What is a Biblical View of Botox? Is it Okay to Get Injections? [Podcast Transcript]

Title: What is a Biblical View of Botox? Is it Okay to Get Injections? 

Podcast Date: April 23, 2024

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Description

The percentage of women (and some men) using Botox to get rid of signs of aging has skyrocketed! Of course, the Bible doesn't have any specific instructions on whether or not it's okay for us to get Botox. Today, Heather explores the topic from every angle--physically, mentally, and spiritually--to allow you to decide for yourself whether or not Botox injections are okay for you. Listen so you can make a thoughtful and informed decision about this very common practice here in the U.S.

Outline

00:00 Introduction And Botox Statistics

06:04 Is it Holy? Is it Healthy?

09:33 “Fixing” Your Body Won’t Fix Your Body Image

13:35 The Discomfort of Facing Our Own Mortality

17:08 Overcoming Shame and The Search For Acceptance

21:45 Applying The Philippians 4:8 Filter

25:21 Are You Living To Look Good In Your Casket?

Introduction And Botox Statistics

[00:00:02]:

Hey, friend. Heather Creekmore here. I'm glad you're listening to the Compared to Who? show today. We are talking about aging in April because my brand new book, Aging Gratefully, a 30 day devotional for women has just released. So we're talking all things aging, and today we're going there. We're gonna talk about Botox.

[00:00:21]:

Yes. Botox. Do you have it? Do you know someone who's had it? Are you thinking about it? Oh, we're gonna look at it from every angle I can think of today. I'm glad you're here for it. Hey. If you're brand new to this community, we are so glad you're here. There are, I don't know, like, 427 episodes of this show.

[00:00:43]:

And so if this is your first one, wow. You're just jumping right in there, but we're glad you're here. You can go to improvebodyimage.com and find some suggestions of the best shows to start with so you can really get a good feel for what we're all about here at Compare To Who. And if you've been with us a long time, hey. I'm glad you're still around. I hope you grab the Aging Gratefully book. I hope you're reading the 40 Day Body Image Workbook and are gonna go through it with us as summer begins. If you wanna know more about that, go to https://www.improvebodyimage.com/40-day-challenge 

[00:01:14]:

Now let's get to today's show. Welcome to Compare to Who, the podcast to help you make peace with your body so you can savor God's rest and feel his love. If you're tired of fighting body image the world's way, Compared to Who is the show for you. You've likely heard lots of talk about loving your body, but my goal is different. Striving to fall in love with stretch marks and cellulite is a little silly to me. Instead, I want to encourage you and remind you with the truth of scripture that you are seen, you are known, and you are loved no matter what your size or shape. Here, the pressure is off. If you're looking for real talk, biblical encouragement, and regular reminders that God loves you and you're not alone, You've come to the right place.

[00:02:02]:

I hope you enjoy today's show, and, hey, tell a friend about it. 

Well, hey there, friend. I'm glad you're here for this exciting conversation about Botox. What does the Bible have to say about getting Botox? Well, nothing specifically. So that's why it's a little tricky today as we try to navigate. How do we handle getting Botox? Before we jump into it, let's just look at some of the data. Okay? So there were, are you ready for this? 9,221,419 Botox procedures in 2022. And that number was 26% higher than it was in 2021.

[00:02:48]:

Most of the people getting Botox are women, of course, about 87%. And then of the total of those numbers, 42% of those Botox procedures, almost 4 million, were done here in the United States. The most common age group to get Botox. What do you think? You might be surprised to know it's the 35 to 50 year olds. Nearly half of total procedures last year were in the 35 to 50 year old range. Although, get this, the 18 to 34 year old range still had 2.2 million Botox treatments in 2022. And there were some done on 17 year olds and younger. I don't know.

