Faith-based tattoo: as a result of one, did you ever talk with someone? (Poll included)
- Thread starter farouk
- Start date
-
Welcome to Christian Forums, a Christian Forum that recognizes that all Christians are a work in progress.
You will need to register to be able to join in fellowship with Christians all over the world.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!
LOL
I'm one of them.
How come you're so interested...
I remember you from a couple of other forums.
@GodsGrace Well, for some ppl it does seem to be viewed as something wholesome and deliberate that they wish to do.
E.g., Rita said:
While others are not into it at all.
Bible Highlighter
Well-Known Member
Well, I am not interested in voting in the poll,
but I am interested in preaching the truth of God's Word on this topic.
Bottom line: I believe tattoos are sinful.
In the Old Testament or Old Covenant, tattoos were clearly forbidden.
Granted, while we are not under the Old Covenant as a whole or package deal (Romans 6:14) (Acts of the Apostles 15:1) (Acts of the Apostles 15:5) (Acts of the Apostles 15:24) (Acts 13:39), there are certain laws that have carried over from the Old Covenant (Like: Do not murder, do not steal, do not commit adultery, etcetera - which is a part of loving our neighbor.) (Romans 13:8-10) (Matthew 19:18-19). However, we obviously do not have to keep the Saturday Sabbath, dietary laws, holy days, etc. (See: Colossians 2:14-17) and neither are we required to stone others according to the Old Law (See: John 8:7) (Romans 12:19). However, there is a Law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:21), and I believe the forbidding of tattoos is one of those laws that has carried into the Laws of Christ into the New Covenant (or New Testament).
How so?
Well, the apostle Paul says this to the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
So putting a tattoo upon our bodies is sort of like a person spray painting graffiti on a church building.
God says in His Word that if we defile the temple, God will destroy us. I imagine everyone is going to die, so the Lord here is talking about the second death here. Now, can a person repent (i.e. seek forgiveness of their sin of placing a tattoo on their body)? Yes, of course they can. But a Christian should not persist to keep doing this particular sin without risk to their soul being destroyed. Yes. It's that serious.
Well, now some who are in favor of tattoos think that they can witness to Jesus by their tattoos. But if tattoos are sinful according to the Bible, this is not really helpful (Although I am sure God can still use a person for a greater good - like say with false prosperity preachers who also preach the gospel at times). Think of it like this. A man steals food from poor children in need who are starving to death, and he takes this food and places it on a large hill off the highway for drivers on the highway to see the verse of John 3:16. Is it possible that good come out of people seeing that message? Sure. But the ends do not justify the means. The way in which the thief accomplished the goal does not justify his stealing and not loving starving children. For his lack of letting children suffer and possibly even die is a sin. His stealing is a sin. In fact, the sin of stealing can be replaced for another even worse sins like say murder, or pornography. Can a person use these sins to promote the gospel? We live in a crazy world, and it would not surprise me that there are those who might have done so or will do so at some point in the future. But the point is that sin mingled in with that is good does not justify something in being good. Tattoos are sinful according to the Bible, and will only lead to one's own destruction in the end (Unless one repents of such a sin).
Also, tattoos defile the body on a health level.
One long-term effect of getting inked: microscopic ink particles can seep past your skin and get into other parts of your body. ... Toxic particles from tattoo ink penetrate beneath the skin and travel through the body, and that may have implications for long-term health, according to a new study.
So if you love your neighbor, you would not give them tattoos, promote them, or get them yourself (so as to influence them to have them) whereby their life can be shortened.
Source:
This Might Make You Rethink Getting a Tattoo
Also, if tattoos are harmless, then why do men get obsessed with tattoos?
Some tattoo their whole body and even their face.
They even start to wear contacts and color their tongue and look like demons.
If tattoos was so wholesome, then why would it lead to that?
If tattoos were so wholesome, then why would a woman be less likely to answer the front door with a guy who is covered full in tattoos and piercings vs. say a clean shaven man that is in a business suit?
Think. Tattoos are sinful and they are associated with the sins of this world with those who are into drinking, drugs, criminal activity, witchcraft, etcetera.
The Word of God says
“Abstain from all appearance of evil.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:22).
but I am interested in preaching the truth of God's Word on this topic.
Bottom line: I believe tattoos are sinful.
In the Old Testament or Old Covenant, tattoos were clearly forbidden.
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.”
nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.”
Granted, while we are not under the Old Covenant as a whole or package deal (Romans 6:14) (Acts of the Apostles 15:1) (Acts of the Apostles 15:5) (Acts of the Apostles 15:24) (Acts 13:39), there are certain laws that have carried over from the Old Covenant (Like: Do not murder, do not steal, do not commit adultery, etcetera - which is a part of loving our neighbor.) (Romans 13:8-10) (Matthew 19:18-19). However, we obviously do not have to keep the Saturday Sabbath, dietary laws, holy days, etc. (See: Colossians 2:14-17) and neither are we required to stone others according to the Old Law (See: John 8:7) (Romans 12:19). However, there is a Law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:21), and I believe the forbidding of tattoos is one of those laws that has carried into the Laws of Christ into the New Covenant (or New Testament).
How so?
Well, the apostle Paul says this to the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy;
for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”
Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost.and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy;
for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”
So putting a tattoo upon our bodies is sort of like a person spray painting graffiti on a church building.
