GuitarAngel.net

Some anonymous person just posted a comment on my entry on the Skin Project. Lol, I just thought it was interesting that they didn't have the dignity or bravery to leave their name. I hate it when people feebly attempt to stand up for their beliefs and hide behind their cowardice like that. It totally insults me when I get an anonymous comment about something I've written...and it speaks poorly for the commenter. Here's what it says:

Please consider Leviticus 19:28, "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord."

I already knew what that verse said and what it means. People have to do research here...you don't think I haven't researched the whole Christian and spiritual viewpoints on tattoos? I'm not stupid. Click on the link below for an article I wrote back in February on this topic.

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I have just begun to more heavily research the whole tattoo idea. I would like some feedback from people on what they think...but before you comment you might want to check out a few of the articles/sites I've found on the subject.

• Can a Christian have a tattoo?
• Complete Tattoo Process
• Tattoo Safety Checklist
• Tattoo Etiquette
• 'Tis the Season to be Tattooed
• Christian Tattoo Association
• A Christian's View
• Interesting Interpretation of the Leviticus Verse

Understand that I have no intention yet of actually getting one unless I've researched the issue to death and know exactly what I'm getting, where I'm getting it, and who the artist will be. My daddy has a tattoo and he's cool with me getting one. My mother would probably flip but my dad says that she doesn't ever have to know, which is interesting. Another interesting thing is that when I think about it my mom would be more ok with me getting more piercings in my body than a tattoo...I guess cuz of the permanence (sp). But the only other piercing I plan on getting is the cartilage in my upper left ear, which I am also researching heavily and haven't decided yet. If I were to go through with either of these it would probably be after the semester ended because I'm way too busy to take care of a tattoo as its healing and the same for the piercing and also cuz AFROTC only lets women wear one earring in each ear. This is just my opinion...but my if I meet someone who I find out later has a tattoo, my impression of them does not decrease. I personally believe that tattoos are not wrong or sinful or against God. Yes, I have read the verses and heard the sermons that talk about keeping your body pure and clean like the image of God, but if you read the first article I list up there it spells out a different perspective that I happen to agree with. If you are one of those types of people who look down upon people with piercings and tattoos then oh well. I will draw the line though when it gets to where there are so many piercings and tattoos on one's body that it begins to mutilate the flesh. Getting a few piercings or tattoos will not do that. And if you argue that it does because you are cutting into the body and leaving permanent marks on it then I will toss up the act of surgery, smoking, excessive drinking of alchohol, and then just plain ordinary accidents where you cut your skin or injure your body in some way. All of these things make marks and permanent scars on the flesh, and they are mostly accepted by society. Religiously-speaking, the body is like a house of God if the Holy Spirit dwells within you, but you have to remember that these human bodies are only "temporary" if you are a believer...and it could also be good to say that any mark on you that displays your faith and beliefs is better than none. I'll also say that marks on the body are also a great symbol in the Christian faith. Jesus with the scars on His wrists from the nails, the whip lashings on his back, the spear gash in His side and probably countless other marks is representative of His sacrifice and the weight he bore for all the world. Even in His heavenly body He still displayed those marks. I'm not saying that anything we ever do to our bodies in sacrifice will equal His, I'm just saying that I don't believe God looks down upon a tattoo of a cross or something promoting His awesomeness. And if you're going to argue the fact that tattooing is a widely accepted thing of the secular society and "shouldn't we stand out because we aren't of this world", then why don't you stop listening to secular music, seeing movies that are PG-13+, and caring so much about getting a job, making money, or buying things you don't really need? Even though we as Christians are "not of this world" because we belong to God, that doesn't mean the world does not belong to us. God created it and everything in it to glorify Him. Why not turn something "bad" like tattooing into a wonderful ministry tool that can praise His name? Here is a verse I found: "One will say, I am the Lord's; and another will call himself by the name of Jacob; and another will write [even brand or tattoo] upon his hand, I am the Lord's, and surname himself by the [honorable] name of Israel." - Isaiah 44:5 ... Most other verses I found on Bible Gateway searching with the key words "your body" are mostly just related to sexual sin, gluttony and how what you wear does not matter. And the one verse in Leviticus that says "do not tattoo your body" was pinpointing the fact that God's people were diving into pagan religions by thinking that if they tattooed themselves they were keeping "spirits" away, etc. Me getting a tattoo to represent my faith in God (that would be the general theme, something like this example) is not sinning. That is my opinion.