[00:03:32]:

It's not clear from this data I'm reading as to whether or not they are excluding Botox treatments that may have been medicinal because I know some people are using Botox for migraines or if you have a jaw issue, you can get some Botox to help, like, give it some time to heal, those kinds of things. So I'm not I'm not sure about that. But the average age for Botox use is 43 years old. Now that probably doesn't surprise you because you probably know women who are getting Botox regularly or maybe you're getting Botox regularly. And so today, I wanna just talk about the reality of Botox being everywhere, which means the reality of trying to look younger and the pressure around that and the expectations around that. Wow. That's a real thing, isn't it? Now before I go too far, I wanna just be really clear about something. If you are getting Botox, I am not here to condemn you in any way.

[00:04:36]:

Like I've said before in the realm of cosmetic surgery. Right? Like, I bought frownies. I don't know if you know what frownies are. You're probably gonna Google it now. But it's like a sticker you put across your forehead that's supposed to tighten your lines. I haven't actually used it yet because I'm afraid of scaring my husband coming out of the bathroom with a big sticker on my forehead and sleeping that way. But someday, I'm gonna use those frownies. I bought line fillers and anti-aging creams. Right? So for me to point a finger at you and say, “shame on you for using Botox.”

[00:05:07]:

There'll be 3 fingers pointing back at me for the products I have tried. I just haven't used Botox partly because of how much it costs, partly because I'm afraid of needles, partly because I'm afraid of what it does to your face long term. That just seems like a big variable to me. But hear me when I say, I'm not here to judge you. I'm just here to ask you some questions. Because my heart, the reason for this show is to help you improve your body image. And that doesn't mean to just help you feel better about yourself because, really, we could do that through body positivity, or I could just sit here and chant to you how awesome you are, how fantastic you are, how beautiful you are. But, no, I really actually want to help you find a confidence that is rooted in Christ and the gospel, and a confidence that doesn't fade or go away when you start to look older.

Is it Holy? Is it Healthy?

[00:06:04]:

And so that's my heart. That's my approach. And as we talk about Botox today, here's the thing. You might be a little convicted or you might not, but that's over to you because here's where we're gonna start. In order for us to tell if anything is biblically appropriate or appropriate for the believer and follower of Jesus Christ, we have to first talk about the physical action through the lens of holiness. Right? Is there some command in scripture? Is there something that God has told us we shouldn't do physically that we are wanting to do? And in the case of Botox, no. There is not a verse that says, thou shall not get injections in your face to firm up muscles to look younger. Right? That's not there.

[00:06:49]:

Okay? So in terms of a holiness test, when regards to the physical action of getting Botox, there's not a violation. Now what about this concept that we should be good steward stewards of our bodies? So there's also kind of a health test. Is this safe? It seems like it. We don't really know long term, but like I've said in other podcasts, right, there's a lot of things that we take risks on. So I don't know that I can single out Botox. There might be side effects. You might get an injection and it might mess things up. I have seen botched Botox pictures all over the Internet.

[00:07:26]:

Right? And if you're doing it long term, especially if you're starting at 43, goodness gracious, I barely had any wrinkles at 43. And now that I'm 49, I know there's a big difference. I can't imagine starting even under 40 if you're starting that young, believing that the amount of wrinkles you have now bothers you. Like, I don't know how you quit. Right? I don't know how at 43, if you're upset about the number of wrinkles you have and treating them with Botox, I don't know how when you get to be 50, 55, 60 when more wrinkles come on you're like, “okay now I'm fine.”

[00:07:57]:

Now we'll say that when it comes to body magicians, a lot of us have that fantasy, that magical thinking that there is this age when we're gonna stop worrying about it so we can do everything possible now. Carpe Diem, seize the day. It's important to me now. But someday, when I'm a grandma, I won't care. And I think all of my listeners who are in that category are saying, Heather, that's not true. I still care because that's the truth. You don't really grow out or age out of body image issues. So as we talk about the physical action of getting Botox, again, I don't think you're violating scripture in terms of it's not an unholy action.