God says in His Word that if we defile the temple, God will destroy us. I imagine everyone is going to die, so the Lord here is talking about the second death here. Now, can a person repent (i.e. seek forgiveness of their sin of placing a tattoo on their body)? Yes, of course they can. But a Christian should not persist to keep doing this particular sin without risk to their soul being destroyed. Yes. It's that serious.
Well, now some who are in favor of tattoos think that they can witness to Jesus by their tattoos. But if tattoos are sinful according to the Bible, this is not really helpful (Although I am sure God can still use a person for a greater good - like say with false prosperity preachers who also preach the gospel at times). Think of it like this. A man steals food from poor children in need who are starving to death, and he takes this food and places it on a large hill off the highway for drivers on the highway to see the verse of John 3:16. Is it possible that good come out of people seeing that message? Sure. But the ends do not justify the means. The way in which the thief accomplished the goal does not justify his stealing and not loving starving children. For his lack of letting children suffer and possibly even die is a sin. His stealing is a sin. In fact, the sin of stealing can be replaced for another even worse sins like say murder, or pornography. Can a person use these sins to promote the gospel? We live in a crazy world, and it would not surprise me that there are those who might have done so or will do so at some point in the future. But the point is that sin mingled in with that is good does not justify something in being good. Tattoos are sinful according to the Bible, and will only lead to one's own destruction in the end (Unless one repents of such a sin).
Also, tattoos defile the body on a health level.
One long-term effect of getting inked: microscopic ink particles can seep past your skin and get into other parts of your body. ... Toxic particles from tattoo ink penetrate beneath the skin and travel through the body, and that may have implications for long-term health, according to a new study.
So if you love your neighbor, you would not give them tattoos, promote them, or get them yourself (so as to influence them to have them) whereby their life can be shortened.
Source:
This Might Make You Rethink Getting a Tattoo
Also, if tattoos are harmless, then why do men get obsessed with tattoos?
Some tattoo their whole body and even their face.
They even start to wear contacts and color their tongue and look like demons.
If tattoos was so wholesome, then why would it lead to that?
If tattoos were so wholesome, then why would a woman be less likely to answer the front door with a guy who is covered full in tattoos and piercings vs. say a clean shaven man that is in a business suit?
Think. Tattoos are sinful and they are associated with the sins of this world with those who are into drinking, drugs, criminal activity, witchcraft, etcetera.
The Word of God says
“Abstain from all appearance of evil.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:22).
Last edited:
Bible Highlighter
Well-Known Member
Now, do not misunderstand me. Does that mean that if a person becomes a Christian that they have to remove all their tattoos or they are not saved? No. That's not what I am saying. A person will seek forgiveness of their sins with the Lord Jesus and they will no longer persist in these kinds of sins anymore because they are a new creature or creation in Christ Jesus. They will be unlike the old man. They will hate all forms of sin and want to obey God and His Word and they will not want to do what is right and good in their own eyes (their whole lives). God will chasten or correct them to follow Him if they truly love Jesus and desire His truth according to His Word.
Bible Highlighter
Well-Known Member
Now, some Christians falsely think the parable in 1 Corinthians 3 is dealing with merely a loss of Christian rewards and not a loss of salvation.
Is this interpretation correct?
No. I don't believe that is what this parable is saying.
Paul says before the parable, "you are God's building."
So we are the materials that make up the building.
The work is not referring to just any kind of general actions of a believer like good fruit (any kind of good fruit) and evil fruit (sin). The work is referring to those believers we bring to the faith and their eternal status with God (i.e. what kind of building materials are they made up of). The Parable is talking about Paul's work (Which is the Corinthians in this instance).
I believe Paul and the other apostles are a part of the foundation with Christ being the chief cornerstone or the ultimate baseline foundation (Ephesians 2:20), and that Paul's work in the gospel are the result of the Corinthians being initially saved by the gospel. However, Paul is now concerned that his labor in the gospel (concerning them) is now in vain because the Corinthians are now working the sins of strife and envying (Note: Paul condemns the sins of strife and envying when writing to the Galatians (Galatians 5:19-21). Paul says that they which do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God). In Galatians 4:11, Paul was concerned for the Galatians in that they were going back to the Old Law so as to be justified or saved. He was concerned that his labor for the gospel was in vain for the Galatians.
So the parable speaks of how his labor for the gospel (concerning the Corinthians) was now possibly in vain for them, too.
This is what I believe the parable is saying. The works of Paul that will be burned are the Corinthians if they do not repent of their sins of strife and envy (1 Corinthians 3:3). The Corinthians at this point in time are not saved and they will be burned up in the fire and destroyed by God if they don't seek forgiveness with the Lord and turn from their sins of strife and envy. Paul, the apostles, or the gospel preacher is the one who will be saved through fire if his work (the Corinthians) is burned up (on the account of their justifying sin). The parable is not talking about how a believer can sin and still be saved as long as they have a belief on Jesus. It's actually teaching the exact opposite of that. One cannot build sin as a work upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. Jesus did not advocate sin, and neither did He teach that a person can continue to sin and still be saved.
Yes, we are initially and foundationally saved by God's grace, but believers cannot justify sin, and they have to be fruitful for their Lord and live holy as a part of the Sanctification Process.
For Hebrews 12:14-15 says,
“14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness,
without which no man shall see the Lord:
15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;”
(Hebrews 12:14-15).
Is this interpretation correct?
No. I don't believe that is what this parable is saying.
Paul says before the parable, "you are God's building."
So we are the materials that make up the building.
