Poll: Tattoo art - Christian perspectives: Fight it? Ignore it? appreciate/embrace it?

[Reggie Belafonte]

In Leviticus 19, the next verse seems to say about not trimming beards. Are NT preachers all wearing bushy beards? or is the Gospel, with its witness tools, the rule of the believer's life rather than the OT law?

Why would a man try and not have a beard, God gave men beards, so to try and shave such off is an act against God.
To Tattoo yourself is a offence to God as well.
Too have your temples is an offence to God as well.
There is points to all such in History as well on them subjects as such being Godless men.

 

[farouk]

Why would a man try and not have a beard, God gave men beards, so to try and shave such off is an act against God.
To Tattoo yourself is a offence to God as well.
Too have your temples is an offence to God as well.
There is points to all such in History as well on them subjects as such being Godless men.

So do you feel that beards are compulsory for New Testament Christians?

 

[amadeus]

So do you feel that beards are compulsory for New Testament Christians?

Your question indicates to me that you really did not to understand his point [ @Reggie Belafonte ] at all.

 

[farouk]

Your question indicates to me that you really did not to understand his point [ @Reggie Belafonte ] at all.

He said: "God gave men beards, so to try and shave such off is an act against God."

So I wondered whether he meant this includes for New Testament Christians? (Just wondering.... )

 

[farouk]

...She mentioned it a ways back. And that is okay too. ...

@Mayflower Yes, sometimes hard to remember exactly how a person's viewpoint in a thread has been expressed; but good to have all sorts of perspectives...

 

[farouk]

I suspect your definition of legalism springs from the traditional church's resistance to getting tattoos, right? Telling someone it's not allowed to get a tattoo is not legalism. Saying you have to keep the command to not get a tattoo in order to earn justification is legalism.

@Ferris Bueller So many Christians have it done, don't they?

 

[farouk]

I'm going to have to look closer too, farouk. But I think the pastor's wife has a faith tattoo also. I think I saw one, but I can't remember.

@Mayflower Did you figure yet whether she does? (Can be an effective taking point and tool...)

 

[amadeus]

He said: "God gave men beards, so to try and shave such off is an act against God."

So I wondered whether he meant this includes for New Testament Christians? (Just wondering.... )

Men had been making a whole lot of rules and/or traditions for themselves for hundreds of years before we were born. God winked and I guess is still winking at a lot of things implemented or twisted by men and perhaps because there more important issues. To move to a better place than where Adam and Eve were before they disobeyed God, shouldn't we be working in that direction instead of against it?

God made everything "very good" in the beginning. Why were any laws needed at all after that? Initially they only broke just the one stated rule thereby disobeying God. Why could they not simply enter back in and keep the stated rule right this time? Is that an impossibility? What is impossible for God? Nothing, but how many of us are really striving to follow Him absolutely all of the time?

In the OT God gave some precise rules to the natural children of Israel through Moses. The purpose was redirect them toward places closer to God, which is what He really wanted... but He had allowed an alternative. Just like now!

Most of them did not move closer to God and as Peter tells us in Acts, men, the children of Israel, were unable to follow the law as given to Moses precisely. How were Caleb and Joshua different?

But, never did Peter or Paul or Jesus tell men to stop striving to do things exactly God's way and to go ahead and follow their own heads. Men went ahead and followed their own heads then [in the OT] and they do that now. The details may have changed but God has not changed and what He really wants from men has not changed. So then someone may here want to argue about different covenants and different rules... God's Plan for men, I believe, has never changed and He has not changed!

The very continuance of this thread and others by other persons, as I see it, are encouraging more of that following our own heads instead seeking God and His Way and going down that pathway. We only have so much time allotted to us. How shall we spend it?

Yes, we can, that is, we are allowed by God to walk our own way choosing our own pathway... Is it really God's pathway even though it is allowed? Will that pathway bring us or keep us together with God at the end of our course? You already know my opinion, nay my belief on that, which certainly differs from yours... If I were wrong, in the end, what would I suffer? If you were wrong...? Try not to give me loopholes where God allows things. Rather seek His face!

To shave or not to shave, to tattoo or not tattoo, to smoke or not to smoke... were not even considerations in beginning, were they? Man has continued to make them considerations instead of striving to find and follow God's will.

A man putting his rubberstamped OK on just about anything that is not spelled out in written words as being against God's Way! Is that a good way to walk toward God? Is that better than learning to listen to and hear what God has to say to His sheep now...?

 

[farouk]

How fitting it is pertaining to the thread.

@Heart2Soul Anyway, for a young person growing up now, it would be really hard now to maintain that it's supposedly not ladylike to get faith design tattooing done.

