Should a Christian get tattoos

[webdog]

I hear ya, but would interject the following thought. I can change what clothes I am wearing, it only takes a minute to change them. I can grow my hair long or cut it short, it will shortly grow back again. But when I get a tattoo it's pretty much there forever.
I had plenty of opportunities in my youthful days before becoming a Christian while I was sitting in tattoo parlors in an drunken state to get a tattoo, just like all my drunken friends did. Even back then I felt a tug on my heart saying "don't do it"
Thirdly, why would someone want a tattoo to begin with? Here are a few possibilities.
1. They want to draw attention to themselves
2. They believe it makes their bare flesh look more appealing
3. They believe it fashionable (and it is in a worldly way)
4. They believe it projects a manly imagine (men)
5. For woman it portrays the bad girl image, and some women enjoy that projection

I'm sure there are other reasons as well. Maybe you folks with tattoos could fill the rest of us in on what reason or purpose you decided to get tattooed

So now permanency is what makes something sinful

Your list could apply to haircuts, hair coloring, jeans, shoes, etc. Are they all sinful as well (oh wait, they are not permanent )

I have one because...I wanted one, I though it looked good, and I'm at liberty to have one. Thank God for the priesthood of the believer!

 

[Amy.G]

I have one because...I wanted one, I though it looked good, and I'm at liberty to have one. Thank God for the priesthood of the believer!

I always knew you were just a big ol sinner! :laugh:



Seriously, no wonder people think Christians are kooks. Arguing over tattoos.....:BangHead:.....add to that pants on women, hair length...


I know a man at my church that thinks tattoos are sinful yet he has no problem coloring his hair. :tonofbricks:

 

[webdog]

I always knew you were just a big ol sinner! :laugh:



Seriously, no wonder people think Christians are kooks. Arguing over tattoos.....:BangHead:.....add to that pants on women, hair length...


I know a man at my church that thinks tattoos are sinful yet he has no problem coloring his hair. :tonofbricks:

Shhh...I had an earring at one point too. That came out in my mid 20's when I saw a 50+ gentleman with a mullet and his shirt unbuttoned to his naval with one. It came out right then and there. I told my then future wife, "I will not be that guy".

 

[annsni]

Shhh...I had an earring at one point too. That came out in my mid 20's when I saw a 50+ gentleman with a mullet and his shirt unbuttoned to his naval with one. It came out right then and there. I told my then future wife, "I will not be that guy".

And she secretly rejoiced.....

 

[pinoybaptist]

.......................................
I know a man at my church that thinks tattoos are sinful yet he has no problem coloring his hair. :tonofbricks:

Why should he have a problem coloring his hair ?

(I think I will get the cobra tattoo the old fashioned way, the way I got the one on my thigh. It'll cost me less in the Philippines when I go and visit)

 

[Amy.G]

Why should he have a problem coloring his hair ?

I guess I just don't see a difference between coloring your skin or coloring your hair. I guess he does.

I wonder if that tan in a tube stuff could be considered a tattoo? hmmmmm...

 

[DaleMcNamee]

Should a Christian Get a Tattoo ?

Well, my wife works as a dispensary nurse at the State Prison in Jessup,MD. and tattoos are forbidden on staff and officers because they are considered part of the "inmate culture" where such are used to denote gang membership (in and out of prison), being a "money man",enforcer, hit man, how many people you've killed (tears tattooed on the face ),swastikas, skulls, demonic scenes,etc. Even the most harmless tattoo can mean something totally different to an inmate.

The same goes for certain colors in clothing and even nail polish ! My wife used to wear nail polish (she sell Mary Kay) until an inmate pointed out that the particular color & shade were worn by the "Ho's" that he knew before prison and that some of the guys might think that she's a "Ho",even though she's not. She stopped wearing nail polish. Also, the job's rough on nails. :laugh:

 

[Jedi Knight]

Why put graffiti on a Masterpiece? :smilewinkgrin:

 

[paul wassona]

That's ridiculous, and it wasn't a moral law then either. It was separation from pagan practice. Are you saying I'm immoral until I have my tatoo removed?

