On tattoos and piercings
May 23rd, 2007Tony has suggested the topic of tattoos and piercings for discussion, as it’s an issue that we’ve not talked about before.
Are tattoos and piercings acceptable for Christians? Where do you draw the line about what’s acceptable and what’s not — for example, is an ear piercing OK, but a nose piercing wrong? How should churches respond?
While I don’t think tattoos and piercings are inherently wrong, I think they can be a manifestation of a rebellious heart — and that’s obviously cause for concern.
What are your thoughts?
Well this is a topic that I like to speak about and discuss. I do not think it is a problem for a christian to have a tattoo. Now what they have and where it is can be an issue. For example scripture tells us in Leviticus 19:28 - You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord. (ESV) So in my opinion to have a tattoo in memory of a person that has passed on in my opinion is wrong. Of course anything demonic or in refrence to the devil is wrong. If tastfully done I see no problem with tattoos.
As far as piercings go I think the same principle can be applied. Many translations of the Bible use the word piercing rather than cutting. Now jewlery in general can be an issue, but that may be a topic for another day. I was raised that a man did not pierce his ear (at least not in my house. Dad would have ripped it out) I have always felt that earings were for women not men. As far as nose rings, I just do not find anything appealing aout them.
I am interested to see what all of you have to say about this topic. For the record I have 2 tattoos and no piercings. I had one tattoo before the Lord called me to Himself and 1 after. So I have delt with the tattoo issue many times
What does the verse before that in Leviticus say? If we say that tatoos are wrong, then we also have to say that the preceeding verses content still applies as well.
j razz
Verne, I am curious as to why you say no tat’s of the dead? I do not think that the Leviticus passage is saying that… I think it is saying all tattoos. The part speaking to the dead is in reference to the cuts while the tattoo part stands alone with no qualifiers.
j razz
can of worms, i say….it’s a can of worms……
Just about ANYthing can be a manifestation of a rebellious heart. Why pick on this one thing?
And what about a social drinking, tattooed Southern Baptist?
Discuss among yourselves…..
I would put those verses in Leviticus in the category of Old Covenant requirements that are fulfilled in Christ. I would get fired for following Leviticus 19:27, since my employer doesn’t allow beards. Am I in sin? Don’t think so.
A lot of kids want to get tattoos or piercings because they know it will tick their parents off. My parents responded by telling me to go right ahead and get inked, just make sure the needle is clean. Guess what - I never got a tattoo. My advice to parents - and churches - is to take this approach. If there are heart issues (e.g. rebellion), deal with those.
And remember, no sex or boyfriend/girlfriend’s name tats before marriage.
BTW, My wife is about to lose her hair to the chemo she’s been taking. It makes me wonder, would that make it against a Pentecostal’s religion to take chemo? If not, could she wear a syntheric wig or must it be natural or one’s own hair? Questions, questions.
I know. I’ve had too much time to think while sitting in waiting rooms.
I’m not picking “on this one thing,” Joel. Just throwing the topic out there for discussion.
Does Romans 14 go on this one? Can someone who has actually read Romans answer this?
I agree that the heart issue underlying the desire to be tatooed and pierced is the real issue.
Any kind of exhibitionistic, hey look at me type behavior (and that is really what this is) has its roots in a desire to exalt self which is incompatable with a Christian walk which calls us to die to self.
Of course we all (Christians) deal with manifestations of self and have to put self to death daily. Unfortunately, at least with tatoos, a change of heart cannot be followed by a change of appearance, at least not very easily or cheaply!
J Razz, I can see what you mean with the preceding verse. I guess it all goes with old testiment law and weather or not we still can apply that today. Actually I have no hair on my head or face so I guess ut does not apply to me.
I do have to disagree with you on all tattoos. It is in the same verse not listed in a seperate verse on its own, so I view tattoos to be included with the markings of the dead.
I appreciate your remarks thanks for sharing them.
…I view tattoos to be included with the markings of the dead.
I view them too as being included with teh markings of the dead, in that I see them both being prohibited as seperate items. Cutting in remembrance of the dead is banned and Tattoos are banned.
It would be like me making a sentence that stated, “Don’t drink hard liquor or smoke.” It does not mean don’t smoke your hard liquor, but it does mean don’t do either of them.
As for verses, they were not originally there. There were no numbers or chapters in the original scriptures. Sometimes chapters and verses can mess up a whole flow of an argument, sometimes they coincide.
I would never let chapters or verses dictate to me the meaning of a passage.
j razz
There’s a passage in Revelation (19:16) that says Jesus has a Name written on His thigh.
Is that a tattoo?
Tony, I guess if one takes the dispensationalist stance that all of Revelation must be interpreted literally (except of course where locusts are really helicopters and the like) it must be. Or perhaps it was just John’s way of explaining the results of a Sharpee marker using his First Century reference points.
J Razz,
So are you saying that it is ok to have a piercing as long as it is not a mark for the dead? But no tattoos period?
And what about the fact that it is old testiment law?
Are we still under an obligation to follow that?
As I stated before I feel their is not a problem with either as long as they are not there for the wrong reasons.
