This question comes from my friend Kyle. I’ll deal with the first part today, and the rest later.
I have two [questions].... tattoos and swearing..... I have my biblical ideas about them but wanted to see what someone else has on those two subjects.....
the idea that some words are bad to say vs. other words ex: holy shit vs. holy crap. the ever forbidden F word....
Is it ok for a Christian to get a tattoo? No matter what answer I give here, I am going to anger various Christians. So, let’s just get things out of the way and then see how we got there.
I have a tattoo, the one pictured at the top of this post to be precise. I got that tattoo as a practicing Christian who regularly attends church, and was teaching Sunday school at the time (currently on a covid hiatus from the teaching part). I would not have made that choice if I believed it was a sin.
Some people will tell you that their tattoos are silly little things, that they don’t mean anything other than being a picture that the person liked. My tattoo is not that type. Mine means something very specific. The knotwork is a Celtic design that represents fatherhood. Those dashes in the middle are an old Celtic language known as ogham and they spell out father. My wife has a matching tattoo for motherhood. We got them on the same day, as a present to ourselves for our daughter’s first birthday. They are a celebration of her life after traveling a long road of trying to be parents. So yes, my tattoo absolutely means something.
Now that you know where I am coming from, I will get into the question at hand. There are many Christians who believe that getting a tattoo is a sin. They believe it is specifically prohibited in the bible in the book of Leviticus.
“Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord."- Leviticus 19:28
If we take this verse in a vacuum, it seems pretty cut and dry. Many Christians who have tattoos agree that this verse specifically points them out as a sin. The most often used reason for being able to get them now is that this is a verse from the Old Testament. This goes hand in hand with the common thought that the rules and regulations in the Old Testament no longer apply. However, I have already touched on that belief in another post. So let’s move on.
No verse in the bible is alone. There is a reason why Christians harp on bad theology built around taking verses out of their natural context. It is important to know when the verse was written, and what was being addressed at the time. This verse is part of a group in the Mosaic Law that deals with the practices of the nations around Israel. Similar verses appear in the prophets. These verses spell out practices of the surrounding nations that Israel is not supposed to adopt. The overwhelming reason that these customs must not be adopted is that they have religious significance.
“‘Do not practice divination or seek omens."- Leviticus 19:26b
"Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness."- Leviticus 19:29 (temple prostitution)
"Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God."- Leviticus 19:31
"Hear what the Lord says to you, people of Israel. This is what the Lord says:
“Do not learn the ways of the nations
or be terrified by signs in the heavens,
though the nations are terrified by them.
For the practices of the peoples are worthless;
they cut a tree out of the forest,
and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.
They adorn it with silver and gold;
they fasten it with hammer and nails
so it will not totter.
Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field,
their idols cannot speak;
they must be carried
because they cannot walk.
Do not fear them;
they can do no harm
nor can they do any good.”- Jeremiah 10:1-5
The bible is not saying that tattoos in and of themselves are bad, it is saying that the practice being referenced is a bad one. In this case it is some kind of practice to do with death. From the context of the verse we know that the practice involved cutting and marking yourself in some way for the dead. Beyond that we don’t know the specific practice beyond guesses from neighboring cultures, and that isn’t a bad thing from a Christian perspective, though the historian in me hates it when we don’t know something about the past.
I did find some Catholic teaching claiming that tattoos were against the 5th commandment, do not murder, because they are a permanent damage to your body without a good reason. Personally this seems like a stretch, especially considering the bible doesn’t have a blanket condemnation for the similar practice of body piercings. Ear and nose rings are mentioned often, and any negativity seems to be specific to the occasion, usage, and other factors.
So a tattoo itself is not a sin, though an individual tattoo might be. As with many things, the intent and meaning behind the action are important to consider. Do you have a tattoo for a love of art, an enjoyment of the tattoo itself? That is a perfectly fine reason to have one. Do you have a tattoo for a non-Christian religious reason? Then it is a sin. Of course this requires individual reflection and the end is between you and God.
I will leave you with some verses from Romans. Paul is discussing eating meat sacrificed to idols, but he extends the discussion to broader subjects. The entire chapter is well worth reading and contemplating.
“I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean.” - Romans 14:14
“So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.”- Romans 14:22-23
About the Author:
Stephen Mayo lives in Montana with his wife, daughter, corgi, and three cats.
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