I have made the bold decision to go get my very first tattoo! Exciting, right? However, because I'm a southern, Christian girl, some people may disagree with me. "Why would you want to harm your body? Why would you want to ruin what God made? You should not ruin your body with that kind of mess. How will others look at you? Its a sin!”
These are responses I received when I initially told people the news, so I decided to do my research. Are tattoos really that terrible?
When I researched the history of tattoos, I started reading about how they gained popularity in Egypt. Tattoos were found on mummified Egyptian woman. Some markings resembled complications and difficulties during birth and pregnancies while some markings resembled prostitution. Tattoos were only found on the females. As you can tell with the prostitution part, I wasn’t off to a good start, but I continued to research.
The more I researched, it seemed like it got worse. I came across things saying tattoos were used to worship different religions that drew away from God himself, and that they were also used to mark a belonging to a group or cult. Tattoos seemed terrible. At this point, I knew I still wanted to get a tattoo, but then I started questioning my decision.
After researching the history for a little bit, I decided to research what the bible had to say about tattoos. The very first verse I came across was Leviticus 19:28:
“You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor any tattoo marks on yourselves; I am the LORD.”
Well, there goes my chances of ever getting a tattoo and feeling prideful about it. But, like I do when I read any verse, I read a little before and after that specific verse.
Leviticus 19:26-31 “26. You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor practice divination or soothsaying. 27. You shall not round off the side growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard. 28. You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor any tattoo marks on yourselves; I am the LORD. 29. 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. 30. You shall keep my Sabbaths and revere MY sanctuary; I am the LORD. 31. Do not turn to mediums or spiritualists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the LORD, your God.”
After reading this, I was very surprised. I can’t eat anything with blood? Forget about hair cuts! Guys can’t shave their beards? No tattoos? This is crazy! I know I am a sinner, but oh my! I didn’t know it was this bad! But! I did not stop researching there. I looked more and more and found Galatians 3: 24-25.
“24. Therefore the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ that we may be justified by faith. 25. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.”
The Apostle Paul reminds us that the Old Testament Law was designed by God to lead people toward Jesus. Now that Jesus has come and set us free, we are not under the law for our good standing with God. Our right to stand before God comes from placing our trusts in Jesus’ death on the cross to pay for our debts, and not on following the Old Testament Regulations. I am not saying to forget about the Old Testament. I am simply saying that the end of the Old Testament law changed things for us.
Some Christians today still believe you should not modify God’s creation. My view is, if this was so, that means there would be no ear piercings,hair cuts, hair colors, make up, clipping your nails, tanning, colored contacts, braces, shaving, etc because these are all different ways you are modifying your body, God's creation. Although they may not all be permanent changes, they are still all different ways we are modifying our bodies.
Tattoos and their meanings today are very different from how they were back then. They are all about personal appearance. Tattoos are used to decorate the body. It is a way of self expression. In fact, many leading, Christian individuals have tattoos. I read an article about a pastor who had tattoos and who plans on getting more. He uses his tattoos as a way to spark up a conversation about Christ and to also have them as daily reminders.
Just like anything in this world, tattoos can be a good or bad thing. You will never see me rolling around with some crazy, trashy, or demonic tattoo on my body because it is not what I believe in. That is why I have put a lot of thought into my first tattoo. For me, it is a way of self expression. I want it to mean something to me for the rest of my life because after all, it is permanent.
I'm planning on my very first tattoo to be a lion's head, but instead of a lion's mane, it is a sunflower. I’m sure all of you are wondering, "Out of all things, why that?" I chose this tattoo because my favorite flower is a sunflower, and I am a Leo, which is often symbolized by a lion. I love the sunflower because of its meaning. A sunflower grows tall and like most flowers and chases/follows the sun.
Stand tall, Turn from Darkness, and Follow the Light. The light, being Jesus, and the darkness, being all the bad and negative things in life. I love the lion because it is brave and bold. It has strength. I believe I have gone through some crazy and difficult things, and I am sure I will go through more crazy and difficult things, but without strength and my beliefs, I would just be getting worse and worse. I am getting both the lion and sunflower because of my belief that I need to be bold, brave and strong like a lion while also being delicate, fragile and humble like a flower.
I didn’t write this article to persuade people that tattoos are cool and that getting one is a-okay. If you believe that they are crazy things that ruin your body, then that’s you! Your opinion is okay. But after doing my research, I feel 100 percent positive about my first tattoo.
“If God is for us, who could be against us?” Romans 8:31
