Bible Question:
19:28 Tattoos??-Okay or not for those under a "new covenant"? Any thoughts? |
Bible Answer: william_wallace: The clear proscription of the tattoo and other practices for God's people, Israel, (cf. Leviticus 19:27,28) may be exegeted thusly: The practices described in these verses were pagan practices, generally associated with Egyptian idolatry, but some were universal among pagans, as for instance the practice of making deep gashes on the face or limbs in times of grief. Tattoos were usually connected to the names of various idols and thus became, for the Israelites, a permanent sign of their apostasy. Christians are subject to God's moral laws (against, for examples, murder, adultery, stealing, and lying), because they have not changed. Strictly ceremonial laws that applied to ancient Israel are no longer binding to followers of Christ. However, before we dismiss the subject of tatoos, perhaps it is wise to consider the possibility that behind God's prohibition may have lain a reason in addition to the pagan origin of and practice of using the tattoo. Genesis teaches us that God made human beings in the image and likeness of God (Gen.1:26); that God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. (Gen.2:7). In 1 Cor. 6:19 we read, "Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?" When one considers the prohibition of tattoos in Leviticus, adds the creation story regarding in whose image we are created, and tops it off with what Paul says in the New Testament about the body being the temple of the Holy Spirit and really not our own, he really has a very weak case, if one at all, in favor of tattoos. Now I'm not saying that the Bible teaches that he who wears a tattoo is doomed to hell. It doesn't teach that any more than it teaches that everyone without a tattoo will go to heaven! But I am saying that I believe that the Bible makes a strong case against the practice of altering God's handiwork with tattoos and other forms of anatomical mutilation. I believe it reasonable to exempt necessary surgical procedures as not being within the meaning of mutilation as used in the above context. --Hank |