[00:08:34]:

Is it an unhealthy action physically? Well, that's kinda debatable. But let's talk about what's really important. Right? And Jesus reminds us of this through the book of Matthew. Right? The physical action is one thing, but it's really the heart. What is going on in our hearts? What lies are we believing? Why is this something we feel or believe we need to do? 

So what are our instructions around beauty and our hearts? Well, biblically, we know that the Bible is not against beauty. In fact, God is the most beautiful one of all. Right? God defines beauty, and we're made in his image. He makes all things beautiful.

“Fixing” Your Body Won’t Fix Your Body Image

[00:09:33]:

Right? But there's a line we can cross, and you may remember that Satan's sin… yikes! You didn't think I was going here, did you? But the original, the most original sin, even more original than Adam and Eve's sin, was Satan's pride and Satan being the most beautiful of all of the demons believing that he was equal to or better than God and rebelling because of his beauty. And so that's why when we talk about body image issues here on this show and in my books, I like to push a little bit. It's like, okay. We think that being more beautiful would fix our body image issues, but, yikes, what if it makes it worse? And I don't know. I mean, Botox and skin issues and aging. Right? They're a little different than weight loss and body size issues, but they're very much the same. And what oftentimes happens in the arena of weight loss is we believe if we could just lose the weight, then we would be free from the stress of feeling like our bodies are the wrong size.

[00:10:44]:

And I wonder if it's not the same for Botox. If I could just lose the wrinkles, if I could just lose the signs of aging, then I would be free from the stress of feeling like my face is starting to look old. But it's the same underlying, like, premise, the same root to try to fix a problem. And I've talked about this a zillion times on this show, but we know that weight loss doesn't fix anything. And I often ask women and coach women who tell me that, oh goodness, I lost the weight, and it didn't make me feel better. I lost the weight, and I still struggled. Right? And so I do wonder, if you are getting Botox or thinking about Botox.

[00:11:29]:

I have to ask you, do you believe it's gonna fix it? And if you do believe it's gonna fix it, what is it fixing? What is the “it”? Can you identify the “it”? Is the “it” my body image issues? Because if that's the “it”, I'm gonna push right back on you friend and say, no, no. Your body image issues are probably about you trying to gain too much identity, putting too much importance on what you look like. And so “fixing” what you look like is probably not gonna make that less important and probably not gonna make that less a part of your identity. You see, I've talked about this a lot in terms of weight loss, but I think the thing that women really want is we want to be able to rest. We want to be able to stop our minds from riddling around these topics. We wanna be able to make the noise shut up. Just be quiet already with those lies that are telling me I don't look good enough!

[00:12:33]:

I need to look better. I need to do this, and I need to change. Right? I get it, friends. And I understand how those lies could be swarming you around looking older. It is jarring to look in the mirror and have the thought, “I don't know who that is anymore.” I don't recognize that person. Who is that middle aged woman? I've had that thought as I've looked at pictures of myself. People are like, who is that middle aged woman? Oh, that's me.

[00:13:09]:

Oh my goodness. There I am. Didn't realize that aging had happened like that. Friend, it's real. It's very real. And there's a process of grieving the loss of our youth. Right? Grieving that we are not who we once were. That might happen, and that's okay.

The Discomfort of Facing Our Own Mortality

[00:13:35]:

But here's the thing, we gotta come back to what do we believe about aging and our bodies and how God designed our bodies? Now granted, I don't believe that God designed our bodies originally to age and decay and do what they do to break down. Right? Because, originally, we weren't designed to die. Death, breakdown, all the bad things that happen to our bodies, that's a result in part due to sin. Right? And so when God made Adam and Eve in the garden, there was no sin until they decided they knew better than God. They decided that God's command about not touching a certain tree wasn't really that big of a deal and they knew better and… enter chaos into the world. Okay? So we weren't originally designed to die and I think that's why it feels so uncomfortable for us to think about aging. Because inevitably, we're aware of our own mortality.

