellery is under dress and in the Seventh-day Adventist church, we believe in modesty of dress. Mrs. White counsels.
counsels that we should avoid gaudy display and profuse ornamentation, fads and extreme fashions, particularly those transgressing the laws of modesty, and that our clothing should be, when possible, “of good quality, of becoming colors, and suited for service” “rather than display.” Our attire should be characterized by modesty, “beauty,” “grace,” and “appropriateness of natural simplicity.”—MYP 351, 352.
“To dress plainly, abstaining from display of jewellery and ornaments of every kind, is in keeping with our faith.”—3T 366. It is clearly taught in the Scriptures that the wearing of jewellery is contrary to the will of God. The apostle Paul admonishes us to dress ourselves “in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing” (1 Tim. 2:9). The wearing of ornaments of jewellery is a bid for attention not in keeping with Christian self-forgetfulness.
In some countries and cultures, the custom of wearing the wedding ring is considered imperative, having become, in the minds of the people, a criterion of virtue, and hence it is not regarded as an ornament. Under such circumstances we do not condemn the practice.
Simplicity has been a fundamental feature of the Church from its beginning. We must continue to be a people called to live a simple life. Increase of pomp in religion always parallels a decline in spiritual power. As “the life of Jesus presented a marked contrast” to the display and ostentation of His time (Ed 77), so the simplicity and power of our message must be in marked contrast to the worldly display of our day. The Lord condemns “needless, extravagant expenditure of money to gratify pride and love of display.”—TM 179. In harmony with these principles, simplicity and economy should characterize our graduating exercises, our weddings, and all other church services.
