Christians and tattoos

[karpos]

There seems to be an increasing number of "christians" who are wearing tattoos these days.
What is a biblical answer to this.
IMO it is merely a mimicking of the world and seeking acceptance from the world around us, ie, being "of the world".
What say ye?

A tattoo tells me someone probably got drunk at a party or is in a gang of hoodlums...

[MaxPC]

There seems to be an increasing number of "christians" who are wearing tattoos these days.
What is a biblical answer to this.
IMO it is merely a mimicking of the world and seeking acceptance from the world around us, ie, being "of the world".
What say ye?

A tattoo tells me someone probably got drunk at a party or is in a gang of hoodlums...

My question would be: when did they get the tattoos? After becoming a Christian or before?

[Bootstrap]

A tattoo tells me someone probably got drunk at a party or is in a gang of hoodlums...

Here are some other reasons people have given me for their tattoos.

• I wanted a tattoo on my wrist where I cut myself before so I would be reminded that my life is precious and I should never do that again.
• I want a symbol of my faith on my body so it is always with me.
• I think tattoos are amazing, and I want to look amazing.

Lots and lots of people get tattoos with clear-eyed and sober intentions. I don't like tattoos, but if you think that everyone with a tattoo got drunk at a party or is in a gang of hoodlums, that's quite simply not true. And judging people with this kind of stereotype isn't really what we should be doing as Christians.

[Josh]

Indeed, a tattoo shows that someone may be someone who makes poor choices, particularly with regard to thinking in the long term. Unfortunately, since it's permanent, someone who makes a big life change is stuck for the rest of their life with this perception of themselves.

Forgiveness and reconciliation doesn't absolve someone of responsibility, including taking responsibility for the consequences of past choices. Tattoos are one of these things. (Piercings are another - it might seem like a minor thing to someone who is not plain, but for someone who becomes plain later in life and has piercings, they will have to endure children coming up to them and observing "your ears got hurt!")

[gcdonner]

A tattoo tells me someone probably got drunk at a party or is in a gang of hoodlums...

Here are some other reasons people have given me for their tattoos.

• I wanted a tattoo on my wrist where I cut myself before so I would be reminded that my life is precious and I should never do that again.
• I want a symbol of my faith on my body so it is always with me.
• I think tattoos are amazing, and I want to look amazing.

Lots and lots of people get tattoos with clear-eyed and sober intentions. I don't like tattoos, but if you think that everyone with a tattoo got drunk at a party or is in a gang of hoodlums, that's quite simply not true. And judging people with this kind of stereotype isn't really what we should be doing as Christians.

I think karpos was expressing the kind of thought we often have when we see tattoos. When I was in the Navy (many years ago now) what he expressed was exactly how it happened. The guys would get drunk before they got their tattoos. That is the connotation of the wearing of tattoos in this country in the past generations. That and that only the heathen would wear them. It is an indication of the degradation of our society that it has become the accepted norm, along with piercings, and enlarged earlobes for blocks of wood to be inserted. Things we only saw in films from Africa or slides that the missionaries would bring home to show. As you put it, Boot, it is a stereotype, but one that has been accepted and even challenged by a rebellious society.

[Josh]

A lot of other things are also "acceptable" in our modern society, like casual recreational drug use or creating single-parent families. That doesn't meant these things are okay in the eyes of God, that they don't hurt innocent people, and that there aren't life-long consequences for doing them.

[gcdonner]

A lot of other things are also "acceptable" in our modern society, like casual recreational drug use or creating single-parent families. That doesn't meant these things are okay in the eyes of God, that they don't hurt innocent people, and that there aren't life-long consequences for doing them.

AMEN

[karpos]

There seems to be an increasing number of "christians" who are wearing tattoos these days.
What is a biblical answer to this.
IMO it is merely a mimicking of the world and seeking acceptance from the world around us, ie, being "of the world".
What say ye?

Leviticus 19:28 King James Version (KJV)

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

I dont see how much clearer it could be...

[karpos]

A tattoo tells me someone probably got drunk at a party or is in a gang of hoodlums...

Here are some other reasons people have given me for their tattoos.

• I think tattoos are amazing, and I want to look amazing.

That's really vain.

[karpos]

There seems to be an increasing number of "christians" who are wearing tattoos these days.
What is a biblical answer to this.
IMO it is merely a mimicking of the world and seeking acceptance from the world around us, ie, being "of the world".
What say ye?

1 Timothy 2:9

In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;

I make no attempt to call attention to myself by the way that I appear. If I stand out in a crowd, it is only going to be that my pants are pulled up while other people are walking around with their underwear showing. That and I might be noticed for not texting and walking around at the same time.

People get tattoos for attention or to be affiliated with some group...