So when you got it was for moral reasons? Is it God cannot tell us of the moral issue concerning his instruction because we have found a way to "out reason" the bible? I don't question your morality, but I do question the reasons behind making markings in the skin. Tell you what, you believe what you want and I'll believe what I know is bible. Listen to whomever you wish

 

[pinoybaptist]

Well, my wife works as a dispensary nurse at the State Prison in Jessup,MD. and tattoos are forbidden on staff and officers because they are considered part of the "inmate culture" where such are used to denote gang membership (in and out of prison), being a "money man",enforcer, hit man, how many people you've killed (tears tattooed on the face ),swastikas, skulls, demonic scenes,etc. Even the most harmless tattoo can mean something totally different to an inmate.

<snip>

I had a tattoo on my right thigh, the only really big one I have on my body. Had, because it's now blacked out, after I left a gang I was part of for sometime.
In jail, it didn't matter if your entire body was covered with tattoos, if you didn't have gang marks on you, you were our missus, our laundryman, our air-conditioning (you fanned us till we fell asleep).

Didn't matter if you were in jail for murder, and the homeboy was in just for extortion, you weren't a gangbanger, you were dung. You did my turn at the bucket, you did my turn at cleaning the latrine, you looked downwards when I spoke to you, and anything your visitor brings for you, food, toothpaste, bath soap, detergent, smokes, coffee, money belongs to me and if I didn't get them as soon as you came back from the visitor's area, you're dead meat.
So I understand a little about what you're saying.
I'm glad those things are under the blood now.

But the tattoos being contemplated on and discussed on here have nothing to do with gangs or their culture.
I don't think anyone here wants a swastika, or a tear, or demonic scenes.
Heck, I don't think anyone here is even thinking of a cross tattoo.
And while it may be true that even the most harmless looking tattoo may mean something to a con, I don't think anyone here will have themselves tattoed to show off to a con.
I believe most here will have the tattoo in an area at least partially covered.

 

[paul wassona]

Partially covered is most often understood to tease

 

[pinoybaptist]

Partially covered is most often understood to tease

I guess you look at the bottle half-empty.
Some look at it half-full.
You have malice.
Some don't.

Like I said, I don't approve of an entire body full of tattoos.
Especially among women.
But tattoos will not un-redeem you, nor un-save you.

This issue is just like the issue of tobacco.
A lot of Christians "witness" and say the sinners eternal salvation is by grace only, then they add through faith, which makes grace a burden, because grace is free and comes only from God, while human faith fluctuates and sometimes fail.
On top of that, many add, "now that you're a Christian, you don't want to do this, or that, or those, or these".

A former pastor of mine used to decimate his pulpit banging his Bible on it, and a page here and there would fall off as he banged his hand on it to emphasize that the book states one is to take care of his body because it is the temple of the Holy Spirit and therefore should quit tobacco, or maybe you're not saved.

Well, taking care of your body means keeping your waist below 40, too, and his was 46. Caffeine is just as bad for the body as nicotine, and he drinks coffee like an athlete gulps water, and wearing the fashion style of one's generation is dressing the body in a worldly fashion, and all his kids wore the latest worldly fashion.

This is a matter of judgment and moderation, like everything else in a Christian's life, because we cannot ever keep any part of the law perfectly, that is why everything we are, we are in Christ.

 

[Theopolis]

So now permanency is what makes something sinful

Your list could apply to haircuts, hair coloring, jeans, shoes, etc. Are they all sinful as well (oh wait, they are not permanent )

I have one because...I wanted one, I though it looked good, and I'm at liberty to have one. Thank God for the priesthood of the believer!

