Tattoo
"Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus." Gal.6:17
"So, what do you think about tattooing? Is it a sin? Some of my friends said it's like defacing the temple of God. (Our body is like the temple of God), right?" She asked, after our Basic Christianity class, when we had our Starbucks as usual.
"Hhmm, and how about eating high-fat? How about laziness not exercising? Wouldn't those be damaging to our body, the temple of God too?" I answered.
"That's true."
"Usually what I do is I would be more interested in the motives behind the actions. Jesus did that when He talked about 'if you lust after someone, you committed the sin of adultery; if you hate, you committed the sin of murder.' It's the motive that defining the sin."
She was quiet so I went on. "Have you seen some people in our church with tattoos on them, some of them had it before they became Christian, but some really like it (they see it as art) and they have it done after they became Christian too. But then if they want to have a tattoo because all their friends have it, because they want to fit in; then the issue is no longer about the physical body, but about their self-image, about peer-pressure, etc. You got my drift?"
She nodded.
"So, are you thinking about getting a tattoo?"
"No," she said sheepishly, "I already had one. Last week I went and I got my first tattoo ever. It hurts so much, but I think it's worth it. I got a cross tattooed on my body."
"Wow."
"I just want to mark this period in my life, where I have been experiencing God a lot. So I wanted to get a mark of God, to remind myself, and to be protected by Him. And I have been feeling this Presence with me all the time."
She continued, "Except for halfway through the process, my friends told me that it was a sin."
I laughed with her, "It wasn't."
I still couldn't believe what I was hearing, "It's so cool what you have done. It's an action expressing your belief; similar to the ritual of baptism in the church. I think the church would scare people off with tattooing for baptism, so they settled for dunking people in cold water instead..."
That was so cool.
Hey, you - There is this verse for you for the occasion: "Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus." - from the Apostle Paul.
posted by mar13 at 11/08/2004 10:57:00 AM
3 Comments:
Someone may also point to another side of the issue, the Bible said in Leviticus 19:28 that "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves." The question we need to ask is "Why?"
If we examine in context of the surrounding verses, we read the whole section as...
26 " 'Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it.
" 'Do not practice divination or sorcery.
27 " 'Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.
28 " 'Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD .
29 " 'Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness.
30 " 'Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD .
31 " 'Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.
Basically, from the context we can see that this section of commandments dealing with a lot of pagan worship ritual in the land of the Canaanites, where the Israel started settling in. (Yes, even prostitution was a form of pagan worship, just search an electronic Bible for the term 'temple prostitute' and you can see that practice resurfaced up as the Israelites fell away from God and start following the pagan gods of the land). Specifically, the marking of the body (probably paiting the body and not the tattooing of today) was a pagan practice for worship ritual. (See C. Gordon, The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilization [New York: W. W. Norton, 1965] 136, 168) as cited from Hartley, J. E. 2002. Vol. 4: Word Biblical Commentary: Leviticus. Word Biblical Commentary . Word, Incorporated: Dallas)
it's kinda funny how some people are very careful to look for rules to obey, and very careful to not violate them, and to make sure others don't violate or cross the boundaries just in case there are weaker brethren around; and I sometimes wonder if that's the way God wants us to live, to be obsessed with rules, or rather, to be obsessed with a holy passion of love for God and love for people, so that we act and move in freedom instead?
Hey..great post on tattoos. I am a believer and have two tattoos. The first pre salvation..the second post salvation. The second tattoo are my childrens names in greek (Andrew) and hebrew (Caleb). My wife and I did this as a symbol of our love for the word, greek and hebrew, and the love for our children. We each got the same tat as a symbol of our love of God and the word and our combined dedication and love to our children. We even witnessed to the tattoo artist. I am sure God smiled on us and our ink.
Check it out at www.ohioguy.com...great blog you got here.
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