Posted on 06/18/2014 8:51:05 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/getreligion/2009/10/missing-the-point-of-coptic-tattoos/
Of course that is a culture were Christians get tattoos for a presumably practical purpose, as opposed to a flying panther or something.
Freegards
Don’t get me started on piercings.
But, how will you show your individuality without conforming to the trends of the day?
We are made in the image of God. Satan wants nothing more than for us to be humiliated, tainted, and disfigured. What success he has when Christians do it to themselves!
My husband and I have done mission trips to Central America and former Soviet block countries.
Both areas consider tattoos to be demonic.
As a result, the ESL mission team we work with will allow no visible tattoos, (or multiple piercings).
This often keeps younger people from joining the team.
If tattoos keep Christians from doing mission work, that alone should show us that they are wrong.
They were also the province of drunken sailors or other military members often in foreign countries, though my own father got his in the 1940s in San Diego where he was stationed for a time in the Navy.
My father, like so many other navy guys, usually tried covering them up wearing long sleeved shirts, if the tattoos were on their arms.
When Americans adopted the styles of the gang-banging hip hop culture, they also began copying the fad of getting tattoos.
Soon, Hollywierd began copying the practice of the gang bangers and sporting tattoos! Next, the fans of the Hollywierd culture copycatted the practice.
I personally find it disgusting to see young pretty girls sporting "tats" as they call them on their arms, legs, shoulders and/or hips.
I probably feel the same about boys but as I don't have any, haven't faced the prospect of having a son come home with a tattoo but a friend who recently did. She told her son that she hoped he enjoyed getting his tattoo as he was not going to enjoy getting it removed and paying to do so!!!
I understand in the plastic surgery business, tattoo removal is a very lucrative business as most young people who get them, find that in order to get a good job, that "tat" has to go!
What about, for example, the biker dude or chick that lived a former life that was not as a Christian, but has since his/her tattoo days have come to believe? I am sure there are many other examples of being reborn in Christ with tattoo bodies.
I don't believe Jesus would send them away.... My opinion.
From my observational experience, Some of the people who whine about being the poorest have the most elaborate and expensive tattoos...
I’ve noticed with men that the uglier the guy is, the more likely he is to wear ear rings or facial hardware. A “manly” looking attractive guy needs no such adornment to get attention.
Also, on a side note, I saw an extra plus sized 30ish woman in Louisville last week who had seven or eight tatoos on her arm that looked like she just pulled a choice out of the tatoo catalogue when she had an extra $39.95. The tatoos were all relatively small and dissimilar - just sort of thrown in at various angles wherever they would fit.
I’m not even a fan of tatoos but her mish mash in an odd way made me kind of appreciate good ones.
I don’t think picking a choosing from Leviticus is such a bad idea. Leviticus is a breakdown of what God says is good for us. It tells us how we can please Him. I mean, don’t you want to please God? Should we ignore the whole thing? Is putting marks on your body like the heathens do that important to people that they would risk displeasing God?
Historically, tattoos and piercings were either used to mark slaves, or show your devotion to your particular god. Since my particular “God” wants an inner change and not an outward one, I will leave my skin the way He made it.
Your opinion would be correct. There seem to be some here today that want to pick and choose which scriptures to follow. I challenge them to follow all tenants of the old testament law then, completely and perfectly.
Is it okay? For me, no. Don’t like them. Is it a sin? Absolutely not. Unless it becomes an idol. But then, FR is a sin for some who have made this site an idol.
I totally agree with you.
It would be like not allowing a former prostitute to become a Christian.
We are ALL sinners after all, to one degree or another.
Sure, go ahead ...
Of course not.
Right on target!
I would add, "A reminder of a serious step in yielding control of your life to peer pressure, worship of "popularity" and a good chance that there was alcohol involved in the decision making process."
I remember the sailor in the rack below me waking up after shore leave in a foreign port, seeing the fresh tattoo of a rose on his arm, first asking "Where did THAT come from?" then wailing, "My wife is gonna KILL me!".
"Tramp Stamps" convey a message. Ask yourself before getting that tattoo, "What message am I trying to send with this tattoo?"
your response is almost verbatim of my own - why spray paint the Temple.
A priest friend of mine has a small Carolingian cross on the left shoulder of his back. He did it as a permanent sign of whom he belongs to, one that he would not be able to deny.
So, I guess I must not be a Christian. Mmm
My tattoos were well thought out and have a great deal of meaning. Representing my family and friends and life changes. I have thought about getting another one. I was 49 for my 1st one. Not a young kid. Oh, no, I have pierced ears too!
Guess I know where I stand in this community.
Tattoos and Body Piercing: Adolescent Self-Expression or Self-Mutilation?
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/popular-culture-meets-psychology/200907/tattoos-and-body-piercing-adolescent-self-expression-or
In mainstream professional journals, including “The Journal of Psychosomatic Research” and “Pediatrics,” tattooing and body piercing have been associated with dangerous and sometimes lethal risk-taking beavior, eating disorders, self-loathing, substance abuse, depression and social alienation.
Might there be alternate, less pathological explanantions for this tsunami of seeming self-desecration?
Tattoos, body piercings and self-harm - is there a link?
http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2008/07/tattoos-body-piercings-and-self-harm-is.html#.U6G8DLGSCog
Some people say cutting their skin brings them relief from emotional pain - an act usually referred to as self-harm. Others enjoy having their body pierced with metal and their skin inscribed with permanent ink. Is there a link between these acts? According to the German psychologists Aglaja Stirn and Andreas Hinz, in some cases there might well be.
The researchers collaborated with the body modification magazine Taetowiermagazin, recruiting 432 of their readers to complete a comprehensive questionnaire about their tattooing and piercing practices and motives.
One hundred and nineteen of the participants admitted to cutting themselves in childhood. That’s 27 per cent of the sample - a much higher proportion than is found among the general population of Germany: 0.75 per cent.
Compared with the readers who said they had never self-harmed, those who had were more likely to report “bad things” having happened in their lives, and to say they had previously had a bad relationship with their own body.
Moreover, the self-harmers reported that they often had their skin tattooed or body pierced to help overcome a negative experience, or simply to experience physical pain. Another clue that self-harm and piercing/tattooing might, in some cases, be linked, derives from the fact that many of the self-harmers said they had ceased cutting themselves after obtaining their first piercing or tattoo.
Stirn and Hinz concluded that most people who partake in body modification clearly do not do it because they have any psychological problems. “However,” they continued, “because body modifications have become so common and accessible, they are also used with probably increasing frequency as a convenient means to either realise psychopathological inclinations, such as self-injury, or to overcome psychological traumas.”
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