SHOULD I GET A TATTOO OR PIERCING?

Leviticus 19:28: Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.

The subject of Tattoos and Body Piercing has dominated our culture and has become a nearly accepted practice in the church.

Kinds of Thoughts

 I realize there are different kinds of people here, with different kinds of expectations:

·       For Parents & Grandparents: you are all excited! You can’t wait for me to just blast your kids…and give you some ammunition to blast them when you get home.

·       For some teenagers and kids and individuals: You’ve come here today to see if there is any loop hole in God’s word for you to get a tattoo or body piercing

·       People who have tattoos: you may be nervous because you don’t know what I’m going to say…You don’t want to feel guilty…you don’t want people thinking that you’re odd…

·       Others today: you may be here and you don’t really care what I’m going to say…you’re going to believe what you want to believe.                                                 .

Jesus said, I have not come into this world to condemn it but to save it. Likewise am only coming to tell you what God’s word says about body piercing and marking the bodies with tattoos.

I will be concentrating more on tattoos.

Definition

A tattoo is a form of body modification, made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Despite some taboos surrounding tattooing, the practice continues to be popular in many parts of the world.

Body piercing, also a form of body modification, is the practice of puncturing or cutting a part of the human body, creating an opening in which jewelry may be worn. Although the history of body piercing is obscured by popular misinformation and by a lack of scholarly reference, ample evidence exists to document that it has been practiced in various forms by both sexes since ancient times throughout the world. Ear piercing and nose piercing have been particularly widespread, lip and tongue piercings were historically found in African and American tribal cultures. Nipple and genital piercing have also been practiced by various cultures and navel piercing.

The reasons for piercing or not piercing are varied. Some people pierce for religious or spiritual reasons, while others pierce for self-expression, for aesthetic value, for sexual pleasure, to conform to their culture or to rebel against it.

History

Tattooing has been around for thousands of years. Tattooing has a rich history in Eurasia, Japan, Egypt….. Various other cultures have had their own tattoo traditions, ranging from rubbing cuts and other wounds with ashes, to hand-pricking the skin to insert dyes.

Tattoos have served for identification (slaves, nazi camps, roman soldiers so when you dessert, you are identified, gang/ cult membership); for cosmetics (eg. Permanent make-ups); medicals (eg. when repeated operations are anticipated) and for protection.

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 Today

Within the last decade the tattoo has virtually conquered the cultural world. The tattoo was until recently reserved for the heavy metal rocker or biker…for criminals and the social outcast of society. But today the tattoo glamorously appears everywhere and anywhere. It’s the latest fashion craze. Tattoos are found on movie stars, Music stars and other popular persons. The world has gone tattoo crazy!

Even among Christians, the once forbidden tattoo is welcomed with open arms…(and necks and legs and backs) With the rise of Christian music artists now flaunting their tattoos…thousands of Christian young people are getting “marked for Jesus” at Christian tattoo shops…

Everyone is doing it….It’s the cool thing to do now…Is it really wrong? What’s so bad about it? What if I get a Christian symbol? How can that be wrong? Is there any reference in the Bible that even talks about tattoos?

The word of God

In Leviticus 19:28 it says “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.”

Now that sounds pretty clear…doesn’t it? Pretty simple and straight forward…Don’t tattoo your body. Don’t cut your body.                                                       

 
Some might say…”yea I see that…but that’s not for today…that’s for the Old Testament”

              
If it’s in the old testament…do we throw it out just because it’s in the Old Testament? Let’s examine it.  In Biblical History often times, when a person would purposefully cut themselves…it was done for a reason. If you look at 1 Kings 18:28 and Jer. 16:6 and Jer 41:5, it will give you some examples….

