"Tattoos are more popular than ever. Currently one in five U.S. adults has at least one tattoo (21percent) which is up from the 16 percent and 14 percent who reported having a tattoo in 2003 and 2008, respectively, by the Harris Poll. Entertainers, professional athletes, and even a 2009 version of Barbie, have multiple, and very visible, tattoos. With such prevalence and rising interest, Christians rightfully ask what the Bible says about tattoos."
article here
https://www.crosswalk.com/family/singles/is-it-biblical-for-christians-to-get-tattoos.html
Your thoughts? Is it okay for Christians to get tattoos? Is it a sin? What about christian art work like a cross or something like that?
I must admit I was pleasantly surprised to see an article that didn't make a really weak case based on dubious interpretation to unilaterally declare tattoos to be sinful.
Personally I don't care for tattoos. I know several people who have them (including a few in my church) but it's not something I'd do. It's a matter of preference rather than theology, I've just never felt the urge to mark something on myself permanently.
I agree that much of the issue with them relates to that one verse in Leviticus, which is curious since we so freely ignore other prohibitions from Leviticus (e.g. cutting the edges of beards, wearing clothes of mixed fiber etc) not to mention how we no longer observe things like the ceremonial rituals regarding, for example, a woman being unclean during her monthly cycle.
The article makes a good point about the wisdom of using the money in that way although that, like many other comparable arguments, can easily be used as little more than a lever to try and indirectly disapprove of things. One might reasonably argue that spending $200 on a tattoo isn't a good use of money but it wouldn't be difficult to make a comparable case that the $150/month people spend on cable TV is far more wasteful, especially when paired with a cellphone bill. I knew a guy a few years ago who never missed a chance to say how much he struggled financially but somehow he managed to find nearly $200 for a new tattoo. It was hard to take his claims of hardship very seriously after that. Yes, we should consider our stewardship of the resources God has entrusted to us but if we're not careful we end up in a very silly place where anything that isn't absolutely essential for life is frowned upon because that money could have been used for something else.
I really struggle to support a claim that a tattoo is sinful, even though I have no desire to have one myself.
