Tattoos

[wayfaring man]

Tattoos are a form of outward adorning, and New Testament tells us to be focused on inward adorning rather than outward, which is to say that the two are contrary, and cannot be focused on together simultaneously.

Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. <-----> 1st Peter 3:3+4

Tattoos give the distinct impression of being graffiti which is criminally placed over a "true work of art".

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knows right well. <-----> Psalm 139:14

They are also pagan and worldly in their roots and promotion.

It's kinda like saying we can do better than God in making ourselves look more decorated.

One exception might be tattoos which are designed to cover skin pigmentation loss or the like.

But to ink one's skin up like we're a walking billboard or a chunk of canvas...no, not appropriate, with all that is being sensed in mind and spirit.

wm

 

[TruthSeeker2012]

Amen wayfaring man.

 

[znr]

On the other hand, I have known people who don't have tattoos who profess to be Christians whose lives are like rotting flesh blowing in the wind.

 

[day time]

Would you ever see Jesus walk into a tattoo parlour and get tattoos? Answer: NO. A Christian is a FOLLOWER of Christ who does what Jesus would do and does not do what Jesus would not do.

God bless.

Years ago, one of the times I gave away all my possessions to the poor and began to travel the world in order to "serve God" ... I found myself in Hawaii of all places. Broke, no money, just wanting to put to use my body, mind, etc to help others. My wife and I were taken in by an organization that others here have probably heard of, and were given room and board in exchange for work. We attended daily non-denom prayer meetings, services in multiple churches all throughout the week, etc and so forth. It was all "new" to me. I wasn't looking for "visions/signs/the Spirit" ... I was looking to work, and die daily by doing all I could physically for others, giving credit to God and Jesus who died for me. It was that simple. I also was terrified by what I read in the Bible. I took it literally, and even considered cutting my own tongue out, for example. Although I had an attitude that some of the others around me were "pagan" in their Christianity, I stayed strong by sticking to my biblical readings, putting my hands into the labor, and attending the services and getting fed by the word.

It was there I experienced my first vision, the voice of God the first time ... I was baptized (I had been baptized as a youth, I was baptized again because I craved it). I went into a tattoo parlor, and a tattoo artist who claimed to be Christian put a tattoo on my ring finger of a verse from the gospels, with a cross. They prayed over me and their work before and after she did it. I wanted it to symbolize my wedding ring to the Lord.

Within weeks, it got infected ... I went into the ocean too soon with it, and it literally swelled up, and yielded up all the ink that was there, to where there was nothing but a swollen, infected wound. There was NO ink whatsoever I could see, and it was painful.

At the end of my time in Hawaii, the organization offerred us work elsewhere ... and that's actually when I spent every dime I had to go and see if my vision months earlier was true. The night before I made my decision to try and go visit the person in my vision ... when I heard the voice of God ... my wife and I were heavily convicted about some sins of ours, and confessed them to each other. It was a traumatic type of confessing .. we had never experienced "conviciton" before, or confessed things like that to each other. It was total and complete, in an amazing way. The next morning, a check was found sitting in a pile at the bottom of mail stack of ours that had been there for some time, with just enough money in it for us to go see this vision through to it's end. After completing that "task" ... and seeing that it was legit ...

My tattoo came back onto my finger. The ink *reappeared* even though it had been completely gone as far as anyone could tell. A tattoo with a scripture in it.

Would you like to share any conclusions you come to based just on that story about whether or not I was a Christian and if God was okaying my tattoo ?

 

[TheDag]

And Jesus does not change:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

[/FONT]

Yes but he does change the rules from time to time. This does not mean Jesus changes. A common error in logic that is made by many. This is the exact same logic that the roman catholic church uses to declare that the pope can never be wrong when talking officially as pope.

 

[TheDag]

Would you like to share any conclusions you come to based just on that story about whether or not I was a Christian and if God was okaying my tattoo ?

First let me say I am not commenting on the right or wrong of it. i just want to make the point that God works in ALL things for the good of those who love him. So he works in good things and he works through bad things. So the story does not neccesarily comment on the right or wrong of getting that tattoo.

 

[TheDag]

marking your body is never okay.. if God wanted us to to express ourself with marking in our skin. He would have made trhat as clear as when He commanded the jews to be circumcized.. you can justify your sin as okay all you like.. but it is as unatural to mark up the body with ink as it is for two men to have sexual relations.. its not natural.. and against God's order of things..

We are not commanded to go to the toilet yet it is pretty obvious we should. Are you saying because the bible does not make it clear that we should go to the toilet then it is a sin? That is your argument so if you don't like the conclusion you may want to change your reasoning otherwise better stop going to the toilet.

 

[TheDag]

Jesus Christ is God. God told the Israelites NOT to mark their bodies in the Old Testament.

Ergo, Jesus Christ said not to. So yes, apparently Jesus Christ does care about tattoos, because He warned against it 2000 years prior to His walk on this earth as Jesus.

It is a very common view among most churches that for a teaching in the OT to still be applicable today then it should be repeated in the NT. Nowhere in the NT is tattoos repeated. Also worthy of not is that not all translations include tattoos as being wrong so there is not universal agreement. All translations I have seen include the not marking yourself for the dead but not the tattoo bit.
lets see if you really believe tattoos are wrong or not. Would you be willing to post a picture of yourself to your profile and then let me know? This will prove if you believe what your saying or not.
Checking your clothing would be interesting as well. Do you ever wear polyester cotton clothing? Most christians I have met do at some stage and repeatedly and never give it a moments thought.

