Getting a tattoo used to be a pretty controversial thing to do, but the world we live in today, especially with the generation I'm a part of, tattoos are more widely accepted and becoming more common. Although tattoos are becoming more and more acceptable, there are still people who don't like them, not because they don't personally want them, but because they think they're bad. These arguments largely come from Christians and similar denominations. Well wait a second, I love God and I want tattoos, does this make me a bad Christian? Well no, no it doesn't. I don't necessarily agree with the arguments that people tend to use and throughout the rest of this article I hope to not "debunk" these arguments but to present my side of the argument.

This first argument, in my opinion, is the most common argument that people use, especially Christians. They use the verse Leviticus 19:28, which says, "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD." That should be it, right? The Bible says it right there to not get tattoos. Well first off, not everybody is a follower of Christ. If you tell a nonbeliever this verse, hoping to discourage them from getting a tattoo, they're not gonna listen to you. If somebody isn't a believer in Christ then why should the Bible apply to them? We know as followers that the Bible is God-breathed, but to somebody who isn't a follower, it's just another book and you're going to need more than just scripture if you want to change their mind. Now, if you are a follower of Christ and somebody uses this verse as an argument, what do you do? Christians believe what the Bible says and it says right there to not cut your body so how do you argue against the Word of God? Well, you can't prove God wrong, but take a look at the context of the verse. The verse says, "Do not cut your body for the dead..." This was a pagan form of worship where they would cut their bodies and tattoo themselves to celebrate and worship the dead, and God didn't want the Israelite people to follow what the pagan's practiced. Now if you use this verse in Leviticus to try and justify why you shouldn’t get tattoos then I hope that you'd follow the other things that are presented in the same chapter. For example, Leviticus 19:23 says, "When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden. For three years you are to consider it forbidden; it must not be eaten." If you wanna use the tattoo verse then I hope you're following along with this verse and even the others in this chapter. Now obviously we break some of these, but why? Well, because we live in a different time than the Israelites did. They didn't have the technologies and pesticides that we have today. So please look at this verse in the right context and period it's in.

Now, some people also use the verse 1 Corinthians 6:19 as an argument against tattoos. This verse says, "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;" Those who use this verse say that tattoos are degrading to our bodies and are ruining the temples that are our bodies, but like I said with Leviticus, please look at the context of this verse. This verse was in response to sexual immorality and has nothing to do with degrading our bodies with tattoos. So please look at this verse in the context it's in and don’t try and mold into what you want it to say.

As I wrap this article up, I want to say this last thing. Do not get a tattoo to just have a tattoo and don’t just get on a whim. Take time when you're deciding whether or not to get a tattoo. Take some time to pray and make sure that this is something you really want and make sure it has a meaning to you. If you want one because it'll look "tight" then you shouldn’t be getting one. Make sure there's an actual meaning behind it so you won't have any regrets when you're older and have to see it every day of your life.

My hope for this article is to get people to accept the decisions that people make in regards to tattoos. If somebody wants a tattoo, don't throw scripture in their face and tell them they're wrong for wanting one. Make sure they're getting one for the right reasons. On the flip of that, if you feel strongly about tattoos and how they’re okay then don't attack those who don’t like them. We all have to be able to have civilized conversations about issues like these.