Saturday, July 22, 2006

Tattoo or not tattoo?


With her permission to share, below is a question about tattoos from Suzanne Shurling, a college student and one of our church members, followed by my reply:

Hey Brother Bob! How are you doing?
We were just having a discussion up here
and I wanted to get your opinion. We were discussing whether or not it is a sin
to get a tattoo. One of the verses brought up was about keeping your body holy
and the thought process was that any permanent markings (piercing of any kind,
tattoos, etc) was making the temple unholy. Another thought process put on the
table was that tattoos were ok except memorial tattoos because that is
specifically what Leviticus said the pagans did to mourn their dead and we
shouldn't do that. Another thought was even Christian tattoos (i.e. crosses,
Jesus fishes, etc) weren't cool because its too much like trying to be
like the world. The other thought was that as long as it was easily
coverable (so as not to offend and turn off the lost), you didn't do it because
everyone else was or it became an obsession and it was something you really
thought about and talked to God about, it was ok. Lastly, the thought that
it was just like picking out clothes, not that big of a deal and no need to even
consult Scripture... I just wanted to ask you how Scripture spoke to this
issue...


My reply to Suzi: "On the subject of tattoos, I would basically agree with the second view, that "memorial tattoos" violate Leviticus 19:28: "'Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD."
We have to be careful about projecting our cultural viewpoint on this issue, and make sure that we are following scripture, not tradition. The views that permanent markings make the temple of your body unholy, or that it is too much like trying to be like the world, are viewpoints that make an assumption that all tattoos are unholy and worldly. What evidence is there of that all tattoos are unholy and worldly, other than tradition? Similarly, some would point to Leviticus 19:28 and say the Bible says not to put tattoo marks on yourselves, but if you read the context, it is referring to tattoo markings as a memorial to the dead in pagan practice, just as you mentioned in your email. If someone insisted on a blanket ban on all tattoos based on Leviticus 19:28, to be consistent he would also have to ban all haircuts based on the previous verse, which says "do not cut off the hair at the sides of your head..." Without looking at the background, one might assume this forbids haircuts, but from Leviticus 21:5, 1 Kings 18:28 we can determine that this was a pagan practice, and the concern was to avoid a pagan practice.
Most people would agree that haircuts are permitted, but if there was a haircut commonly done to worship some false god, then we should avoid that. For example, Christians in Thailand would want to avoid getting haircuts that look like Buddhist monks.
If you apply this same logic to Leviticus 19:28, then you would have to say that the Bible is not necesssarily banning all tattoos, but it is warning against pagan tattoos. Deuteronomy 14:1-2 and Jeremiah 48:37 also refer to cutting of the body as common in pagan religion, so it would appear that this was the problem with tattoos in Leviticus 19:28. So basically, I would agree with the second viewpoint in your email."

I did not include this in my original reply, but I need to add two other comments about tattoos:
1) Tattoos should be done by a professional, to avoid health risks. (Remember, the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.)
2) I would also add the caution that scripture teaches us not to do something which would cause your brother or sister in Christ to stumble (see Romans 14, especially verse 21.) That's why, in my personal opinion, tattoos that can be covered by normal clothing are preferable. In a follow-up email with Suzi, I discovered that this subject came up because of a desire to put a tattoo on the foot with the words "Send Me" as a reminder to go where God would send, based on Romans 10:15. Certainly a tattoo like this that reminds a person of his or her calling and is covered and does not call attention to oneself cannot be said to be unholy. In fact, it sounds very holy to me!

4 comments:

Bloodiest of Ladies said...

Interesting dilema there. Tattoos are SO associated with a complete different lifesytle, could be hard to bridge that gap.

Good answer to what had to be a somewhat difficult question.

Sarah said...

It is refreshing to hear a NAMB trustee member say that! This makes me feel okay about being a NAMB missionary! (I'm just playing!)

Dr. Bob Rogers said...

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

There really is no point in getting a tattoo unless it's a memorial tattoo. I would like to have a reason for people to look at a tattoo for my son so I could share about him rather than imposing. I'm a proud mama and want to have SOMETHING to share. The only reason I don't have one is because my husband would be sad every time he looked at me. He's not ready for that. People don't ask about pins and T-shirts like they ask about tattoo's but I suppose that is what I have. Also, I guess I'm going to have to start wearing a head cover because every Christian woman who isn't is sinning since it's just popular culture that has changed that as well.