The work is not referring to just any kind of general actions of a believer like good fruit (any kind of good fruit) and evil fruit (sin). The work is referring to those believers we bring to the faith and their eternal status with God (i.e. what kind of building materials are they made up of). The Parable is talking about Paul's work (Which is the Corinthians in this instance).
I believe Paul and the other apostles are a part of the foundation with Christ being the chief cornerstone or the ultimate baseline foundation (Ephesians 2:20), and that Paul's work in the gospel are the result of the Corinthians being initially saved by the gospel. However, Paul is now concerned that his labor in the gospel (concerning them) is now in vain because the Corinthians are now working the sins of strife and envying (Note: Paul condemns the sins of strife and envying when writing to the Galatians (Galatians 5:19-21). Paul says that they which do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God). In Galatians 4:11, Paul was concerned for the Galatians in that they were going back to the Old Law so as to be justified or saved. He was concerned that his labor for the gospel was in vain for the Galatians.
So the parable speaks of how his labor for the gospel (concerning the Corinthians) was now possibly in vain for them, too.
#1. The chief cornerstone foundation = Jesus Christ.
#2. Built as a part of the foundation on top of Christ = The apostles (including Paul, etc.) (Ephesians 2:20).
#3. The actual building materials of the tower or building = God's people (In this instance it would be the Corinthians).
#4. The Corinthians would be like: Wood, hay, and stubble in this particular point in time within their life while they abided in their sins of strife, and envying (Which are sins that will cause a person to not inherit the Kingdom of God).
Wood, hay, and stubble are not materials that could survive a fire.
#5. Paul (the soul winner, and builder of the gospel and builder upon the foundation of Jesus Christ) would be saved through the fire (despite his work - i.e. the Corinthians being his work) would be burned up because of their sins. For Paul then says that if any man defiles the temple, God will destroy them (Meaning: God will destroy the Corinthians if they do not repent of their sins). We are the temple of God. Our bodies are the temples of God. If we as believers defile our temples by sin, God will destroy us (i.e. condemn us).
#2. Built as a part of the foundation on top of Christ = The apostles (including Paul, etc.) (Ephesians 2:20).
#3. The actual building materials of the tower or building = God's people (In this instance it would be the Corinthians).
#4. The Corinthians would be like: Wood, hay, and stubble in this particular point in time within their life while they abided in their sins of strife, and envying (Which are sins that will cause a person to not inherit the Kingdom of God).
Wood, hay, and stubble are not materials that could survive a fire.
#5. Paul (the soul winner, and builder of the gospel and builder upon the foundation of Jesus Christ) would be saved through the fire (despite his work - i.e. the Corinthians being his work) would be burned up because of their sins. For Paul then says that if any man defiles the temple, God will destroy them (Meaning: God will destroy the Corinthians if they do not repent of their sins). We are the temple of God. Our bodies are the temples of God. If we as believers defile our temples by sin, God will destroy us (i.e. condemn us).
This is what I believe the parable is saying. The works of Paul that will be burned are the Corinthians if they do not repent of their sins of strife and envy (1 Corinthians 3:3). The Corinthians at this point in time are not saved and they will be burned up in the fire and destroyed by God if they don't seek forgiveness with the Lord and turn from their sins of strife and envy. Paul, the apostles, or the gospel preacher is the one who will be saved through fire if his work (the Corinthians) is burned up (on the account of their justifying sin). The parable is not talking about how a believer can sin and still be saved as long as they have a belief on Jesus. It's actually teaching the exact opposite of that. One cannot build sin as a work upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. Jesus did not advocate sin, and neither did He teach that a person can continue to sin and still be saved.
Yes, we are initially and foundationally saved by God's grace, but believers cannot justify sin, and they have to be fruitful for their Lord and live holy as a part of the Sanctification Process.
For Hebrews 12:14-15 says,
“14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness,
without which no man shall see the Lord:
15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;”
(Hebrews 12:14-15).
@Lambano Reminds me of Hosea 12:10: "I have...used similitudes".
Sometimes there can be very personalized examples which can seem compelling witness tools, right?
Last edited:
Lambano
Well-Known Member
Can you double-check that scripture reference? Hosea 12 only has 14 verses.
BTW, if you use a colon instead of a period between chapter and verse, the site software will automatically generate a link to the referenced scripture. Very handy. Be sure to spell out full book name, i.e. "1 Corinthians 13:13", rather than abbreviate it "1 Cor. 13.13".
Lambano
Well-Known Member
No, no. Like this: Hosea 12:10. With a colon between chapter and verse. Then we get the link.
My buddy Dwayne had to get 7 inches of his colon removed. Thereafter, he referred to it as his "semi-colon".
I'll be here all week, folks.
Lambano
Well-Known Member
@Lambano YW...
Anyway, seems like your dw uses her inkings proactively to tell ppl about her deliverance.....
Bible Highlighter
Well-Known Member
Blood Covenants & Tattoos:
(Note: The source link for this article is provided at the end of my next post):
There are not many Bible verses about tattoos, but there are some references in the Bible, so we'll just start with looking at the word of God.
I want you to look at Leviticus 19:28.
So after the 10 plagues, by the time it got to the end, the people in the nation were aware that the power of God was greater than the power of the gods that the Egyptians served.
Notice this: the final miracle, that got the people of God released, was the shedding of blood. In Exodus 12, everyone had to slay a lamb, they had to apply the blood of the lamb to their house, to their building, and only then would they be protected from a destroying angel.
