Should I Get A Tattoo?

SHOULD I GET A TATTOO?

When I was growing up, I rarely saw anyone with a tattoo and if I did, it was usually on a WW 2 Navy veteran and it would usually only be one tattoo on their forearm or upper shoulder area. Nowadays, everybody it seems is getting not only one tattoo but many tattoos along with body piercings! You look in a Church today and many Christians have multiple tattoos on their arms, hands, legs, ankles and from what I am told elsewhere!  

As Christians, what does God want us to do? For one thing, God says for us to be Holy:

1 Peter 1:16

Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

Ephesians 1:4

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

2 Corinthians 6:17 

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

Holy defined - dedicated or consecrated to God.

Dedicated defined - exclusively allocated to or intended for a particular service or purpose.

We can see that the word “Holy” means to be “exclusive” or “separate” and we see this next scripture which indicates God wants us to be separate from this world, not to look and act like the world:

1 Corinthians 2:12

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

James 4:4

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

God tells us many times in the Bible to not be of “the world” and to not have a “spirit of the world”! God even tells us that we are not of this world:

John 17:16

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

 If we have a “spirit of the world” than we become an enemy of God (James 4:4) and so we have to rightly divide what is a “spirit of the world”? We often hear that God loves us and accepts us for who we are when we accept Jesus Christ as our saviour and this is absolutely correct. However, it is what we do after we get “saved” that makes us or breaks us in our walk with Christ and there is no condemnation of our past as we can’t change it. However, when we accept Jesus Christ as our saviour, we now become “accountable” for all our future actions according to the amount of Knowledge taught to us in our “Godly Education”. The Holy Spirit will lead us, guide us and direct us into “all truth” and the truth sets us free:

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

The Truth is, we are not our own and our bodies are not our own! We are to “glorify God “in” our body and “in” our spirit” which is a physical and spiritual work. Glorifying God is not making your body’s outer skin into a “human billboard” which only “glorifies the world” I know some Christians get a cross or some Christian symbol or art work and say that they are glorifying God with their body but that is not what the above scripture means. Verse 20 states to make your body a “living sacrifice” and to “glorify God in your body”. Notice the word “in”, it doesn’t say outside, it says “to glorify God that is inside your body”! If you have the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, where does God dwell? He dwells inside of you, not outside which means we honor God who lives in us:

Romans 12:1

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

To be a “living sacrifice” means to separate yourselves and to give up things of the world which corrupt us! Things like filthy communication, drinking alcohol, taking drugs, sex outside of marriage, dressing like the world, etc. Being a “living sacrifice” means giving up evil and becoming righteous! These scriptures do not mean to tattoo your body to glorify God because as you read further, you will see that God strictly prohibits it and does not ordain it!

Let us finally get right down to the truth of what God thinks of tattoos or of marking your own body:

Leviticus 19:28

Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.

Many Christians for some odd reason, are taught or believe that the Old Testament was done away with. This is absolutely untrue as the Old Testament still stands today and was not done away with as God is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb13:8). When Jesus Christ came, he came to add unto God’s Laws and to fulfill other Laws, however, the Laws that Jesus didn’t fulfill still stand today in the Old Testament. Grace was given through Jesus Christ, however, “grace” is not there so we can break God’s laws but it is used to restore us if we have fallen! We don’t use Jesus Christ as a tool to break God’s laws like in Heb 6:6 while expecting a “get out of jail free card”!

Matthew 5:17-19

17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Lev 19:28 is very plainly written and does not at all allow any exemptions like Christian symbols or artwork nor any other imagery to be marked or printed upon your bodies. I am not here to condemn you nor too make you feel bad, however, I am writing this teaching to present you with the truth. What I want you to realize is that tattoos are wrong and not allowed by God, so, if you have tattoos do not condemn yourself. But from now on, do not get anymore tattoos nor markings upon your bodies ever again and ask God for forgiveness for any tattoos that you may have previously received and than move on without looking back! Tattooing is a “spirit of the world” and it is what “the world” does but we as Christians are not of the world and God the Father does not want his people to look or act like the world. You can’t change your past, however, you can change your future by obeying God’s Word and prospering. Amen!