Hi brother Jeffrey,<\/p>\n
I hope you are doing fine.<\/p>\n
I am a member of the Lord’s church and I’m in my late 40s. I am concerned about a decision I have to make regarding breast reduction surgery.\u00a0Does Romans 14.23 apply to me?<\/p>\n
“But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23 NKJV).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I do believe there is some vanity in me that wants the surgery, but it is also because I physically need it. The vanity in me wants to be able to wear a dress and not get looks. I want to wear T-shirts that don’t get dirty looks either. I want to feel good in my clothes. I want people to look me in the eyes when they talk to me — especially men. I do not <\/b>wear clothes that show but it’s inevitable.<\/p>\n
I’m tired. My back hurts and I’m starting to develop rheumatoid arthritis.<\/p>\n
I’ve had comments from sisters telling me that this is the way God made me and I should accept it. That there are so many women wanting this, and I don’t want it. That I just should be happy this way.<\/p>\n
My primary care doctor believes I do qualify as a medical reason to have the reduction, which would be covered by my insurance.. Even if my insurance fights it, and I pay for it out of pocket, I think I still want to do it. But then the doubts come.<\/p>\n
What did God say about this?<\/p>\n\t
Answer:<\/h2>\n
That you have medical reasons for having the surgery done and your doctor agrees. That is sufficient reason.<\/p>\n
The argument that “this is the way God made me” isn’t adequate. People are born with problems (bowed legs, feet problems, etc.) and we think it fine to have corrective surgeries. Your breast size is putting a strain on your back, so it is reasonable to relieve the discomfort. The fact that you expect to like the resulting look better is merely a bonus.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Hi brother Jeffrey, I hope you are doing fine. I am a member of the Lord’s church and I’m in my late 40s. I am concerned about a decision I have to make regarding breast reduction surgery.\u00a0Does Romans 14.23 apply to me? “But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[911,1261],"class_list":["post-45717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-medical-practices","tag-vanity"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":35890,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-getting-a-breast-augmentation-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":45717,"position":0},"title":"Is getting a breast augmentation wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I want to get breast augmentation. Please help me. Is it wrong. Answer: Breast augmentation for a woman falls under the realm of cosmetic surgery. Such surgery is most often used to correct damage from injuries or diseases. For example, burns or cancer. As a way of restoring the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69848,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-sin-to-get-breast-implants\/","url_meta":{"origin":45717,"position":1},"title":"Is it a sin to get breast implants?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello brother! I have a question for you! I'm a baptized member of the church of Christ, and I was wondering if it would be a sin to get breast implants. I have a \"deformity\" that causes them to look strange, and I was wondering if it would be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17241,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-tattoos-or-plastic-surgery-sinful\/","url_meta":{"origin":45717,"position":2},"title":"Are tattoos or plastic surgery sinful?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it a sin to have any kind of surgery like plastic surgery? Are tattoos sinful even if they don't represent anything bad? Answer: Under the Old Law, the Israelites were forbidden to imitate the idolatrous religions around them. One practice was to make marks on the body, either\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91253,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/less-than-nothing\/","url_meta":{"origin":45717,"position":3},"title":"Less Than Nothing","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 15, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gary Henry via WordPoints.com \"As for the children of men, they are but vanity; The children of men are deceitful; Upon the weights they are altogether lighter than vanity itself.\" (Psalms 62:9 Coverdale Bible, 1535) The Psalms contain poetry that is remarkably frank and vivid. Especially striking are its\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27189,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-does-taking-care-of-your-appearance-stop-and-vanity-begin\/","url_meta":{"origin":45717,"position":4},"title":"Where does taking care of your appearance stop and vanity begin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A friend and I were talking about vanity. We know it's a sin, we just don't know when it stops being taking care of the appearance and when it starts being vanity. What is vanity? Answer: \"\"Vanity of vanities,\" says the Preacher; \"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity\"\" (Ecclesiastes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19266,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-a-woman-has-surgery-to-become-a-man-does-god-see-her-as-a-male-or-a-female\/","url_meta":{"origin":45717,"position":5},"title":"If a woman has surgery to become a man, does God see her as a male or a female?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 24, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have written to you before and was well satisfied with your answer. I believe you do a wonderful work on this site for God. My question is: We were discussing Chasity Bono at work, who is about to have surgery to become a man. As far as we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45717\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}