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 Posted: Mon May 09, 2016 8:27 am
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2016 1:12 pm
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i have heard preachers say that it's against God saying that you identify yourself with unbelievers because that's where tats originated.
there's a Christian website w/ tons of information that i often use for sourcing information on bible beliefs and biblical doctrine issues, ect. and i agree w/ them on a lot of their beliefs, but i really dont agree w/ them on their stance about tattoos.
Many quote this verse:
Quote: 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.
but the way i understand it has to do w/ the motive. i wouldn't think that you're making marks in your flesh for the dead, right? and even if someone did get a tattoo in honor of someone special to them who had passed away, i still dont see it as the same thing as what that verse is talking about.
my personal opinion is that it has to do w/ motive and who/what the person getting the tattoo is trying to honor. satan worshippers get satanic symbols tatted on them, but just because their tats are to honor death and wickedness, doesn't mean that someone else's tats are for the same purpose.
that's my opinion on a lot of things that ppl try to make blanket judgements trying to convince Christians that we're automatically doing something wicked just cos pagans or unbelievers do something similar. i believe it all has to do w/ our motive and our hearts intent. i could be wrong about how i view tats, but that's just how i currently see it.
this is from the website that i use a lot,(the Jesus-is-savior website) it's pretty extensive (as long as you click the links to keep reading each page) in how it explains why tattoos are wrong, if maybe you want to consider both sides of the argument. Tattoos
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2016 6:38 pm
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SteamGoldPunk Ok so this is a personal question. I REALLY want a tattoo, and I have talked to a few of my Sunday school teachers and they have said they see nothing wrong with them, one ever told me -it was too long ago for me to quote) but he quoted somewhere that angles had marks (aka tattoos) on them. But my family is complete against me getting a tattoo of any kind saying it would strongly displease God. (and honestly that is the only thing keeping me from getting one) -I'm 27 years old so its not like I'm a rebellious teenager)
Though I never got a tattoo myself, I use to hold to the interpretation—but not anymore—that as long as the tattoo wasn't for the dead, it was okay to get. The reason that stance changed: YHWH led me to information (both in the Word—not preachers, but what is written in Scripture—and in secular life) that helped me see the intent behind all of YHWH's Commands and that His perspective was different. And I'll share that information in this post. Essentially, for our own good and the good of others, YHWH requires that His set-apart people abstain from giving off the appearance of pagan beliefs, even if we don't give the practice their same spiritual significance (thus change the meaning behind it; it's still unacceptable), and He also does not want us treating the organs of the body in their way (and the skin is an organ).
Starting with the latter, an obvious statement that we sometimes don't keep present in our minds: the Creator gave creation a function; so we do not do things just because it pleases one of the five senses (in this case, the lust of the eyes), but to honor the purpose / function of a thing the way He intended. Tattoos fade over time because the immune system is eating away at the ink [Your Immune System Really Hates Your Tattoos]. Our Heavenly Father designed our bodies to recognize this as a threat. It's not just about pagan beliefs, but the harm tattoos cause to the skin. There was a topic on this a while back: [Cancer and Tattoo Link]. It's a scientific study posted by neuroseas and I responded to that topic with examples of different ways the violation of this Command manifests across the world, illustrating what our Heavenly Father is protecting us from—on a very practical level.
On a spiritual level, and the former reason, there is also the added element that YHWH instructed us against reflecting the religious practices of the pagans.
Leviticus 20:26 (NIV)
26 You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.
Deuteronomy 12:30-31 (NIV)
30 and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.” 31 You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.
1 John 2:15-16 (NIV)
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father[a] is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.
Footnotes:
a. 1 John 2:15 Or world, the Father’s love
Joshua 24:15 (NIV)
15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
People read, "the gods your ancestors served" and "the gods of the Amorites" but they leave it disconnected from what that actually looks like. What Joshua is asking them to do on a practical level is to choose whether they will follow the practices, traditions, and culture associated with that foreign god or submit to YHWH's Commands. It is about what you do, the practices associated with said god / said belief system. Do you reflect YHWH's Word or that worldly philosophy? The trickier thing is that some of these idolatries (false notions of God) go around in YHWH's Name (including under the label "Christianity") in total contradiction to what is written in the entirety of the Word. People who don't know the truth fall into those traps.