 

[DreamerOfHearts]

Jesus Christ is God. God told the Israelites NOT to mark their bodies in the Old Testament.

Ergo, Jesus Christ said not to. So yes, apparently Jesus Christ does care about tattoos, because He warned against it 2000 years prior to His walk on this earth as Jesus.

This is teaching the Law. We are not teachers of the Law.

The Law has with it the curse. Satan "obeyed the Law" by following prophecy to kill Jesus, and was condemned for it forever. As Satan is the one responsible for death and for enforcement of the Law which brought the curse of the Law to all, what he did removes his power to accuse Christians on the basis of the Law forever after. Any such accusations bring one to the fire reserved for Satan and his angels since the beginning of time.

In this way the cross has completely removed the curse of the Law.

If people attempt to return to the Law, they are cut off from the grace of God and put under that same fire Satan and his angels face.

If anyone states that "one must not get Tattoos, because we are under Law", one also is obliged to follow all the rest of the Law. This includes such rules as not eating pork or shellfish.

These rules should be seen as symbolic, spiritual.


Further, note, I was describing the false Jesus some teach. Your response was that Jesus is God. I would be careful with such rhetorics, my speech was very clear on the matter.

The real Jesus is God, and should be listened to.

 

[DreamerOfHearts]

..

 

[ChrisHolland619]

You people make me laugh LOL.

 

[wayfaring man]

On the other hand, I have known people who don't have tattoos who profess to be Christians whose lives are like rotting flesh blowing in the wind.

Yea, there's more to Christianity than not "marking up our flesh".

And I'm not saying folks who have already should be condemned...but am saying it's not a good idea to do, based on what has been shown, and revealed.

So if you don't have any...good, keep it that way.

And if you've got them already...consider it a past folly you've repented of...and thereby not be one who encourages others to follow that same thing.

According to what is heard, seen, and believed.

wm

 

[znr]

You people make me laugh LOL.

Pics or it didn't happen, Chris. Come on.

 

[TheDag]

And if you've got them already...consider it a past folly you've repented of...and thereby not be one who encourages others to follow that same thing.

you can't repent if there is no sin. i have not seen anything which convinces me it is a sin. I'm not planning on ever getting one. The only reason I can see for it being a sin is because of the wrong motivation. i don't accept that the body is a temple passage as speaking against tattoos. The reason is because at the time of writing the use of the word temple would be comparision to former physical temple in jerusalem. That temple was decorated. So there is enough doubt as a result to not justify this passage as being a conclusive argument.

 

[CounselorForChrist]

Technically speaking its not a sin. It just is briefly mentioned in the bible that you shouldn't ruin your "temple". Although the better question is just because something is not a sin....should we still do it?

The bible says nothing about alot of bad things we christians do. In my head if we start thinking to ourselves "Well I can do this because its not a sin", then maybe we won't get into heaven because God will see we are constantly trying to find something bad to do and using "its not a sin" as an excuse.

 

[tturt]

I haven't read all the posts but looking at Leviticus 19:28 again - it indicates this was something that some did when someone died. "You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord." To me it means accept the death of someone after a period of grieving. And I know everyone handles death of a loved one differently.

Also, v 26 says don't eat anything with blood but I don't recall threads about that topic and wonder why there are such strong opinions about tattoos - just two verses down. Isn't this selecting Scriptures to follow?

Of course, if The Holy Spirit is prompting you not to get a tattoo, then you don't need to do that.

 

[TheDag]

I haven't read all the posts but looking at Leviticus 19:28 again - it indicates this was something that some did when someone died. "You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord." To me it means accept the death of someone after a period of grieving. And I know everyone handles death of a loved one differently.

Also, v 26 says don't eat anything with blood but I don't recall threads about that topic and wonder why there are such strong opinions about tattoos - just two verses down. Isn't this selecting Scriptures to follow?

Of course, if The Holy Spirit is prompting you not to get a tattoo, then you don't need to do that.

Yes this has always amused me along with the don't wear clohing of mixd blends. Don't shave your head. All these other things that people want to ignore and not follow yet insist that verse 28 still applies today. of course the other interesting thing is that was law given to the jews not to gentiles. So yeah I see it as people wanting to cherry pick. As the NT tells us if we want to follow the law then we must follow all of it.

 

[TheDag]

Technically speaking its not a sin. It just is briefly mentioned in the bible that you shouldn't ruin your "temple". Although the better question is just because something is not a sin....should we still do it?

I agree with you here. that sems to be what is being said when the bible tells us that all things are permissable but not all things are beneficial. My main point when saying I can't see where the bible calls it a sin is that one should not be made to feel they should repent of something that is not a sin.

 

[wayfaring man]

Well, I'm convinced in my spirit that inking up one's flesh is in most every case a sinful act of vanity, rebellion, or profanity.

If you disagree, you disagree, I've expressed my conviction.

Those who hear as I do will agree, those who don't won't.

May The Lord Himself make His Judgments known with no uncertainty.

In the mean time I'd 'err' on the side of caution if I were thee.

wm

 

[tturt]

This could be considered as a curse- May The Lord Himself make His Judgments known with no uncertainty.