So we find that Israel was delivered out of a land full of idolatry, witchcraft and spiritism. Occult powers were immensely strong in Egypt. If you read the story of Moses' confrontation with the wizards of Egypt, you find that some of the first miracles he did, they were able to duplicate. He threw a stick down on the ground that turned into a snake - they threw their sticks down, and they also turned into snakes. That is some occultic power! So the first three miracles that Moses did, the wizards of Egypt, operating in sorcery and occult powers, were able to duplicate them.
Perhaps what isn't known so much is that the Egyptians were worshippers of Baal, the sun god; and part of the Baal worship involved both men and women being tattooed, as a sign of ownership and allegiance to that god.
Now when this verse comes up here in Leviticus, God is about to bring His people into the Promised Land, Canaan.
So when you look into the Bible, about what they were doing in this land, there was strong and huge occultic involvement. The nations worshipped Baal. They worshipped Ashtoreth; so they worshipped the gods of the sun, they worshipped the gods of the storm and the winds and the weather, they worshipped the gods of Fertility, and they had tremendous perverse acts went with it - and they got themselves tattooed.
It was part of the allegiance to their gods that they had the tattoos. A tattoo's just a mark in ink, but actually it's what it opens your life to, is what's important.
So when God gives this command, He's talking in the context of making sure you don't get defiled by demonic powers. Notice what He says here:
God was quite strong, and very forceful, in His directions about being involved in the occult. He said: “do not be defiled by them”. Do not do any of these abominations. In other words, do not open your life to occult practices in any way - you will give room for demonic powers to enter your life.
So the reason that God set this principle in place was because He knew the connection between: tattooing, and the occult realm. He wanted to keep His people free from occult involvement, so that they could walk in the blessings and inherit their land.
So the only other places that there are references to this kind of thing - of the cutting of the flesh - are found in 1 Kings 18. Remember the story when Elijah had a confrontation with the prophets of Baal; and when he had a confrontation with them, he called on them to demonstrate the power, the supernatural power of their gods.
What they did was, they began to cut their flesh! They made themselves bleed; and he just mocked them and belittled them; and then demonstrated the true power of a covenant keeping God.
In the New Testament, there's a story of a man called the Gadarene, in Mark 5. When we looked at that man, he was heavily demonised. He had a legion of demons in him - that's thousands of demons. Here's the interesting thing it said: “when he came near Jesus, the demons began to manifest” - and the guy used to cut himself! So you notice the cutting, the marking of the flesh, in the Bible, is continually associated with the occult realm, and with bondage, or slavery, or servitude to that.
So in a number of places in the Bible, it talks about the issue of blood, and bloodshed. When God began a walk with Abraham, one of the things He required Abraham to do was to cut a covenant with Him.
A covenant is the most strong, or the most binding, agreement that could be made between two people; or between a person and God. God is a covenant-keeping God; so covenants in the Bible are important.
God instructed him how to make a covenant, and it involved these things: there was a sacrifice, there was a loss of an animal, an animal shed its life; so he killed the animal, and cut it in two, and the blood was sprinkled there.
Then the two people making a covenant would walk between the two parts of the animal, and various promises were made, or commitments were made; but a blood covenant, or a covenant - one of the things that characterise covenants in the Bible: always there was the shedding of blood.
So when you see any practice that involves the shedding of blood, you are looking at covenant formation. Anything that deliberately involves the shedding of blood, involves the forming of a covenant. A covenant is a binding agreement between two people, which gives legal rights and entitlements.
Now let me give you one other example, that's an interesting one, found in the area of marriage. Now the first time when a couple come together, and they make a marriage covenant - they come up the aisle. It's not something that people thought up - a wedding is a covenantal commitment to one another. It's not just living together. It's a covenantal commitment; so when two people become married, what they do is they meet together, and they make a covenant with one another.
They speak to one another declaring their relationship, declaring their commitment. They do it publicly, so people hear it, and see it, and then you sign the book. They sign the register, and they are married - except for one thing: if they do not have sexual intercourse, it's considered legally that they're not married - and the marriage can be annulled immediately.
The first time that a woman has sexual intercourse with a man, God has designed the woman, and created a woman, so that in the first act of intercourse, there is the breaking of the hymen, and the shedding of blood - shedding of blood. Shedding of blood in the first act of intercourse is evidence that a covenant has been formed.
So every time in the Bible that you see references to the shedding of blood, it is about a covenant - two people being bonded together. In fact it was so important in the Bible, in Deuteronomy 22:15, that if there was ever doubt that a woman had been a virgin before she was married, if a husband became cranky and got complaining about his wife, and said she wasn't a virgin - that she'd had other men - the parents would bring the bedclothes, from the first night they had sexual intercourse, with the blood marks on them, and they would call them the „Tokens of Virginity‟. They would present this as proof that she was a virgin on the night she was married.
So consistently through the Bible, the shedding of blood is connected to covenant formation; and a tattoo - so what happens in a tattoo? On a tattoo, you use a needle or some kind of cutting instrument. It can be a chisel, or it can be a needle that's moving very, very fast, and what it does is - it penetrates the flesh, blood is shed.
You'll see when a tattoo is being done, they're continually wiping away the blood that comes. The skin is being pierced. What is happening is now there is pain, there's sacrifice, and there is bloodshed. You can't escape it - that when blood is shed, there is some kind of covenant form.
