Are You RethINKing Your Decision ?

Ok, so you got yourself a tattoo and now regret this decision. Now What ?

Is it me or does there seem to be an explosion of people "decorating" their bodies with pictures from the totally risqué to the downright horrid. Yes, tattooing has taken on a life of its own or so it seems.

My first glimpse of a tattoo came via one of my favorite childhood cartoons; Popeye the Sailor. When looking at Popeye‘s massive forearms, you can see an anchor tattooed on each arm. I wasn’t familiar with the term "tattoo" at the time and I just figured it was part of the Popeye mystique.

As I got older, I found that the tattoo was something that American sailors got as they travelled around the world, and for the longest time, tattoos were relegated to those individuals. Tatoos pretty much stayed in that arena for several decades until, to my recollection, the mid to late 1990s. Even then it seemed that entertainers and the "most extreme" folks who did very strange body modifications were marketers for tattoos.

Within the last 10 years or so, almost everybody and his brother seemed to be getting tattooed. With this sudden explosion of tattoos becoming "main stream," I began to wonder what was going on in our country (and the world for that matter), and suddenly, the scriptures came to mind.

Leviticus 19:28 RSV - "You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh on account of the dead or tattoo any marks upon you: I am the LORD."(RSV)It seems pretty straight forward what God is saying here. "Don’t cut yourself or print any marks on yourself."

Revelation 13:16 RSV - "Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead," Now I’m not saying that tattooing is the Mark of the Beast, but it seems to me that if the enemy wishes to prepare the people of this world to accept his "mark," then why not get everyone interested in the "oh so ultra cool" fad of getting a tattoo; besides, it’s only another mark among many marks, right ?

From my research, I found that much of the art of tattooing was based on some sort of spiritual practice, and if you look at many of the tattoos people sport they have some type of horrific depiction often with the human skull as a mainstay. Are tattoos sinful ? Should you get one for yourself ? What if the tattoo has a Christian message ? All I can do is quote for you what God says in His word in Leviticus 19:28. It’s your call; I pray you make the right choice.

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