[00:14:41]:

Right? We are aware that, wow, I'm not getting younger. I can't go back. I can only go forward. So these are very real things that it's understandable that you would be concerned about. But, again, let's go back to Botox. How does Botox fix that? How does looking younger actually make you feel younger? I don't know that it does. So another question to ask yourself here is, who are you trying to fool? And then why is it so important for you to look young? And, friend, it's very similar to the question, why is it so important for you to be thin? Why is it so important for you to fit in with what culture calls beautiful? And I have some bad news on this front. Right? Because even if you're successful, even if you can do it now, aging doesn't stop.

[00:15:47]:

And so whatever interventions you're having to do now to make yourself look younger, like I said at the beginning, you're gonna have to keep them up because aging keeps going. And, I’ll tell you, between you and me, I'm a little frustrated at the reality that there's a lot of Christian authors and speakers who are of a certain age over 50, and they look like they're 35. And I'm not despising their opportunity to - they've got the money to afford the things - to help them do that. I mean, it is their free choice to do that, but I wonder if the message that they're sending isn't harmful to all Christian women. I wonder if the message that they're subconsciously sending is that, yes, we Christian women too, we have to be able to compete in the area of looking young. And so it's important for us to do whatever it takes, whatever it costs to preserve our youthful look. Oh, I don't know. I just don't feel right about that because I feel like scripture tells us that aging is a gift.

Overcoming Shame and The Search For Acceptance

[00:17:08]:

Gray hair is a crown of glory. Right? I don't know that scripture talks too directly about our wrinkles. In Ephesians, Paul tells us that Jesus is gonna present his church without any spot or wrinkles. We know we'll be wrinkle free then. But literally, I don't know that scripture talks about wrinkles at all. I just don't think we have any reason to be ashamed of getting older. And isn't that really what's under some of us, is shame? We feel shame for looking our age or older. We feel shame for what time has done to our skin and our bodies.

[00:17:50]:

We feel shame around that, and then I think you have to dig underneath that. Why do we feel shame? Well, we don't feel shame because we're doing something wrong biblically. We feel shame because we live in a culture where marketers are trying to sell us something 24/7, and they want us to feel bad about aging. Why? So we buy their stuff. If I feel confident about the fact that I'm aging and my skin is wrinkling and my hair is graying, I'm not gonna buy anything. But instead, if they can make me feel bad, show me a before and after picture about how horrible someone looked with all of her wrinkles and how fantastic she looked after she got this procedure and her wrinkles disappeared. I'm interested. But what am I really interested in here? Again, friend, I want you to dig deeper.

[00:18:45]:

What do I really want? What I really want is not wrinkle free skin. What I really want is what I believe wrinkle free skin is gonna give me, and that is more love, more acceptance. Right? Because I tell you, friends, especially in the workplace, the older you get, the harder it is to fit in. So maybe if you look younger, maybe it'll be a little easier. You'll fit in better. You'll be respected more. Like, I get it. Or maybe your fear is that your husband feels like you're getting too old looking.

[00:19:19]:

Maybe your fear is that he's not going to love you as much when you have more wrinkles and look your age. I understand that fear too. Goodness gracious. It seems like the plot line of every 1980’s sitcom had at least 1 episode where the middle aged guy got tired of his middle aged wife and went off with some 20 year old. Right? Like, that was a message that I feel like was beat into me in childhood. You gotta make sure you look good. Otherwise, when you hit middle age, the guy's gonna go buy a convertible and normally, and this part actually kind of insulted me, normally the 20 year old bimbo girlfriend was always named Heather, and that always bothered me because my name was Heather.

[00:19:59]:

But it's scary because cultures told us it's a scary thing. Cultures told us that you will age out of relevance. So whatever you do, make sure you don't look old. So let's go back to that original question. How do we decide if something's appropriate for the believer? We talk about what's going on in our hearts. And again, we run it through the holiness and the healthiness filter. And this time, I'm not talking about the physical act. We're talking about what's going on in your heart.

