Subject: TATTOOS....yea or nay?? |
Bible Note: Montag Let us go back to Leviticus 19:26-29 'You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor practice divination or soothsaying. 27'You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard. 28'You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the LORD. 29'Do not profane your daughter by making her a harlot, so that the land will not fall to harlotry and the land become full of lewdness. You homed in on verse 27 and asked, do you cut your hair to trim your beard? We all can see the problems of throwing away the other prohibitions that are immediately encompassed about this verse, should we say okay since we don't keep verse 27 let's throw away 26,28 and 29. If we are going to do that we might as well say hey since I shave and since that violates verse 27 I’m throwing away the rest of the Bible and living like I want. Does this passage say don't cut your hair or does it mean do not cut or shave the sides of your head as to draw attention to yourself? Since we know it is not talking about long hair 1 Cor. 11:14 Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him. The part about having a beard is it saying every man must have a beard or is it saying if you have a beard do not disfigure it or cut it in a way that draws attention? I think we have both seen individuals that either shaved the sides of their head or shaped their beards in such ways that conveyed a look or presence that didn’t draw people to them. Tattoo is permanent disfiguration of what God originally created. While it might be argued that disfiguration beautifies rather than detracts the fact remains it is still a change over what God intended. While I agree there are many Christians that have tattoos, I still wonder about their motives for doing it. Does it honor God? Does it exhibit their liberty or their rebellion? Was it done in wisdom or whim? Did God direct them to do it or did they want to be like the world? Did they pray about it or just do it? I’m not called to judge them and I can’t but I can still wonder why they would do it. To me the “HIGH” road says no tattoos. You said your were just offering another opinion. If someone takes your opinion are they honoring God or exercising their liberty. When we offer an opinion we have to assume some responsibility for the consequences of those that take that advice. EdB |