I can only speak for myself, and I personally don't believe God desires for me to have a tattoo. For me personally, it's a waste of money, and time. Nevertheless, I am not judging those who see nothing wrong with having a tattoo. Scripture states;
Rom 14:13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.
Rom 14:14 I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
Rom 14:23 for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

And yes I know the above verses do not refer to tattoos, yet I can't help but believe that the basic principles found in the above verses could just as well apply.

 

[paul wassona]

I don't piously sit in judgement of anybody, I read the bible and believe it. The bible says something about posessing your body in sanctification and honor, do we modernize so much that we forget about that? Believing God is pessimism now?

 

[Theopolis]

Good pojnts, yet some will say they just wanted to without falling under any the catagories above:smilewinkgrin:

That's why I stated;

"I'm sure there are other reasons as well."

 

[blackbird]

Liberty in Christ is not license to disobey Scripture

If OT Leviticus 19 makes no application to today---then it stands to reason that whats written in Exodus 20 makes no application to today

If I go out and rob a bank---I'm not going to be able to tell the judge--"Well, sir----my liberty in Christ allowed me to do that!! I'm no longer under OT law that says Thou shalt not steal!!"

 

[webdog]

Liberty in Christ is not license to disobey Scripture

If OT Leviticus 19 makes no application to today---then it stands to reason that whats written in Exodus 20 makes no application to today

If I go out and rob a bank---I'm not going to be able to tell the judge--"Well, sir----my liberty in Christ allowed me to do that!! I'm no longer under OT law that says Thou shalt not steal!!"

As has already been mentioned, I sure hope you do not blend different fabrics and cut your beard or hair at the temples!

 

[Bob Alkire]

I too, believe it is a fad of the day for so many.

Today I'm not much far them, but others can do whatever they wish. From the 60's on I've done a good amount of ministry in prisons and tattoos have always been very popular with that group of folks. Working with street kids it has been popular. In both cases I would say somewhere between 65 and 80 percent have tattoos in the places that I've worked with them. I've never wanted to look like I was in those groups. So I'm not real big on them.

I had a professor way back when who said for the most part men who had tattoos where more likely to be in your face confrontational and for the most part I've found that to be true. Many folks while in the military had tattoos and they seem a little different than some others, the tattoo might be about their unit or some thing else, but most who I've meet later in life wish they didn't have them.

Like so much of today, folks do things to be seen and that is one of them at times.

 

[blackbird]

As has already been mentioned, I sure hope you do not blend different fabrics and cut your beard or hair at the temples!

Application, Webby---thats what I'm asking for---application

For instance---take the command

"Thou shalt not kill"

That applied to the Hebrew in OT day--------when Moses got up and started expounding on that law----he made application--there was conviction and then confessing

It applies to the outer man and also to the inner man---did you know you don't need a knife or gun to kill me??? You can kill me with a thought???

Figure out why God told those Hebrews to not blend fabrics---I mean--It don't take a Rocket scientist to figure this one out----you blend cotton with wool----whats gonna happen??

or cut their hair at the temples or cut their beards---there had to be a reason of some sort---and then see what the verses are saying to us today---they got to be saying something, don't you reckon----I mean---Genesis 1:1 is still speaking today, isn't it---Now--to be honest with ya---I haven't figured out an application for this command as of yet---but I do know this----during WW2 the NAZI's would single out Jewish priests who had beards/sideburns and the like---and they would take them to the town square and would openly SHAME the priests by shaving the beards and sideburns---the nazi pigs would display total disrespect for human life --- the only public transportation the nazis would allow the jews to ride---were the public garbage trucks---IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK WITH THE REST OF THE GARBAGE---------TOTAL DISRESPECT FOR HUMAN LIFE---BUT THATS ANOTHER ISSUE

What sort of application does the forbidding of tatoos make on us today???

 

[Jim1999]

Goodness gracious, the USA did this to Blacks just a few years ago. Let's not pour everything on the Nazis of Germany!!!! By the way, a lot of the criminals were members of Baptist Churches.

Cheers,

Jim