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gcdonner wrote:PastorRich wrote:gcdonner wrote:
You are really stretching...
Not really. This is straight outta the Bible. You can argue with it. There's more scriptures like this. I met a number of ole times like yourself who come down hard on practices and when you quote the Word they say we are either misquoting it or as you say stretching it.
Your argument is not with me...
ah-ha. i posted in another thread without realizing all this was going on.
temporal1 wrote:karpos wrote:MaxPC wrote:I would say no because Jesus was obedient to the Jewish laws which teach that we are created in the image of God, therefore proscribed against marking the flesh.
We are created in God's image and have no need of any permanent "adornment"
if He did, it would have been witnessed at the time of His crucifixion, and, very likely carefully copied ever-after.
“Would/Did Jesus have a tattoo?” / Page 1
http://forum.mennonet.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1559
hello, Pastor Rich!
a topic has interested you.
this is a great topic to reflect how folks can have deeply held beliefs for themselves, while remaining tolerant of others with opposite views. i’ve never been pressured to get a tattoo, or otherwise cut or alter my body .. (wait.) i have pierced ears! i forgot. this was 40 years ago, i have not worn earrings for many years. i was not pressured to do this. i just wanted to. sort of silly, my hair covers my ears, so, who would notice?
Revelation. hmm.
Years ago, i read/was told, The Book of Revelation is “hard.” i haven’t read.
i have so much trouble trying to grasp what is “not hard,” i have no confidence with it.
i understand there is much imagery, symbolism, things “beyond me.”
While i believe the spirit of the words regarding Jesus’ thigh, i would not constrain the meaning to tangible earthly understanding. i would seek the spiritual meaning. the words are beautiful and meaningful. if not literal, what is the meaning? my sense is there is meaning beyond the literal.
i agree with george regarding, “Your argument is not with me ..”
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Josh wrote: The Bible makes it clear we are not to let our adornment be external, but rather to be a simple and modest one arising from godliness.
A tattoo's purpose is to draw attention to the flesh - literal flesh. It stirs up vanity, pride, and immodesty. We are not to mark and cut our bodies in order to draw attention to our flesh. Instead, we are to show a Christian witness by our conduct and our speech.
I feel the same biblical principles lead one away from wearing the latest worldly fashions, expensive clothing brands, jewellery, makeup, piercings, painting various colours on one's nails, and other similar things.
Some of these things we find expressly prohibited in the Old Testament -
such as tattoos to commemorate a dead person, which is a very common reason someone gets a tattoo.
Other things are shown in a context that make it clear it would be wrong for a New Testament believer, such as it being mandated for a slave to get an earring to show their loyalty to their new slavemaster.
As Christians, we should only choose to be slaves for Christ, and not swear loyalty to an earthly master.
in my family, “tattoos to commemorate dead people,” have happened.
one family member tragically lost a teen in a fiery auto crash, the mother was inconsolable, among lots of acting out her grief was getting a large memorial tattoo across her upper chest, shoulder to shoulder. it screamed grief.
i sadly witnessed thinking, her son would not have wanted this.
and, what must her other, younger children feel?
just this week, i was filling the car’s gas tank.
the car ahead had simple words+date on the back window, not large letters, but legible, commemorating a lost teen. his name, dates of birth+death. i thought, this is like a tattoo, not on the flesh. is this better? ok? in my mind, it was better. i will think more about it.
i agree, tattoos commemorating the dead are common, and always have been.
there is no one reason to get them. simple adornment, often with some sentiment, is popular these days. they are permanent in a world that changes fashion, and, they fade+bleed with time.
tattoos do not age well.
typically, i do not think of them.
because of this thread, i notice, they are now common.
yesterday, i saw a young woman with tattoos on the backs of her upper thighs, “claw marks?” - she was wearing a short skirt, chubby legs .. if not for this topic here, i doubt i would have noticed.
i noticed them on the arms of my granddaughter’s elementary school teacher last year. along with her purple hair. was she a bad teacher? no. a good teacher? not that i could tell. she seemed “conservative,” in most things. preoccupied with attending to everyone’s perceived “needs,” more than anything else - my impression. trophies for everyone, of course.
i see so much sadness and confusion.