[00:20:34]:

And so friend, I would say if in your heart, you need Botox because you believe you will not be okay without it, because you believe it will fix something that feels broken, because you believe it will affirm something that feels unacceptable, friend, I think you're looking to a false savior. I don't think Botox is going to give you that. In fact, I know it won't. You'll get the injection and it'll wear off in a couple months. You might feel good for a week or 2. Right? Like, yay I look younger! But then you gotta go back 2, 3 months later and get it done again.

[00:21:16]:

And it's the same cycle of up and down, up and down. I feel good. Nope. Don't feel good. The wrinkles are coming back. And what are you focused on the whole time, friend? I think you're focused on your face. Right? It's like, what are you looking at every time you stare in the mirror? I mean, obviously, we all see our faces when we stare in the mirror. But there's a way to stare in the mirror, and there's a way to stare in the mirror where you're zoomed in like a zoomed in lens on that one part, and you're staring that one part.

Applying The Philippians 4:8 Filter

[00:21:45]:

And let me encourage you, no one else is staring at you zoomed in on that part, but you are. And what are you thinking about? What are you fixated on? Let me challenge you. If you're a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, your thoughts need to go through the Philippians 4:8 filter. Are you thinking about what's true, what's holy, what's honest, what's just, what's of good report, what's lovely, what's pure? What's commendable? What's excellent? What's praiseworthy? Are you thinking about the truth of the word? Or are you thinking about the truth of the world over and over again? I look old. I look old. Must fix my wrinkles. Must fix my wrinkles. What are you meditating on? What are those thoughts rolling around in your head? 

[00:22:31]:

And if they are, I look old. Must fix it. Must fix it. This is bad. Must fix it. Need to fix it, or else I'm not gonna be okay. Friend, I don't think those are holy thoughts. Let me take it one step further. Is my decision to do this motivated by the worship of God, like, this is gonna help me worship God better? Or yikes.

[00:22:54]:

Is it a little bit I'm afraid if I don't do this, no one will be looking at me. No one will pay attention to me. No one will give me any glory. Yikes. That sounds extreme. I understand. But am I trying to draw attention to myself? Am I trying to win people over by the way I look? Is my heart posture, “look at me, look at me”?

[00:23:22]:

“Everyone, look at me. Tell me I'm good enough. Tell me I'm pretty enough. Tell me I look young enough.” Or is my heart posture, “how can I love God well? How can I love others well? What can I do for others? How can I think of others more than I'm thinking of myself?” And, friend, the reason this is important, again, is not to condemn or judge you. It's to help you get your eyes off of what's not important, which is your aging body, and onto what is important, which is loving God, loving others, and doing what he has for you to do. And, ultimately, like Tim Keller says, the freedom is in the self forgetfulness. Now I don't mean self neglect.

[00:24:04]:

That's not what that means. It doesn't mean you shouldn't even wash your face. You should throw away all your creams and products. That's not what I'm saying. But there's a line. It's kinda like the line with money and greed. Right? Like, there's not a bell that goes off that says ding ding ding. You've crossed the line.

[00:24:22]:

Now you're greedy. You know, you should've given away one more dollar and you wouldn't have crossed the line to greedy. That's it. There's not a line that's really clear. But in our hearts, it is clear. What is my heart behind this? Is my heart behind this, like, you know, I thought I'd try it. Everyone in my neighborhood was doing it. They had a party and they're inviting me.

[00:24:47]:

And why not? What the heck? I'll just see what it does. No big deal. Like, that's one thing. But if it's, I am not okay unless I do this, people will not treat me the same way unless I do like, oh, friend. I think you gotta check what's going on in your heart. And that leads me to the last part of that filter again. Right? There's a holiness and the healthiness. If this is something you feel like you have to do to be acceptable, friends, that's not a healthy way for you to live.

Are You Living To Look Good In Your Casket?