The first example is the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal. Remember the contest that Elijah had with them…He said call upon Baal …to come down and produce fire…on an altar.
The bible says that they shouted and screamed at Baal to come down…they even cut themselves…as their custom allowed…slashed themselves until blood flowed from their bodies….and Baal did not listen…

Any kind of self-laceration or marking of the body was prohibited among the Hebrew people. It was associated with pagan cults….and had to do with dead people. People who were caught up in idol worship and followed false gods…would cut themselves or tattoo themselves as an act of mourning for the dead. That’s why God said in Lev. 19:28….Don’t cut your body or tattoo it…
God did not want his people to have anything to do with false gods or idol worship or witchcraft…

God was basically saying…don’t do like they do….Don’t do it like the world does it….they don’t know…They don’t know that God is the God of life…and that man is made in the image of the true God. You don’t have to get God’s attention by cutting yourself or tattooing yourself.
God says I like you just the way you are…you are perfect! I made you! Some people say…well I want to get a tattoo not for any religious reasons…but because I think it’s cool…everyone has one…tattoos don’t have anything to with dead people now!

                        
Ok….let’s forget about doing it for dead people like it says…in the Leviticus. The phrase...”do not print any marks upon you” really is a stand-alone command…. that phrase alone was intended to emphasize the proper reverence for God that was required for the Israelites.

Still some people would say…Come on…It’s the Old Testament…It’s not mentioned in the New Testament. Did you know that as sick and perverted bestiality is...that it was only forbidden in the Old Testament Levetical Law…..Does that mean that because it’s not mentioned in the NT, it’s ok now?

The fact is…Up until a few years ago, virtually everyone, including the most liberal Christian, knew that tattoo was clearly forbidden by the word of God. And throughout history, the tattoo has always been condemned by Bible Believing Christians, always. Every Historical resource ever written on tattoos clearly confirms it.

1 Cor. 6:12-20: The key principle here seems to be that our bodies belong to God, not ourselves, and that we are to use them in ways that honor and reflect God’s glory.

Effects of tattoo/ body piercing

1)    Medically, I could share tons of information with you about how dangerous it is to your health…whenever you get a tattoo...There are lots of reported cases of major diseases like Aids, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Tetanus, syphilis, tuberculosis. It has been researched that the commercial tattoo may be the number one distributor of hepatitis C. Did you know that the American Red Cross prohibits donors from donating blood for 12 months after getting a tattoo? Why…because they are concerned with Hepatitis.

2)    Teenagers go for tattoo in the first flush of enthusiasm and regret not too distant in the future. One goes for the tattoo because one has seen the seniors doing it. What is a tattoo? You are injuring the skin of a particular part of the body deliberately. Tattoos are Passing Fads. while last year's flared pants can easily be exchanged for this year's capri's, a piercing or tattoo is a physical change that's much harder to discard when the trend changes.

3)    With the engraving of the tattoo, skin discoloration is permanent

4)    Tattoo ink consists of heavy metals like lead etc that relate to birth defects and cancer.

Some would still say, God looks at the heart…not the outside of our bodies…That’s correct…and aren’t you so glad he does. But the question is, should you tattoo? The Bible says in I Cor. 10:23

The question

Why do you want one in first place? Do you want a tattoo because everyone else has one? You want to prove to people that you are tough? That you’re cool? That you’re a real man or a tough chick? See what Romans 12:2 says.

Know this

It is hard living in today’s world with all the temptations. But with God’s help you can have the strength to do what is right. You don’t have to prove to anyone that you’re cool enough or tough enough. You’re a child of the King! God puts his stamp of approval on you.

Maybe you want to have tattoo to attract the opposite sex. If the opposite sex is attracted to you because of your precious little tattoo on your thigh…you’re attracting a shallow pervert. What happens when you get a tattoo when you’re single…five years later…and then you get married. Guys, do you want some other guy looking at the tattooed dragon going up your wife’s leg?

Maybe you want to get a tattoo because you want to be a witness for Christ. You want people to know that you are Christian…and you want to use your tattoo to lead people to Christ. I don’t know where we get the idea that we have to conform to the world’s pattern in order for us to save the world. The bible tells us in James 1:27…” Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world”

How will you feel when your best shirt/ dress is tainted by someone? Angry eh? Disappointed eh? That is how God feels when you mark or stain His “temple- your body”. Reconsider the decision for a tattoo. If possible, reject tattoo. Obey God and have eternal life!   Amen!