 

[farouk]

I used to be completely against tats; but I changed my toon.

@Faithbuilders You saw that @Mayflower agreed with this comment of yours, right? For the New Testament believer it can be a way of expressing one's Biblical faith (esp. Scripture quotes) which are particularly effective as a conversation-stating tool; all the young people that have gotten Bible verses tattooed seem to have had them done for evangelistic reasons; one young lady that my wife and I talked to had the whole of the wording of John 3.16 tattooed on her wrist area, which must have been a bit painful but she evidently must have thought it was really worth it, right?

 

[Ferris Bueller]

@Ferris Bueller So many Christians have it done, don't they?

Honestly, I don't know if a lot do, or not.

It's a matter of conscience, IMO.
Everyone who gets one has to be convinced in his own mind that it's okay (Romans 14:5, Romans 14:22).
And so I think it best to not counsel anyone either way on whether to get one.

 

[Heart2Soul]

@Heart2Soul Anyway, for a young person growing up now, it would be really hard now to maintain that it's supposedly not ladylike to get faith design tattooing done.

True...but honestly too many things are getting accepted as the norm and some definitely shouldn't...such as legalizing drugs

 

[farouk]

True...but honestly too many things are getting accepted as the norm and some definitely shouldn't...such as legalizing drugs

@Heart2Soul Oh I agree; drugs are completely different. The difference with faith tattoos is that there can be promise with them; with wholesome witness opportunities.

Like you said back a bit,

It is becoming a tool people are using to let others identify their faith. ..I do like the idea of Christian based tattoos

 

[farouk]

I think it best to not counsel anyone either way on whether to get one.

@Ferris Bueller Oh I agree; it must be the individual's decision from start to finish; if it's going to be faith witness tool, then it's all bound up with the individual's personal motivation to use it as such; I was just mentioning to @Faithbuilders that all the young ppl with Scripture verses tattooed that I have talked with seem to have had them done for evangelistic reasons. A lot of personal motivation there...

One young lady that my wife and I talked to had the whole of John 3.16 tattooed on her wrist area; a lot of words there. I'm sure other conversations have arisen as a result of her very evident strong willingness to get her parlor appointment to receive it.

 

[farouk]

PS: @Heart2Soul And if say a young Christian man or woman really wanted to have it done as a witness tool you wouldn't try to dissuade them, would you?

Seems anyway it's something that it's a possibility that a lot of adolescent Christians are bearing in mind.

Dave L said:

I think when I was a young Christian, a scripture or Christian art Tattoo would have helped me stake a claim as a Christian and made people aware early on. It would have helped sort out friends from the start. So I regret not having that as an option during that time. .. If I found myself in a similar situation to when I was young, I'd probably have a tattoo.

 

[farouk]

Tattooing in our day is big, if you need or want a tattoo, that is what you should have written in the biggest boldest lettering you can get. Stare at it daily, study it daily, it never gets old. It is the only message you need that flows from scripture in full depth of understanding for anyone that will pick it up and want to know something about it.

Free for the asking.

@soul man Thanks again for this quote; very quotable...

Yes, for the motivated, doing Scripture as a tattoo is really like a free billboard, isn't it?

 

[farouk]

Love not the world neither the things in the world.....1 John 2:15
....do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. James 4:4

@David in NJ Good verses. Also, I guess that for some Christians it is really about opportunities to testify; like this lady, silently preaching so effectively with the SOLAs:

pinterest

 

[Heart2Soul]

PS: @Heart2Soul And if say a young Christian man or woman really wanted to have it done as a witness tool you wouldn't try to dissuade them, would you?

Seems anyway it's something that it's a possibility that a lot of adolescent Christians are bearing in mind.

Dave L said:

I don't know for sure...I would probably just be led of the Holy Spirit as what to say....understanding what their motive is would be important to know. Are they wanting it because their friends have one or are they really seeking to minister through tattoo art.
Have a blessed day.

 

[farouk]

I don't know for sure...I would probably just be led of the Holy Spirit as what to say....understanding what their motive is would be important to know. Are they wanting it because their friends have one or are they really seeking to minister through tattoo art.
Have a blessed day.

@Heart2Soul Good question! the Lord in the end sees the motive, rather than us. Anyway the young lady that my wife and I talked to who had the whole of John 3.16 tattooed on her wrist area - a lot of words there - seems to have had it done as an evangelistic tool for which a lot of motivation indeed must have been involved.

Blessings.

 

[David in NJ]

@David in NJ Good verses. Also, I guess that for some Christians it is really about opportunities to testify; like this lady, silently preaching so effectively with the SOLAs:

pinterest

i appreciate and lovingly observe when colors and life are incorporated into tats.

Love me some Sola Scriptura