Originally Posted by poorcountrypreacher
Originally Posted by eskimo270
Originally Posted by poorcountrypreacher



I don't have any and don't want any, but I don't think the biblical argument against them is very strong. The same chapter in Leviticus also says to not mix different seeds together. The standard aldeer deer plot of small grains and clover is just as sinful as a tattoo if you believe that we still under the Law.

The NT says very clearly that we are no longer under law, but under grace. That statement is either true or it isn't. If it's true, and I believe that it is, then you can't pick and choose OT laws and try to put us under some of them while ignoring others. Well, you can, and people do, but I believe that it makes for a very inconsistent theology.

I still don't understand why anyone wants a tattoo, but there is a lot I don't understand.


I am a simple person with a simple outlook. When someone asks me about what I believe the Christians worldview and stance should be concerning issues of life like the death penalty, marriage, alcohol, tattoos, abortion or any other issue my response is to always encourage them to stand where the Scriptures tell us that God Himself stands on that particular issue.

Concerning tattoos, the only word that we have, the only insight given to us on what God desires concerning this issue is the verse found in Leviticus where He says don’t tattoo your bodies. Many of the OT prohibitions we see listed by other posters, like the pork prohibition, we see God address in the New Covenant. Some like stealing, murder and the such remains.

I thank God for His grace and it is my desire to live under His grace not His law it is also my desire because of His grace towards me to live a life pleasing to Him in all things and this means for me to not do things that He has clearly said not to do.



I agree with your last paragraph 100%, and that is my desire as well.

But I don't think I am being obedient to my calling if I try to tell others to follow rules that I honestly don't think we are required to follow as Christians. The prohibition against mixing seeds is right there in the same chapter. That text just as clearly says to not mix crops as it does to not get a tattoo, yet I have never once heard anyone say that this law should be applied to modern agriculture. Honest question - how can we advise others that the Bible demands we follow one rule and yet we feel free to ignore the other?

It may seem like it's better to be on the safe side and advise people that tattoos are sinful; maybe it is. But we also are in danger of turning people who are into tattoos away from being willing to hear the message of the gospel, and I think it's very possible that can happen when we have such flimsy scriptural evidence on an issue. And be sure the world will notice when the evidence is flimsy.

There is also an OT passage that could possibly be understood to support a tattoo for the right reason:

Isaiah 44:5 New International Version (NIV)
5 Some will say, ‘I belong to the Lord’;
others will call themselves by the name of Jacob;
still others will write on their hand, ‘The Lord’s,’
and will take the name Israel.

That's not exactly an endorsement, but some folks understand it that way.

My belief is that the Law was given to Israel for a specific people living in a specific time and a specific place. It was fulfilled in Christ and was never intended to be used by anyone else. I believe that is what the NT teaches; not just an idea I had. That is the reason I can eat catfish, wear clothes made of different fabrics, and plant wheat and clover in the same field.




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