Basically this is a cultural issue. Among the older generation in most of the United States tattoos and piercings are still taboo and distasteful. But there are other cultures where these things are normal and celebrated, and there's nothing wrong with that. When I was going to a Christian college in Missouri, I had a friend who was an international student from Kenya. It was part of her culture that when a woman came of age she would get a nose piercing. That's a normal, acceptable practice in Kenya. And yet the powers that be wouldn't let her have her nose-ring in. She had her nose pierced and had to put a black spacer in there to keep the hole from sealing up, but couldn't wear her nose-ring, because it's the Midwest and God forbid that we accept cultural differences or something?
And the Bible doesn't actually say anything at all about tattoos or piercings, at least not in the sense that we have them in America today. In fact, what little it does say about piercings doesn't go so far as to condemn them. In Genesis 24, Abraham's servant gives Rebekah, Isaac's future wife, a gold nose ring. In Leviticus 19:28, it says, "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord." Okay, that seems clear-cut, but if you look in context, this is about pagan worship traditions. For example, this study from the Smithsonian (
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-a ... c=y&page=2) indicates that in Ancient Egypt, tattoos were meant to be a sort of permanent amulet. Not every culture did tattooing as a religious thing but to the Israelites, tattoos were a sign of the worship of foreign Gods.
Speaking of which, let's remember that this passage (the only passage in the entire Bible that mentions tattoos, by the way) is addressed to the Israelites. The verse before says, "Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard." In the same chapter it says, "You shall not mix two types of cloth." I'm pretty sure that unless the people who use this verse to condemn tattoos are dressing in only 100% cotton and wearing their facial hair like an orthodox Jew, they're being pretty hypocritical. The rest of the Bible says nothing, absolutely nothing about tattoos.
As for ear piercing, Exodus 21 actually commands it for when a servant, when offered freedom, decides he wants to stay with his master for life. The master is to pierce his servant's ear, and it will be a sign that he is a servant for life. As for other mentions of earrings (and nose rings), most of them are just in terms of them being a cultural custom or a simple piece of jewelry in the same class as bracelets or necklaces. In Ezekiel 16, an allegorical passage about the relationship between God and Israel, God describes rescuing Israel from Egypt as taking an abandoned woman under his protection and giving her all the fine things of life, including giving her a nose ring and earrings. I'm pretty sure if God hated piercings and did not want us, under any circumstances, to have them, then he wouldn't portray them as this good thing that he gave to Israel, which she then proceeded to throw away.
Bottom line: tattoos and piercings are cultural things that in our current culture have no connection to idol worship or anything of the kind, and that seemed to be the main objection to them. Every argument I've seen saying that they're sinful has ripped passages out of context and in general twisted scripture to fit someone's predetermined cultural ideas of acceptability. If you're still not comfortable with tattoos, I understand, but there is absolutely no real argument against piercings, except that ear spacers are freaking gross. I hate it when it seems like I could poke my finger through somebody's piercing. Nasty.