Among the North American Indians, if you wanted to enter into a covenant with a person, you cut the hand, and you touch the blood, one against another, and you became blood brothers. Now this is a worldwide phenomenon. This is not just something that's really cool, and 'in' to do. This whole issue of tattoos goes back to as far as they can find data and information; and so I did a little bit of research on it, to find out some information about it. So if you want to find out the root of something, go and have a look at where it came from, and what it's been used like, and follow and track it's record.
(Continued in next post):I want you to look at Leviticus 19:28.
Leviticus 19:28 says,
You need to understand the context of this. When we look in the Bible, in these sections of the Old Testament, God had taken a people out of Egypt. His people Israel were in bondage in Egypt, and not just in slavery to Egyptians, but also to it’s occult pagan ways or powers.“Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord.”
So after the 10 plagues, by the time it got to the end, the people in the nation were aware that the power of God was greater than the power of the gods that the Egyptians served.
Notice this: the final miracle, that got the people of God released, was the shedding of blood. In Exodus 12, everyone had to slay a lamb, they had to apply the blood of the lamb to their house, to their building, and only then would they be protected from a destroying angel.
So we find that Israel was delivered out of a land full of idolatry, witchcraft and spiritism. Occult powers were immensely strong in Egypt. If you read the story of Moses' confrontation with the wizards of Egypt, you find that some of the first miracles he did, they were able to duplicate. He threw a stick down on the ground that turned into a snake - they threw their sticks down, and they also turned into snakes. That is some occultic power! So the first three miracles that Moses did, the wizards of Egypt, operating in sorcery and occult powers, were able to duplicate them.
Perhaps what isn't known so much is that the Egyptians were worshippers of Baal, the sun god; and part of the Baal worship involved both men and women being tattooed, as a sign of ownership and allegiance to that god.
Now when this verse comes up here in Leviticus, God is about to bring His people into the Promised Land, Canaan.
So when you look into the Bible, about what they were doing in this land, there was strong and huge occultic involvement. The nations worshipped Baal. They worshipped Ashtoreth; so they worshipped the gods of the sun, they worshipped the gods of the storm and the winds and the weather, they worshipped the gods of Fertility, and they had tremendous perverse acts went with it - and they got themselves tattooed.
It was part of the allegiance to their gods that they had the tattoos. A tattoo's just a mark in ink, but actually it's what it opens your life to, is what's important.
So when God gives this command, He's talking in the context of making sure you don't get defiled by demonic powers. Notice what He says here:
Verse 4 - “Do not turn to idols, nor make yourself moulded gods, for I am the Lord your God”.
Verse 28 – “You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh. Don't mark, cut or destroy or blemish your flesh for the dead; nor any tattoo marks on you, for I am the Lord”.
You go down a little further, and then He begins to talk more in Exodus 20:1, He talks about then the practices in the land; so this scripture on tattooing is set in the context of occult involvement that went on in Egypt, and went on in Canaan.Verse 28 – “You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh. Don't mark, cut or destroy or blemish your flesh for the dead; nor any tattoo marks on you, for I am the Lord”.
God was quite strong, and very forceful, in His directions about being involved in the occult. He said: “do not be defiled by them”. Do not do any of these abominations. In other words, do not open your life to occult practices in any way - you will give room for demonic powers to enter your life.
So the reason that God set this principle in place was because He knew the connection between: tattooing, and the occult realm. He wanted to keep His people free from occult involvement, so that they could walk in the blessings and inherit their land.
So the only other places that there are references to this kind of thing - of the cutting of the flesh - are found in 1 Kings 18. Remember the story when Elijah had a confrontation with the prophets of Baal; and when he had a confrontation with them, he called on them to demonstrate the power, the supernatural power of their gods.
What they did was, they began to cut their flesh! They made themselves bleed; and he just mocked them and belittled them; and then demonstrated the true power of a covenant keeping God.
In the New Testament, there's a story of a man called the Gadarene, in Mark 5. When we looked at that man, he was heavily demonised. He had a legion of demons in him - that's thousands of demons. Here's the interesting thing it said: “when he came near Jesus, the demons began to manifest” - and the guy used to cut himself! So you notice the cutting, the marking of the flesh, in the Bible, is continually associated with the occult realm, and with bondage, or slavery, or servitude to that.
So in a number of places in the Bible, it talks about the issue of blood, and bloodshed. When God began a walk with Abraham, one of the things He required Abraham to do was to cut a covenant with Him.
A covenant is the most strong, or the most binding, agreement that could be made between two people; or between a person and God. God is a covenant-keeping God; so covenants in the Bible are important.
God instructed him how to make a covenant, and it involved these things: there was a sacrifice, there was a loss of an animal, an animal shed its life; so he killed the animal, and cut it in two, and the blood was sprinkled there.
Then the two people making a covenant would walk between the two parts of the animal, and various promises were made, or commitments were made; but a blood covenant, or a covenant - one of the things that characterise covenants in the Bible: always there was the shedding of blood.
So when you see any practice that involves the shedding of blood, you are looking at covenant formation. Anything that deliberately involves the shedding of blood, involves the forming of a covenant. A covenant is a binding agreement between two people, which gives legal rights and entitlements.
Now let me give you one other example, that's an interesting one, found in the area of marriage. Now the first time when a couple come together, and they make a marriage covenant - they come up the aisle. It's not something that people thought up - a wedding is a covenantal commitment to one another. It's not just living together. It's a covenantal commitment; so when two people become married, what they do is they meet together, and they make a covenant with one another.