[00:25:21]:

Right? The pressure of that alone has to be debilitating. You are seen, known, loved, accepted through Jesus alone. There is nothing you can do to your body that will make you any more or less loved by him. Taking care of your body does not mean you have to make sure your body doesn't age. That's really impossible to do. You may, again, be able to keep that for a couple years, but at some point, the aging will hit. Every one of us has the same fate. We all die, but the good news for the believer is we know that this isn't the final game.

[00:26:04]:

We know that there's something after this life. And I question, like, scripture in Matthew, Jesus talks about storing up our treasure and things that the moth and the rust will destroy. Right? If we make our bodies our treasure, if we are investing so much money into our bodies and looking a certain way, are we not investing our treasure into something that aging is gonna destroy? Right? Like, I mean, the best you can hope for is, like, “she looked really great in her casket”. Like, I hope you hope for more than that. What is your life really about? Is it about looking good? Friend, if that's it, that's way too shallow. Because that funeral is gonna be a really sad place when people say she looks really great and don't have anything to say after that. My goal is that my funeral will be buzzing with people saying, She was so loving. She was so kind.

[00:27:01]:

She always took care of me. She looked out for me. You know, she spoke truth into my life. She was wise. She was honest. She exhibited love, joy, peace, the fruits of the spirit. That's how I want people to remember me, not just that I looked good. And it wasn't always that way, friend.

[00:27:24]:

It really took me until my mid thirties to make that switch. I really was more focused on looking good than what my character and life and actions were like. Not that I wasn't a nice person, but I really wanted to make sure that you thought I looked nice. You thought I looked good. And so I get that if you're stuck there. But let me tell you, the freedom is sweet when you make that switch. When you're able to, like I said, incorporate that freedom of self forgetfulness. When you're able to think of others more than you think of yourself, the pressure can come off.

[00:27:58]:

It's not so important that you keep looking young or that you keep a certain body type. You are free to use your body for what God designed it for, which was to love others and serve him. And that is what makes you feel good in your body more so than any kind of Botox injection, any plastic cosmetic surgery, any of those things. Using your body to love and serve him is what ultimately frees us the most because we get our eyes off of ourselves and onto the one who matters, which is Jesus. So when I was writing my Aging Gratefully devotional, it's a 30 day devotional for women, it's out now. When I was writing it, one of my editors actually was reading one of the chapters. It was a chapter on wrinkles.

[00:28:44]:

And she said, hey. Did you hear about the woman in London who hasn't smiled in 40 years? And it's not because she's leading a miserable life. She just determined that she was going to avoid wrinkles naturally. And so just to do that, she's decided not to smile. Can you even imagine? Now I think there's some science behind smiling. Like, it actually makes you feel better all over, so she's missing out on whatever hormonal rush comes from that. But she's also missing out on the opportunity to just express her pleasure and joy because she's not smiling, not using a God given way for us to express that pleasure so she doesn't get wrinkles.

[00:29:33]:

Okay, friend. That might be extreme. But here's the thought I'm gonna leave you with. God created your body on purpose and for a purpose. And that purpose is his good purpose. And the longer he lets you live, the more years that you have on this earth, the older your body will tend to look. But here's the truth. Looking older does not exempt you from God's purpose.

[00:30:03]:

He still has things for you to do, and he's not disappointed that you're aging. So why should you be? You're free. You have freedom in Christ. You can get Botox injections if you want to get Botox injections. But I just encourage you to check your heart. Why do you need them? What do you believe they will do for you? And, ultimately, consult the holy spirit. He's the one that can tell you whether or not for you, Botox is sin. For someone else, it might not be.

[00:30:37]:

But if it's something he's convicted you of specifically and you're not listening to him, I'd encourage you. Be obedient. It's that obedience in our hearts, that willingness to make Jesus and what he wants for us everything. I believe that's what makes us beautiful. I'll leave you with Psalm 34:5. Those who look to the lord become radiant. Botox can't do that. Thanks for listening, friends.

[00:31:01]:

I hope something today has encouraged you to stop comparing and start living. Bye bye.