"You shall not make any cuts in your body for dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the LORD." -Leviticus 19:28 (New American Standard Bible)
This is the primary verse that concerns many people on the issue of having or getting tattoos. However, the precise intention of this statement is still under debate to this day.
Now we all know that in elementary school, we were being taught to look at the sentence or paragraph as a whole to find out what something meant. We were using context clues! We must look at the surrounding verses of Leviticus to fully understand what God is saying about tattoos.
"You shall not eat anything with the blood, or practice divination or soothsaying. You shall not round off the side-growth of your heard not harm the edges of your beard. You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord. 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 shall keep My sabbaths and revere My sanctuary; I am the LORD. Do not turn to mediums or spiritists do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God." -Leviticus 19: 26-31 (New American Standard Bible)
In simple terms, God is telling his covenant people of Israel to stay away from religious practices that don't involve Him. The prohibited religious practices in these verses include eating bloody meat, fortune telling, certain haircuts, cutting or marking the body for dead relatives, cultic prostitution and consulting psychics. The term "tattoo" is defined in verse 28. The rough translation of this term is to mark your body in connection with false religious worship that don't have to do with the Lord our God.
All of the presented Biblical citations come from the Old Testament. If we were to follow all of the laws outlined in the Old Testament, we would not be allowed to wear clothes of two different fabrics, eating cheese on hamburgers, eating pork and shellfish, and various hairstyles.
Some people might also argue that tattoos defile God's creation. We all know that our God is a perfect God and that He makes no mistakes. In contrast, though, are the following things not also considered modifications to our bodies: cutting our hair and fingernails, getting our ears pierced, getting braces, and getting a tan?
Galatians 3:24-25 states: "Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ so that we may by justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor." These two verses assure us that once we accept the Lord as our Savior that we are no longer under the law. The law was designed to lead the lost to their Father; to right, they're standing with the Lord.