For the record, the Law of God—what YHWH judges as right to do or wrong to do—is our standard of truth...
Psalm 119:43 (NIV)
43 Never take your word of truth from my mouth,
for I have put my hope in your laws.
Matthew 4:4 (NIV)
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’[a]”
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 4:4 Deut. 8:3
John 17:17 (NIV)
17 Sanctify them by[a] the truth; your word is truth.
Footnotes:
a. John 17:17 Or them to live in accordance with
And thus why Jesus told us to obey what's read from Moses' seat even when the people in charge of teaching the Commands to us don't put God's Commands into practice themselves...
Matthew 23:1-3 (NIV)
23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
What is read from Moses' seat:
Exodus 18:13-16 (NIV)
13 The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. 14 When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”
15 Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. 16 Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.”
Moses informed them of God's decrees and instructions. God's Law, which is God's will, is read from Moses' seat.
Psalm 40:8 (NIV)
8 I desire to do your will, my God;
your law is within my heart.”
We are suppose to follow God's will. And God is good.
So, it is not good to get a tattoo. Ultimately, that it derived from pagan religious beliefs plays a big role in our decision to abstain from it—if it originated to honor a foreign god / foreign belief system (foreign in relation to YHWH), the Father says no: in essence, whether done in ignorance or done deliberately after knowing the truth, to get a tattoo communicates approval of what the world does to honor their demons, superstitions, and atheistic, fleshly ways; to get a tattoo is to choose to wear the jersey of the other team when in reality we're on the opposing team (set-apart to YHWH, and He is against the marking of the skin in their ways—to protect both our physical integrity and spiritual integrity, both. He doesn't classify His Commands into such categories; but considering He guards our body, soul and spirit, then, when He instructs something for our good, it is to guard us on all levels).
1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NIV)
23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
John 17:17 (NIV)
17 Sanctify them by[a] the truth; your word is truth.
Footnotes:
a. John 17:17 Or them to live in accordance with
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 (NIV)
12 And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?
To get a tattoo would mislead people about what is good to do and what is not good to do—which is the purpose behind YHWH's Commands: to guard us from practices that, if not useless and lies, are detrimental to creation, physically and otherwise. The skin is a living organism; it absorbs everything you put on it, and fights against the ink of the tattoo punctured into it. We should respect that the ink shouldn't be there. That is why idolatry—in all its various manifestations—is an abomination and a sin worthy of death. Idolatry does not lead to life, but death (so, the deserved treatment back was death, and still merits death). Idolatry promotes false notions of god, false forms of spirituality, deviances from the truth, and leads to things / entities that cannot save. We're suppose to only walk in—and reflect—the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The Word of God made flesh. For our own good and the good of those who view us.
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That said, for people who transgressed against the Creator in this way prior to knowing the truth, God will manifest grace i.e. not just forgive them upon their renouncing of all approval of the practice, but He will find a way to use it for good (e.g. if they already have a tattoo upon converting or get a tattoo before knowing the full scope of truth that YHWH instructed, YHWH could use their tattoo to reach a person who is prejudiced against Christianity, but would listen to someone if they looked like them, because they are tatted up too), but that is not an excuse to deliberately sin against God, other people, and our bodies in this way.
Romans 6:1-2 (NIV)
6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
1 John 3:4 (NIV)
4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.
James 4:17 (NIV)
17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
Romans 7:12 (NIV)
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
1 Corinthians 8:10 (NIV)
10 For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols?
What we do with our physical self can communicate the wrong thing to others. And by our example, we are suppose to guard against leading others into doing wrong, and on to the path of death.
---
Once we define our words biblically, and notice what the intent is behind all of the Commands in general, getting a tattoo has no defense. Recognize this as the fleshly desire that it is and pray to God to rid you of that fleshly desire. Do not let Pharisaical teachers of the Law—those who do not put into practice what is read from Moses' seat—lead you into sin. Jesus warned us of them so that we wouldn't fall into their blind (discernment-lacking) guidance. Side with your Father no matter what anyone says, because that is what Jesus did and He is your example to follow.
John 4:34 (NIV)
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
Matthew 26:39 (NIV)
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Matthew 12:50 (NIV)
50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
Romans 8:29 (NIV)
29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
Like Jesus, obey your Father's instruction. |
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Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 10:34 am
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 9:13 am
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