Tattoos.... Good or Bad?

First of all, I'd like to say that I'll strive to exclude my own personal opinion from this blog post and provide you with a faithful interpretation or scripture. When you are making an attempt to understand anything from the bible, you have to always remember that the bible was not written to North American people living in 2012, or anybody in 2012 for that matter. When the biblical authors wrote the books/letters found in the bible, they were writing to a specific group of people that were dealing with specific things. We're definitely encouraged by scripture to glean, learn, and grow through the bible and allow it to cause our relationship with Christ to grow in intimacy by revealing to us how sinful we are and how much we truly need Him. But we can't forget that it was written to a specific people in a culture unlike ours, so we always have to ask, "Why did the author write this?", "Who did the author write this to?", "What were the original readers/hearers dealing with at that time?", and "What was their culture like?", rather than just interpreting the scriptures the way a 20th century westerner would without considering its original context. That's how you get the wrong interpretation of scripture, and misinterpretation always leads to confusion, legalism, moralism, and even heresy.

Example: In scripture, precisely the new testament, Paul, the author of Corinthians writes, "the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says" (1 Corinthians 14:34). Now, if you were to just read that and kindly walk up to a woman and tell her as soon as her feet hits the tiles of the church to be quiet, or if you were to walk up to a church that had a sign that says "Women: No Speaking Past This Point", you would be very confused! But reading that one portion of scripture at face value, that's what you read. That's why you must understand the context of the scripture. Paul was speaking to a specific people in a time where men and women sat on opposites sides of the building. So Husbands sat in the right side and wives sat on the left so if the teacher speaking said something one of the women didn't understand, they would yell across the room to their husbands. Imagine hearing, "MARK! I don't understand what he's saying??!", as you tried to pay attention to the teacher. Also the church in Corinth was a church that struggled with having order(1 Corinthians 14:26-40), which means there was a lot of chaos as far as church order. So women would also exercise their spiritual gifts in a way that was not the way Paul had taught. This is why Paul stated that women should keep silent in the churches, and goes on to say, "wait until you get home to ask your husband". Do you see why it is extremely important to understand the context?

The tattoo issue is very similar. We have to observe where this command comes from, what it was meant for, who it was written to, why it was written, where was it written, etc. I've read around a little and came across a blog that I was going to pick and pull from but since I agreed with everything that was written in it, I thought I'd include the entire blog post instead.

This blog is from Reachlife.org:

Question:

What does the Bible say about tattoos?

Answer:

Leviticus 19:28 condemned tattoos in ancient Israel. This prohibition was part of the “holiness code,” a large section of Leviticus dedicated to laws that were given to Israel in order to distinguish the people from the nations around them. The Gentiles used tattoos, therefore Israel was not to use them in order to provide a visible demonstration of the fact that Israel was “holy” (that is, set apart as special unto God). It would seem from the context of Leviticus 19:28 that the tattoos that were specifically forbidden were those received as part of a pagan ceremony, though some have taken it as a broad prohibition against all tattoos.

When Christ came, however, he tore down the dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles (Eph. 2:12). Specifically, this means that the laws that were given in order to separate Israel from the rest of the nations are now counter-productive if applied in the same way that ancient Israel observed them. We must adapt our application of the Law so as to follow its original purpose in light of the changes that Christ brought.

Consider the example of circumcision. This stipulation distinguished Israel from the Canaanites in the Promised Land. But the New Testament clearly tells us that being holy unto God no longer requires us to be circumcised (e.g. Rom. 2; Gal. 2; 5). Circumcision was an outward symbol of dedication unto God. But that outward symbol, dividing people along racial lines, is no longer helpful. The people of God are from every nation, and the symbols of holiness that we now must bear are things like a pure heart (e.g. Rom. 2:28-29, which was also required in the Old Testament) and baptism (which does not have any racial connotations, and has replaced circumcision as the covenant sign; Col. 2:11-12).

Now, this is not to say that everything that appears in the “holiness code” pertains only to such separation – there are other factors at work too, such as moral ones (Israel’s morality was to help distinguish her from other nations). If one is convinced that tattoos are a moral issue, then one ought to abstain from them. Many, however, cannot think of any reason that a tattoo would be a moral issue – certainly the Bible does not state that there are moral failings involved in getting a tattoo no matter what the context. The case would seem to be very similar to the commands that we not round off the edges of our beards or cut the hair on our temples (Lev. 19:27). These are innocent practices in and of themselves. They were wrong in ancient Israel because of their association with pagan practices (such as divination, death rituals, cultic prostitution, etc.; cf. Lev. 19:26-31). If these actions do not have evil associations in our own time, there would seem to be no reason to forbid them."

Like I said, I agree with everything that was written in the blog post above. That's why I saw it fit to include the entire blog post from Reach into mine. Now, I know some people don't share the same views, and we can live with that, but I wrote this because we've had a lot of people ask us questions about the topic. So with that being said, please don't try to push your own personal convictions on open-handed issues in this comment board. We truly love all of you and pray this helped you understand where we're coming from.

Grace and Peace,

BHTHFH