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rude,
lewd and tattooed
how
many times have you been told that tattoos and piercing
are against God's word? people like to quote
leviticus, "do not cut your bodies for the dead or
put tattoo marks on yourself. I am the Lord"
(lev. 19:28). this scripture is taken as the main
scripture rejecting male piercing, and tattooing of any
kind. the funny thing about it is that the ones
who scream the loudest (the "kjv only" people)
never realize that the word "tattoo" does not
appear in the "kjv" of the bible.
I find it interesting, over the past few years I have
been asked by many people about piercing and tattooing,
does God's word truly speak out on the topic?
let
me start by qualifying my research. when
researching this topic I ignored the "general"
scriptures about not harming the body (if we desire we
can even say automobiles are against God's word with
those scriptures). too many people use this
blanket to control and issue new, unwanted, laws.
so I wanted to hit scripture that hit the topic straight
on, and in God's word.
so,
where does scripture stand on the issue of piercing and
tattooing? piercing is not a big issue in my mind,
because any probation against piercing must stand for
both females and males - if not it has no value, and is
not scriptural but rather cultural - making modern probations
cultural and not scriptural. besides, scripture
hold that if a servant desires to show his service to
his master he is to have his ear pierced (exodus 21:5)-
before judges and God; heck, even rebekah's gift at the
well was a nose ring (gen 24) . I am more
concerned with tattooing. what is God's teaching
on the subject? how does this teaching differ from
others found in the same cahpter of leviticus?
let's take a look:
When
people quote leviticus they do not quote all of
leviticus -
-
do
not hold back the wages of a hired hand over night
(v 13) - meaning? if you own a business and
have employees you must pay them everyday - no
exceptions.
-
do
not wear clothing woven of two kinds of seed (v
19) - well, there goes all the cotton blends.
-
do
not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip
the edges of your beard (v
27) - looking good with those long sideburns my
friend.
-
there are
a ton more - read all about them yourself
I
find it interesting, people are willing to quote one
part of the scripture, but not others. is one
"law" better then the other? which one
is better? who selects the best one? I know
- let's work with grace. then, what do they do
with this scripture?
the
rules concerning tattooing are centered more on cultural
costumes then they are based on scriptural ones.
since scripture can not contradict itself, and God is
willing to tattoo his name on our hands, how can we say
tattooing is against God's Law - can God violate his own
law? I believe the guidelines against tattooing
are similar to the questions paul dealt with about
eating. allow God to speak to the individual, and
allow that individual to seek God's guidance in this,
and all matters. here are the words used in
scripture to denote tattooing; some have tried to use
these words in different ways, in different sections of
scripture -
3793
k^ethobeth { keth-o’-beth}
from
3789; TWOT - 1053b; n f
AV
- any 1; 1
GK
- 4182
1)
impression, inscription, mark a) in the flesh, perhaps
a tattoo (not
too sure)
3793
k^ethobeth { keth-o’-beth}
from
3789; TWOT - 1053b; n f
AV
- any 1; 1
GK
- 4182
1)
impression, inscription, mark. a) in the flesh,
perhaps a tattoo (not too sure)
7085
qa`aqa` { kah-ak-ah’}
from
the same as 6970; TWOT - 2046a; n m
AV
- marks 1; 1
GK
- 7882
1)
incision, imprintment, tattoo,
mark
tattooing
does not violate God's word. it is a social issue,
not a scriptural issue. if you desire to get a
tattoo for "the dead of other gods" I would
say, that violates God's word, but to get a tattoo
because it just looks good, or because you think they're
cool - no problem. just make sure you follow the
laws of your area, concerning age and health, and if you
are a minor and your parents do not wish you to get one,
don't - you need to follow the will of your parents -
that is in God's word.
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