Why would this be true when we consider these words of the prophet?
"O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." Jerem 10:23
Is your tattoo faith based?
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"O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." Jerem 10:23
Good reflection.
What I think I was considering when I made the statement was firstly that today because many parlors are more like salons which often have more female than male clients than would have been the case with unregulated parlors decades back, getting tattooed is relatively more straightforward today.
Getting tattooed is also a proven conversation-starter as far as faith based designs are concerned: which many Christians in a secular age find to be a highly useful tool in keeping faith-based awareness and discussion active and prominent.
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My point, of course, was your use of the word, "want". The whole of mankind has long been seeking what they "want". This is the selfish way in which all who are born to their natural mothers... except Jesus. He was not selfish but selfless putting always others first before himself. The "wants" of a completely selfless person would be equal to his "needs" as God understand his "needs".
We should be approaching, I believe, a place in God where our "wants" are equal to our "needs". But who is there? Do we get there by pursuing our "wants" when we know they do not equal what God knows to be our "needs"? When a person first comes to God, he is still very much immersed in his own interests. If he really met the Master it was through surrender, but that meeting was only just the beginning of his surrender. The surrendering is not finished until we know what our "needs " are because we are one with God.
The only way to become one with God is to grow. We don't grow by following our carnal wants, but by humbling ourselves before Him...that is by continuing to surrender to Him.
Yes, I take your point; thank-you. I also know that many Christians would regard tattoos as a Romans 14 issue, which may for them the pragmatic opportunity to communicate their most deeply felt convictions in a proven effective conversation-starting manner.
Taking that road may be OK for those on milk, but when a person moves from milk to meat, he really must hear the Lord's voice and follow it rather following his own plan to help God out. To remain on milk when we should be on meat could be a dangerous place.
I think that it's inevitable that various Christians of similar, basic Biblical convictions will have a variety of views on a subject such as this, just as many Christians minister and testify in a wide variety of spheres.
God is directing all of those who are to be in the Body of Christ. Within that direction there are differences because people are different parts of the Body with different functions. However, there many who go their own way because of its personal appeal to them [selfishness] rather than because that is the way God is directing them [selflessness]. For a time God will wink at [overlook] a person effectively still on milk, but eventually to become a fully functioning part of the Body, each part must partake of meat.
@"ByGrace": Well, 55%-70% or more of parlor clients in North America are female...
Acolyte:
So at the time did you at least enjoy the experience or receive some sense of it being meaningful for you?
Certainly and some who do it are either not really very deep into the Word of God or they are not really Christian at all. Fortunately, we do not have the job assigned to us to sort them all out at the end. That job is already taken.
I guess if viewed from a pragmatic perspective many Christians figure that as a conversation-starting tool faith-based designs are proven effective; they indeed work.
To me this is most likely to be seen among people who have never gotten beyond milk. Of course this is only an opinion. People on milk also do God's work and as a result other people are won to God's Way.
A while ago my wife and I talked to a young lady with the whole of John 3.16 tattooed on her wrist area; I told her that it was my favorite Bible verse and it seemed the appropriate thing to say to her.
Many people have done things that they regret or will later come to regret... but we cannot change the past. Neither should we dwell too much on it. Today is the day that the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Putting someone down for something we consider a mistake will seldom edify anyone.
Encouraging a person in spite of our thoughts to the contrary is a good practice. I still would never consider getting a tattoo nor would I normally encourage anyone else to get one. I will grant that I don't always know what God has said to another person... or even what He will put before me. He might change my mind for His reasons, but I really am not expecting that at this point in my walk with Him.
I guess that since you have blessedly lived the Christian life for so many years and managed very well without faith based ink (!), then it's hardly likely that you would now start to pursue it.
I guess young Christians today - among whom it's quite widespread - are in a different situation. If many of their peers at around 18 follow the custom of offering their skin for faith based ink injecting, it's probably inevitable that some will be motivated to have it done also.
When I was young I did not know a single person my age with tattoos. I knew many of an older generation among men [males] who had gotten one or more tattoos while on active duty in the military. I never met one who did not regret having gotten his tattoo(s).
Yes, it goes with the military; and now military wives are also a huge demographic among the tattooed.
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