They speak to one another declaring their relationship, declaring their commitment. They do it publicly, so people hear it, and see it, and then you sign the book. They sign the register, and they are married - except for one thing: if they do not have sexual intercourse, it's considered legally that they're not married - and the marriage can be annulled immediately.
The first time that a woman has sexual intercourse with a man, God has designed the woman, and created a woman, so that in the first act of intercourse, there is the breaking of the hymen, and the shedding of blood - shedding of blood. Shedding of blood in the first act of intercourse is evidence that a covenant has been formed.
So every time in the Bible that you see references to the shedding of blood, it is about a covenant - two people being bonded together. In fact it was so important in the Bible, in Deuteronomy 22:15, that if there was ever doubt that a woman had been a virgin before she was married, if a husband became cranky and got complaining about his wife, and said she wasn't a virgin - that she'd had other men - the parents would bring the bedclothes, from the first night they had sexual intercourse, with the blood marks on them, and they would call them the „Tokens of Virginity‟. They would present this as proof that she was a virgin on the night she was married.
So consistently through the Bible, the shedding of blood is connected to covenant formation; and a tattoo - so what happens in a tattoo? On a tattoo, you use a needle or some kind of cutting instrument. It can be a chisel, or it can be a needle that's moving very, very fast, and what it does is - it penetrates the flesh, blood is shed.
You'll see when a tattoo is being done, they're continually wiping away the blood that comes. The skin is being pierced. What is happening is now there is pain, there's sacrifice, and there is bloodshed. You can't escape it - that when blood is shed, there is some kind of covenant form.
Among the North American Indians, if you wanted to enter into a covenant with a person, you cut the hand, and you touch the blood, one against another, and you became blood brothers. Now this is a worldwide phenomenon. This is not just something that's really cool, and 'in' to do. This whole issue of tattoos goes back to as far as they can find data and information; and so I did a little bit of research on it, to find out some information about it. So if you want to find out the root of something, go and have a look at where it came from, and what it's been used like, and follow and track it's record.
(Note: The source link for this article is provided at the end of my next post):
Last edited:
Bible Highlighter
Well-Known Member
We're called to live a life that brings honour and glory to God.
Now just follow through, and track through the history of tattoos. A little while ago - in 1991, some hikers in Europe found an alpine iceman. He was well preserved. He'd been there about 5,000 years; so that's about 3000 BC when he lived.
The interesting thing was: he was tattooed. When they investigated his body, they found that it was quite a lot of bone damage, and quite a lot of decay in his body. He would have been in a lot of pain. It's quite likely that the tattoos were part of invoking gods to bring healing on his life.
In 1891, there was a 4,000 year old mummy from Egypt found - heavily tattooed. In fact, as we looked through the various cultures, you'll find all over the place, right through every culture in the world, tattoos appear. There's almost no culture that tattoos don't appear, and always it's associated with the occult, and engagement with spirit powers, or with slavery - slavery, or occult powers, or both; so I'll just read for you a few examples:
South American headhunters used tattoos; so they would go hunting. They would get a head, and once they've captured the person, killed them, taken off their head, they would generally eat the body, and tattoo themselves as a sign of their victory, and what they'd done.
It's also done up in Borneo. I was up there among the Borneo people, and they would tattoo themselves after they had got one of the heads - chopped someone's head off, and shrunk it, and hung it up.
I was able to go into some of the villages, and you could see the shrunken heads of various people (including Japanese soldiers) - and they would put a tattoo on themselves. In fact if you were a young man, you could not become fully a man unless you took a head (took someone's head off), and then got tattooed. The tattoo was the indication you had passed.
Among Hawaiians, they have tattoo gods; so they consult the tattoo gods about when to get tattooed, and what kind of tattoo; and they look to the gods to guide them - even in the pictures of the tattoos that they take.
The Chinese use the tattoos to ward off evil spirits. So did the Japanese. They appeased different gods.
The Romans used tattoos to brand their slaves; so when Romans would take anyone prisoner, or they'd take someone as a slave, they would tattoo on them "Tax Paid"; and that tattoo was an indication they belonged to the Roman government.
Many of the Christians, when the Romans captured them, they tattooed them on the head: “Tax Paid” - they belonged to the Roman government.
Native Americans tattooed themselves heavily. Wherever you went in America, with the Native Indians, they tattooed themselves. With many of them, the tattoos were required, in their belief system, to ward off evil spirits; and to gain them access into the spirit world. They believed that if they didn't have a tattoo, they could never get recognised by the spirit gods; and they could never get access to the spirit world.
In Alaska, the Eskimos tattooed themselves to appease the gods, so they'd be able to survive. So the tattooing, for them, was about a covenant with a spirit being, so they would survive.
In the Babylonian, and Canaanite temples, the prostitutes that worshipped there all tattooed themselves with fertility tattoos. The male prostitutes also tattooed themselves, and it was all part of the temple worship. It was part of their allegiance and loyalty to their gods.
In the primitive areas of India, when people get tattoos, often the person who does the tattoo is a shaman, or a witch doctor, or a sorcerer.
In Africa they don't necessarily, because of the dark skin, do tattoos; but what they do is they do extreme forms of body piercing with the lips, and ears, and whatever.
It is about allegiance to their gods. It's about calling on their gods to protect them, so they don't have trouble with evil spirits. It's all over the world, so think about that - that's where it all came from.
Now we look at it, and we think: I wonder why this is such a big deal. We look in the western world - seamen would get tattoos. People were criminals, they'd get tattooed. The Nazis tattooed all the Jews - so tattoos are part of a slave culture; and part of an occult culture.
