Taboo on Tattoos

Taboo on Tattoos

        Recently I received a request from a concerned father who asked, “My family has been asking me a question that I really do not have a good answer to other than that they need to trust my judgment concerning this subject. But is there a better answer? I believe that it is wrong to get a tattoo. I would be grateful if you would share your perspective on this.” I answered this Christian dad, and realized that many of you may have the same question.

          First of all, when a young person or an adult walks into our services, we love them and do not criticize them for tattoos. For one thing, many do not know why they got one other than that their friends got one and they followed the crowd or they just thought they looked “cool”. The first objective I have is trying to get the lost to Christ and secondly to get the born again person discipled. To the Christian who thinks that it is merely a fad and there is nothing to it, allow me to give you an answer today, Yes, it is wrong for a Christian to get a tattoo. The Bible says, “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:28). The reason it is wrong is because we are made in the image of God, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" (Genesis 1:27).

        Marring our flesh with printings is an attempt to change the overall image of God. If a woman uses make-up (provided it is not overboard), or a person has special things done to their hair, etc., to “enhance” the image of God, I see nothing wrong with embellishing what God has already made. Tattoos, however, change the image and permanently mark you. In human slavery, marks were given to identify ownership. Even to this day, cattle get marked to identify the owner. I believe tattoos mark you for the world, flesh and the Devil. I don't want anything on my body that says I belong to the world. And I don't buy into the philosophy that if you get a nice tattoo, there is nothing wrong with it. Some guy says, "Yeah, but my tattoo says, "I love Mom." Hey, if you want to honor Mom, don't take the branding of the world! It is never right to do wrong in order to get a chance to do right. Don't get branded!!! We belong to Christ! The only marks Paul had were not self-inflicted; they were given to him for his stand for Jesus! "From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus" (Galatians 6:17).