I ASKED SOMEONE WITH A DOCTORATE IN THEOLOGY…
((regarding the tattoo debate…?))
…and here’s what I learned: The Jews had the Torah (the law given in the first five books of the Bible), and then they got anal and added their own 650+ laws to it (which is known as the Talmud)… and when Messiah came, he got rid of “the law”… but not God’s law. We are still to keep the Sabbath holy, to avoid mediums, to honor the elderly, etc. Christ died so that we might be redeemed, but that doesn’t mean “Oh, yeah, you’re goin’ to heaven, so go out and cheat and lie and play around with Ouija boards and tarot cards, because He cancelled out the law and you’re off the hook.”
It’s like this: if God gave these rules, He gave them for a good reason. And we (as believers) go by the standard that, if it wasn’t replaced in the new testament (Christ’s), then we should strive to abide by them out of reverence to the Lord. I looked… and 1 Corinthians 6:19 says that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit – that we are to treat it as such to His glory. So the tattoo law wasn’t cancelled out in the NT… if anything, it was confirmed as something God doesn’t want us to do – you wouldn’t graffiti on the side of a temple of the Lord, would you? Just like you wouldn’t coat the inside of it with that yellow gunky stuff from smoking, would you? Is that showing respect for the temple of the Lord?
In context, the Leviticus chapter was given to God’s people as they were about to begin living in a very pagan region. These rules were given to keep them from falling into the pagan practices. The list that I was looking at were things that God said were important for them to not indulge in, because they didn’t honor Him.
Knowing this, how does it pertain today? We live in a very pagan world. It’s easy to fall into pagan practices. And it’s not a matter of whether it’s “sin” or not… it’s a matter of “if you love Me, you’ll keep My commandments, beloved, and I said to keep My sanctuary holy, to avoid spiritism/astrology, to keep yourselves apart from the wicked, and to avoid the practices that do not honor Me.”
Another thing my friend said was that regardless of what the person says, they aren’t getting a tattoo for the Lord. The Lord asks that we glorify Him with our hearts and minds and souls… not with outward decoration. That’s a personal thing that an individual chooses to do because they think it’s kewl or whatever.
That’s not to belittle anyone’s personal tastes or anything. I’ve been wrestling with the whole ‘short-haired woman’ thing for the better part of six months, believe me, I know. ((Not that that’s a law from the Torah… that’s a different beast entirely. LoL!!)) But to do something that God says doesn’t honor Him and say you’re doing it “for Him”… it doesn’t wash.
Anyhoo… I know you’ll believe what you want – that’s the nature of us fleshies – but there you have it. Researched, carefully considered, and prayed over. Ta-Da!!!!
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