Revelations 21:8, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

The scripture above tells us those that will go to hell and I didn’t see anywhere in that scripture where the bible said those that use trinkets will go to hell. The issue is just that most preachers have added to the scripture what is not written in the bible. My personal belief is that those that idolize those things will go to hell because idolatry is a sin as stated above but the use of those things in itself can’t take people to hell. If all it takes to make heaven is to avoid the use of trinkets as some preachers opined, then many unbelievers that can do without trinkets would make it to heaven but according to the scriptures, we know that salvation and holy-living is it not about those man-made rules.

This is what will take any Christian anywhere to heaven:

Galatians 5:22-24, “ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,  Meekness, temperance: AGAINST SUCH THERE IS NO LAW. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”

Any other law against the fruit of the spirit which depicts Christ-likeness is man-made.

1 Peter 3:3, “Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of PLAITING THE HAIR, and of wearing of gold, or of PUTTING ON OF APPAREL;”

If we say that wearing of gold is sinful, that also means plaiting the hair and putting on of apparel is wrong as well. And you know that if you don’t put on apparel (cloth), people will think a mad man is on the loose. To interpret that verse and that of Paul properly, there’s a need to look at it from historical and biblical perspectives.

In the time of Paul and Peter, most women in that era spent so much time on fashion to the extent that if a woman wanted to go to a party the next day, she would lace her hair with tiny strands of gold overnight. In a nutshell, they were gaudy and their attention were just on fashion. Their motive for dressing was to draw attention to themselves which was and is still very wrong. God doesn’t want women to dress that way but he has not said it is wrong to use trinkets.  Peter’s emphasis was on the development of the inward man (vs 4) and that of Paul was on modesty (1Timothy 2:7-9).

Let’s check a few scriptures:

1. Genesis 24: 47-48, “Abraham’s servant gave Rebecca jewelry and he worshipped God after.” It would be irreverent and unacceptable to worship if what he did (giving of Jewelry) was sinful. God wouldn’t have accepted it.
2. In Genesis 41:42, Pharaoh gave Joseph a ring and chain. We know that Joseph was a great man loved by God. Some use gold wedding rings, yet they preach against the wearing of gold, isn’t that contradictory?
3. In Exodus 33:5 -6, God commanded the Jews to remove their adornments as a sign of remorse and repentance. It was common those days that when people go to the house where people are mourning, they look remorseful by putting off all their adornment. God wasn’t making it a law because if he was making it a law, then he wouldn’t have demanded for offering of gold in Exodus 35:5. In Vs 22, they offered bracelets, earrings, tablets and all manners of gold unto the Lord (because God owns them).
4. Psalms 25:12, David said “As an earring of gold and ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprove upon an obedient ear”. If earring or Jewelries were a sin, David (the man after God’s heart) wouldn’t have made a comparison between wise behavior and something that is sinful (that is if it were).
5. Isaiah 61:10, Righteousness and salvation were compared to a bride adorned with jewelry. Would Isaiah compare a sinful thing to the righteousness and salvation of God?
6. Jeremiah 2:32, God compared forgetting about him to a maid who forgot her jewelry. If it is sinful, would God have made such a comparison?
7. Ezekiel 16:11-13, God says that he adorned Israel with bracelets, necklaces, earrings, jewels and crowns. If God could do so, what makes it sinful? Though it was figurative but God wouldn’t have used a ‘sinful’ object to depict the kind of beauty of a nation like Israel.
8. Even in Luke 15:22, Jesus told us that when the prodigal son returned to his father, he was given a ring.

Conclusively, God didn’t say that the use of these things are outlawed but it is wrong and sinful when:

(a) the motive behind the use is wrong (to draw attention)

(b) those things have become idols in your heart (a situation where you can’t do without them)

(c) you’re immodest in the usage (like piercing several holes in your ears).

I pray that God’s church all over the world would focus on purity of heart and Christ-like character as it is what God requires of us and not on external observance like the Pharisees.

Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the PURE IN HEART for they shall SEE GOD.”