So what's the big deal anyway, if you get a nice little picture - the picture of the dove; or a cross; or Jesus Loves Me‟ - what is the deal about all of this stuff?
Now think about this: When you get involved with tattooing, you're entering into a blood covenant with the person who did the tattoo, and you open your life to whatever spirits he's engaged with - you allow them to come in. If you get an image of something associated with death, then a spirit of death can enter your life.
You say: how will I know that? You wouldn't know - that's the whole point!
But this is what would happen: if a spirit of death came into you, you would find emotional numbness. You would find disconnectedness. You would find it difficult to form relationships. You'd find it difficult to flow from your heart in an intimate relationship. Why? Because the spirit of death had wrapped itself around you and now had a grip on your heart.
Sometimes the Indians used to tattoo themselves with pictures of animals. Then they'd call on the spirit of that animal to enter them, and to give them the abilities that the animal had.
Tattooing is directly connected with the spirit realm. It opens a gateway, through blood- letting, for you to allow demons to come in. That's what the problem is with it.
If you've opened yourself up, if you've got sexual pictures on there, you‟ve opened yourself up to a tormenting, unclean, spirit. So when people get tattooed, very often it's in rebellion or pain, and they do it to try and find an expression somehow; and in doing so, open the gateway for the demonic.
So what do we do about that - if you've got tattoos? Well, some people want to get them all taken off. I just said: Tim, why bother about it? It's a great testimony of God's grace in your life.
Here's the thing: God wants to tattoo you, but not with worldly ink. In 1 Corinthians 1:22 it says: “now God has marked us, stamped us like stamping with a signet ring”.
Now the way they used to have an ownership of things, in the New Testament days, and Roman days, is: they'd have some wax on something, and they'd take a ring that's got an engraving on it, and they'd stamp it on there - and you had a mark of a signet ring on you. It was a sign of ownership.
It was a seal of governments etc; and the Bible says: now God has sealed you; not putting marks on your body - He's not wanting to do that. God has sealed you with the Holy Spirit of promise - so God has got a mark to put on you! He wants to put His spirit on you! He wants to fill you with His spirit! He wants you empowered with the Holy Ghost.
The Bible says in Acts 1:8, He said: “you shall receive power of the Holy Ghost coming on you”! God's desire is you be stamped, that you belong to Him, just like you have been purchased out of a marketplace. His stamp is the stamp of His Spirit in your heart.
Now you should be glad you don't live in Old Testament times, because they had a different way of stamping that you belong to God. One or two know about that... You would have to be circumcised, to have to have your flesh cut away and bloodshed - a very, very painful process.
Today the circumcision is one of the heart - putting our heart right with God, receiving the stamp of His spirit. Whatever we've been involved in, we can be set free.
If you've opened your life up through tattoos, drugs, sexual sin, or whatever - it's very, very simple. You just need to come and repent before the Lord, and renounce the covenantal agreement you made.
You say: I didn't know I was doing that. Hey, the devil doesn't care whether you know or not. He knows if you do it - because he's got a legal right to be there - and that right has to be cancelled.
Now just follow through, and track through the history of tattoos. A little while ago - in 1991, some hikers in Europe found an alpine iceman. He was well preserved. He'd been there about 5,000 years; so that's about 3000 BC when he lived.
The interesting thing was: he was tattooed. When they investigated his body, they found that it was quite a lot of bone damage, and quite a lot of decay in his body. He would have been in a lot of pain. It's quite likely that the tattoos were part of invoking gods to bring healing on his life.
In 1891, there was a 4,000 year old mummy from Egypt found - heavily tattooed. In fact, as we looked through the various cultures, you'll find all over the place, right through every culture in the world, tattoos appear. There's almost no culture that tattoos don't appear, and always it's associated with the occult, and engagement with spirit powers, or with slavery - slavery, or occult powers, or both; so I'll just read for you a few examples:
South American headhunters used tattoos; so they would go hunting. They would get a head, and once they've captured the person, killed them, taken off their head, they would generally eat the body, and tattoo themselves as a sign of their victory, and what they'd done.
It's also done up in Borneo. I was up there among the Borneo people, and they would tattoo themselves after they had got one of the heads - chopped someone's head off, and shrunk it, and hung it up.
I was able to go into some of the villages, and you could see the shrunken heads of various people (including Japanese soldiers) - and they would put a tattoo on themselves. In fact if you were a young man, you could not become fully a man unless you took a head (took someone's head off), and then got tattooed. The tattoo was the indication you had passed.
Among Hawaiians, they have tattoo gods; so they consult the tattoo gods about when to get tattooed, and what kind of tattoo; and they look to the gods to guide them - even in the pictures of the tattoos that they take.
The Chinese use the tattoos to ward off evil spirits. So did the Japanese. They appeased different gods.
The Romans used tattoos to brand their slaves; so when Romans would take anyone prisoner, or they'd take someone as a slave, they would tattoo on them "Tax Paid"; and that tattoo was an indication they belonged to the Roman government.
Many of the Christians, when the Romans captured them, they tattooed them on the head: “Tax Paid” - they belonged to the Roman government.
Native Americans tattooed themselves heavily. Wherever you went in America, with the Native Indians, they tattooed themselves. With many of them, the tattoos were required, in their belief system, to ward off evil spirits; and to gain them access into the spirit world. They believed that if they didn't have a tattoo, they could never get recognised by the spirit gods; and they could never get access to the spirit world.