I hope I am not sounding to defensive on this position. I do not mean to be argumentative either I just enjoy discussing the topic. I hope I havent offended anyone
So are you saying that it is ok to have a piercing as long as it is not a mark for the dead? But no tattoos period?
I am not saying that, that is what scripture is saying. It gives the qualifier of “for the dead”, but no qualifier is given for tattoos.
Piercings were common back then as it denoted one who was a slave. I think though if you look at the scripture, it is not necessarily referring to piercings, but to cuts or wounds.
And what about the fact that it is old testiment law?
Are we still under an obligation to follow that?
What about the OT law? Do we disregard it? How do we interpret it correctly in light of Christ? Remember, Christ came to fulfill the law, not to do away with it. I think we need to ask ourselves, how did Christ fulfill the requirements for this law.
I think if you go back and look at what I have said, I am not saying that tattoos are bad or good, but what I am saying is that if we think they are bad, then we need to examine the preceeding verse which gives a clear edict against shaving or cutting our hair.
j razz
I agree with you that if we say tats are bad (which I don’t) then we must also say that shaving or cutting hair is also wrong (again I do both). I am glad you pointed that out as most people would agree that it is ok to shave or cut your hair.
Good question on Christs fulfillment of this law. I don’t have an answer for that.
I still feel that the tattoos are included in the marking for the dead. I guess we just view this verse different.
I have enjoyed debating this with you
Verne,
If you don’t mind, would you explain to me how you connect the two in the verse? I would like to know how you structure that as to make them connected as in “tattoos for the dead” as opposed to “tattoos and cutting for the dead”?
Thanks,
j razz
With your permission, Tim, I’d like to re-direct the dialogue just a hair……
Play the role of pastor for a minute. A Christian young person comes into your office and tells you that they are considering getting a tattoo. What do you tell them?
This actually happened to me. I’ll share my advice a bit later.
Pondering a passage like James 1:27, shouldn’t we be asking ourselves “How much can I keep myself unspotted from the world?” rather than “What can I do and still have a credible testimony as a Christian?”
It seems the first question causes us to tend toward conformity to our Savior while the second causes us to tend toward “permissable” worldliness.
If we are thinking this way, we might not even be having this debate, or it would at least be very different.
Thoughts?
Let me set up a scenario. A missionary is working with the masai people group in Kenya. They have many piercings and markings and dye their hair by way of allowing a cow to urinate on their head. Let’s further say that the missionary is becoming closer with the tribe, but before he can even speak to the chief or counsel, he must undergo a ritual which is not religous, but inducts him into the tribe and he becomes one of them- a brother. Part of this induction involves piercings and markings on the body as well as the dying of his hair.
As a pastor, would you instruct him to become all things to all people, or would you tell him to trust God to open another door by which he can speak the gospel to the chief and counsel?
j razz
I agree with Verne and Tim. I don’t think that tattoos or piercings are a big deal. I think the heart issues can be very serious though, particularly on this issue.
If a young person were sitting in my office asking for advice, I would have to ask a few questions: why they wanted it, if their parents were okay with it, was it tasteful etc.
I think another issue we have so far overlooked is the stewardship issue. Tattoos can be expensive. Is that the best use of the money God gave you? Maybe, maybe not, but it is worth exploring.
Also, the big thing among young girls now (so I hear) are the tattoos that are right above the butt, in order to wear low cut jeans and draw attention to that area. The problems with this are obvious.
Good discussion.
This is real life stuff that a pastor must wrestle with and at times must advise congregants.
I always ask why. What is the motivation? Usually you will find a sense of rebellion and/or a desire to conform to the world around them. Deal with these heart issues.
Second, what is the goal and/or result of the tat/piercing? If we’re talking about girls, then the purpose usually is to draw attention to themselves in sensual ways. To make them more “sexy”. This goes against the principle of modesty taught in the NT. So, I would ask, why do you want to pierce your belly button? If they aren’t completely honest at the first, I usually surprise them by suggesting the “sex-appeal” thing. They are shocked that a pastor could even understand these matters or talk about them.
Hope this helps.
For boys, a motivation is often to look tough or manly. This opens the door to explore what biblical manhood is all about, and what real manliness is.
I would encourage them to first develop some real manliness first, then from a mature perspective decide whether to get the tat. Otherwise they’ll just look like a “poser”.
J. Razz,
Sorry I did not get back to you sooner. I do my work on my laptop and my internet is not working and I have not had a chance to get on my home computor untill now.
As for an explanation: I connect them(tattoos and cuttings or piercings) because they are in the same verse as well as the same sentence. I understand that the tattoos are listed after a comma, however I believe that they (the tattoos are included in the marking of the dead. Quite honestly I don’t see how a piercing could be noticed as a marking for the dead by just looking at it. Where as a tattoo could be in memory of ect. Another way to look at the tattoos is that when a person gets one they are in fact “cut”. So I feel you could make that connection as well. That is how I connect the two. I don’t know if it that makes any sense or not.
Tony,
That could be a tough one. I personally would council the person to come to a reasonable conclusion as to why they want to get one. Then after that I would tell them that their final decision would have to be up to them. I would have them go over the passage in Leviticus and really study it and upon that decide weather or not they should get one. Because as we have seen on this blog topic several people can have several different opinions.