This is a question that pops up all the time. When a new guy comes to Church sporting tattoos up and down his arms or when you see a woman's tattoo accidentally peeking out from under her shirt. Just search the Internet for "Christian Tattoo" and you will see just how mainstream tattooing has become in the Christian Community.
There are even Christian tattoo parlors which specialize in creating designs that supposedly glorify God. A man from a Calvary Chapel explained that he uses his "God Saves" tattoo as an evangelizing tool. I also discovered on a retreat in Ocean Grove, N.J. that a lady I had met at Bible Study had the words, " faith, hope and love" on her back. It was hard to miss as we frolicked on the beach between activities.
The practice of tattooing is discussed early on in the Bible. It is mentioned in the third book of the Bible, Leviticus. As we can see from this ancient reference, tattooing is nothing new. “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.” - Leviticus 19:28. Humans it seems have been tattooing themselves since time immemorial.
This admonition against tattooing oneself came about as God was beginning the process of setting His "chosen people" the Jews apart from the people around them. They
were to look different, act different and to center their lives
around their belief and worship of the one and only true God!
Looking different meant not modifying one's body by cutting or marking it, what we now refer to as tattooing. The term tattoo came into the modern vernacular after Captain James Cook landed and observed the natives of Tahiti in 1769. The word tattoo in the English language is believed to be derived from the Polynesian word "tatau." The word used in this Leviticus passage is the Hebrew word "qa àqà." It is used only once in the Bible, in this passage. It means incision, imprintment or mark.
Why do Christians today feel so comfortable marking their bodies with anything, after God so definitively states that we should put no marks on our body? I have heard a variety of answers to that question. "The tattoo marks referred to in the Bible are clearly marks that are associated with
worshipping other gods, I'm not doing that!" Or "the New Testament declared the freedom, so we don't have to abide by those laws."
Yet, what are the origins of tattoos and what has been their historical relationship to Christianity? Anthropological evidence indicates that marking and/or cutting practices were present in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, the Americas and Oceania. It was and still is associated with religious practices. It is important to note that as Christian missionaries reached these various places and people came to know the Lord that these practices stopped. That is
because of the admonition in Leviticus as well as the understanding that it was not a decorative art but part of various religious systems.
Never in the history of Christianity was tattooing ever brought into our religious life and was in fact actively and consistently discouraged. That is until the later part of the twentieth century, when there was a general uptick in worldwide tattoo practices. Christians began to join in this trend.
Some questions that every Christian needs to ask themselves before undertaking a tattoo are :
1. How does the Biblical mandate to, " be in the world, but not of it," factor into this decision.
2. How would I feel if I knew that God intended us not to get a tattoo as much today as he did when Leviticus was first written?
3. Do I want to be in God's perfect will or permissible will?
4. How do I wish to use the freedom that God has given me?5. In Revelation 13:17 we learn that there will be a time that a mark will be needed in order to buy or sell goods in the marketplace. How might a tattoo be part of the antichrist's end time scenario?
Just some food for thought! What do you think?
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