In Alaska, the Eskimos tattooed themselves to appease the gods, so they'd be able to survive. So the tattooing, for them, was about a covenant with a spirit being, so they would survive.
In the Babylonian, and Canaanite temples, the prostitutes that worshipped there all tattooed themselves with fertility tattoos. The male prostitutes also tattooed themselves, and it was all part of the temple worship. It was part of their allegiance and loyalty to their gods.
In the primitive areas of India, when people get tattoos, often the person who does the tattoo is a shaman, or a witch doctor, or a sorcerer.
In Africa they don't necessarily, because of the dark skin, do tattoos; but what they do is they do extreme forms of body piercing with the lips, and ears, and whatever.
It is about allegiance to their gods. It's about calling on their gods to protect them, so they don't have trouble with evil spirits. It's all over the world, so think about that - that's where it all came from.
Now we look at it, and we think: I wonder why this is such a big deal. We look in the western world - seamen would get tattoos. People were criminals, they'd get tattooed. The Nazis tattooed all the Jews - so tattoos are part of a slave culture; and part of an occult culture.
So what's the big deal anyway, if you get a nice little picture - the picture of the dove; or a cross; or Jesus Loves Me‟ - what is the deal about all of this stuff?
Now think about this: When you get involved with tattooing, you're entering into a blood covenant with the person who did the tattoo, and you open your life to whatever spirits he's engaged with - you allow them to come in. If you get an image of something associated with death, then a spirit of death can enter your life.
You say: how will I know that? You wouldn't know - that's the whole point!
But this is what would happen: if a spirit of death came into you, you would find emotional numbness. You would find disconnectedness. You would find it difficult to form relationships. You'd find it difficult to flow from your heart in an intimate relationship. Why? Because the spirit of death had wrapped itself around you and now had a grip on your heart.
Sometimes the Indians used to tattoo themselves with pictures of animals. Then they'd call on the spirit of that animal to enter them, and to give them the abilities that the animal had.
Tattooing is directly connected with the spirit realm. It opens a gateway, through blood- letting, for you to allow demons to come in. That's what the problem is with it.
If you've opened yourself up, if you've got sexual pictures on there, you‟ve opened yourself up to a tormenting, unclean, spirit. So when people get tattooed, very often it's in rebellion or pain, and they do it to try and find an expression somehow; and in doing so, open the gateway for the demonic.
So what do we do about that - if you've got tattoos? Well, some people want to get them all taken off. I just said: Tim, why bother about it? It's a great testimony of God's grace in your life.
Here's the thing: God wants to tattoo you, but not with worldly ink. In 1 Corinthians 1:22 it says: “now God has marked us, stamped us like stamping with a signet ring”.
Now the way they used to have an ownership of things, in the New Testament days, and Roman days, is: they'd have some wax on something, and they'd take a ring that's got an engraving on it, and they'd stamp it on there - and you had a mark of a signet ring on you. It was a sign of ownership.
It was a seal of governments etc; and the Bible says: now God has sealed you; not putting marks on your body - He's not wanting to do that. God has sealed you with the Holy Spirit of promise - so God has got a mark to put on you! He wants to put His spirit on you! He wants to fill you with His spirit! He wants you empowered with the Holy Ghost.
The Bible says in Acts 1:8, He said: “you shall receive power of the Holy Ghost coming on you”! God's desire is you be stamped, that you belong to Him, just like you have been purchased out of a marketplace. His stamp is the stamp of His Spirit in your heart.
Now you should be glad you don't live in Old Testament times, because they had a different way of stamping that you belong to God. One or two know about that... You would have to be circumcised, to have to have your flesh cut away and bloodshed - a very, very painful process.
Today the circumcision is one of the heart - putting our heart right with God, receiving the stamp of His spirit. Whatever we've been involved in, we can be set free.
If you've opened your life up through tattoos, drugs, sexual sin, or whatever - it's very, very simple. You just need to come and repent before the Lord, and renounce the covenantal agreement you made.
You say: I didn't know I was doing that. Hey, the devil doesn't care whether you know or not. He knows if you do it - because he's got a legal right to be there - and that right has to be cancelled.
Article Source:
https://www.free-ebooks.net/religious/The-Truth-about-Tattoos/pdf?dl&preview
(Note: I do not agree with the author on everything he says or does; I am merely in agreement with the portions of the article that I quoted;
In fact, while I agree that God can work miracles in general today by His will and timing, I do not agree with the author’s view on Continuationism.)
I believe the blood covenant made with tattoos can be canceled by the blood of Jesus if we seek forgiveness of such a sin with the Lord Jesus Christ by way of prayer. I believe (if it is possible) we should also openly renounce to other faithful believers that we no longer have any involvement in tattoos and that your life is dedicated solely to the Lord Jesus Christ and not tattoos.
Be delivered today from the sin of tattoos and it’s blood covenant making.
For Jesus has come to set the captives free.
For God wants you to live in full obedience to Him and His Word.
Know that true freedom today and do not let tattoos and it’s dark spirit of bondage keep you enslaved to it’s ways (Where that is all your life is about instead of following Jesus Christ). For Jesus did not get tattoos. Christ is to be our example in who we follow in moral conduct.
May the Lord’s good ways shine upon you and bless you.
Last edited:
@GodsGrace Frankly the fact that they all had experienced the urge to have them done isn't surprising now; but I guess that for Christian young women the main challenge can sometimes be what to have and where to place a suitable faith based tattoo design.GodsGrace said:
Similar threads
