The question of.....TATTOOS

So here it is; the tattoo I have etched upon my back. Sweet!! But, many, many, many Christians I've met seem to be awfully anal on the question of tattoos. It's a definite 'NO' answer; no and, if's, or but's. When I was in Malagash a couple of months ago, this buddy comes up and sits down beside us and starts looking around the table for wedding rings to see who was married and who wasn't. He got to a fellow FaithWorks'er who, by chance, didn't happen to have his ring on. The guy started telling my friend about how the ring was 'covenant', and on and on and on, blah blah blah. As a sidenote, I don't know anyone more devoted to his wife than this man who was being reprimanded. So I pipe up, "Well I think everyone should get their wedding rings tattooed on their fingers. End of problem. It involves a major decision than just a ring, and you can't take it off."

"Not to be all lawful", he began, "but the Bible says we shouldn't get tattooed like the heathen do." (There are two things first off that are extremly 'off' about that statement, but I'll continue on as planned.)

"Oh", I replied, "Where does it say that?"

"In Leviticus", he victoriously stated.

So I couldn't hold back any longer. "Well it sounds an awful lot like Jesus is gonna have a tattoo on His thigh when He comes back for us." See Revelation 19:16. That shook him a bit, but I finished him off with, "Oh and if you use Leviticus 19:28 (I quoted the often misquoted scripture) as the basis for not getting tattooed then you also have to stop shaving."

"Where does it say that", he said, not too confidently.

"Go back one verse and read Leviticus 19:27", I said. "You see, in context, the reason God gave this command to not tattoo themselves was that the pagans surrounding Israel were doing this in recognition of the false gods they were serving. He didn't want His people doing these same things."

Anyway, I have heard many good-intentioned people preach against tattoos, but not against shaving. I had read Leviticus 19 one day and really delved into the subject cause it bothered me, most likely because I happen to like tattoos. I will end on this though. The cross on my back took 5.5 hrs to put on and cost me $100/hr, at a total cost of $550. I had it done a year after I became a believer. After that, when I went to the mission field and seen the overwhelming need of finances in the Third World, God asked me, "Regarding that tattoo on your back and paying $550 for it (which, in all honesty, was done out of vanity; hmmmm, I won't go there, maybe). Do you now think there are other places that could've used those resources in a more desperate way than what you used them for?"

OUCH. The point was well taken. There is nothing wrong with tattoos, but the expense that is needed to get them could be better spent in advancing the Gospel, in my opinion. Cause, when it gets right down to it, tattoos are all about vanity.

So........yes/no. Here's my answer. If you are thinking about getting a tattoo........"Just ask Jesus what you should do."