Pensees: Graffiti on the Temple

I couldn’t get the link to work.

Should be fixed now.

What do you think of pierced ears?

hear, hear!

Nice to see you back at it, Bob, now things should liven up.

Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

This is the same reasoning that the monks and nuns would use to forbid fancy clothing and makeup — it shows disdain for what God created.

I think the beef that people have with “fundamentalists” on matters such as this is the apparent hypocrisy or inconsistency. Women can wear makeup, but not tattoos — why? Speaking out against something that we never felt the urge to do (and I’ve never been interested in getting tattoos), can be seen as a cheap way to feel holier than others while continuing to indulge in morally equivalent behaviors.

Becca,

I knew that I’d be asked the question and that my inconsistency would be pointed out. Only God is perfectly consistent and consistency in any of the rest of us is actually boring if not impossible. Having said that, I think that there is some difference between piercing which is less permanent and tattoos. With body piercing (you asked specifically about ear piercing) moderation should dictate our choices (and I readily admit that the same could be applied to tattoos). I suppose that I wouldn’t be terribly upset if my daughter as a teenager wanted to get a nose stud, for example, because it could be ladylike, discreet, and not excessive. However, if she wanted piercing all over and multiple times in the same location wisdom would seem to suggest some kind of restraint.

However, removing tattoos is a difficult process, usually requiring some kind of laser treatment, and it is potentially damaging to the skin. Piercing removal is comparatively easy.

The girls in my family have pierced ears. And I like them.

I suppose that might make me a little inconsistent (although you did not say as much), but I also think that it people like Josh Allen illustrate the absurdity of a breed of people who can only perceive an opinion as legalistic pontification. They would have us make no comment whatsoever on any cultural trend if we don’t want to be immediately labeled as legalistic and pharisaical killjoys.

Sigh. Small minds they have. Even as the tattoo industry is flourishing so is tattoo removal industry. And it is not conservative fundamentalists feeding their coffers. It’s normal Americans regretting they did something stupid with their bodies. It seems commonsensical (there I go again) to avoid it. And common sense should be a fairly common characteristic among Christians.

Josh,

You argue like many of the narrow fundamentalists that I have had to deal with.

First of all, to which nuns and monks do you refer? I’d like to see documentation. Otherwise, is hardly more than an ad hominem scare tactic that bears little significance to the argument as if to suggest that any kind of problem one may have with tattoos is virtually monastic Catholicism.

Secondly, even if it is true (and I have known several nuns who wore makeup. No monks though.) that nuns and monks made similar arguments, what does that do to the argument? Shall we all stop eating vegetables because nuns eat vegetables? Please.

Thirdly, while I stated a strong opinion I actually did not claim to have an airtight argument against it and only pointedly called out for some kind of careful consideration before one marks his body. My rationale, while not an airtight argument, is fairly reasonable and biblically sustainable.

Fourthly, it is you not I who is being judgmental. I’m not speaking out against something I “have never felt the urge to do” in order to make myself feel holier than others. To the contrary, I have actually had the urge. Quite powerfully. And I have talked myself out of it.

Fifthly, if you want a tattoo, go get one. Encourage others to get it. But don’t suggest that we are Roman Catholic Fundamentalist Legalists because we have an opinion that is in common with many non-Roman Catholic Fundamentalist Legalists.

Read Diane West’s “The Death of the Grown-Up” and find out for yourself that it is not legalistic fundamentalists who are worried about the infantilizing of our culture as it is plainly revealed in our choice of clothes, tattoos, and makeup.

Go figure.

“You argue like many of the narrow fundamentalists that I have had to deal with.”

Who’s arguing? I was simply pointing out a fact. I’m honestly shocked that you would consider the fact that “monks and nuns do it” to be an argument against something. My head is spinning; I don’t even know how to respond to that. As if Catholics are incapable of being sincerely pious or of having good reasons for abstaining from bodily adornment? These rules for monks and nuns were established long before the creeping errors that sparked the reformation, so I don’t understand how you could paint them as heretical.

In fact, I just read a screed where Whitfield was ranting about the Catholics in Boston wearing fancy dress, so it’s clearly not just the Catholics who had this prohibition.

I just did a search in e-Sword and found in the ESV the following verse:

Lev 19:28 You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the LORD.

I wonder how that reads in the original.

It seems fairly straightforward.

What possible God-honoring reason could there be in sharing your bedroom talk? Do you really want people to think about your covered body parts next time they see you? Listen to you preach?

@Rob - some of my Jewish friends abstain from getting tattoos, for that very reason. And lest I be misconstrued as saying that you would be a Pharisee for not getting tattoos, let me mention that I *admire* this about my Jewish friends. They don’t think that it earns them salvation any more than Bob does, but like him, they see it as a way to express their love of God.

As I child, I was taught that tattoos and earrings were used to mark the slaves of earthly kings, which was ample enough reason to disdain the symbolism. Later, I observed the sorts of people who got tattoos, and how their lives progressed over time (and how the tattoos looked as flab progressed), which was additional confirmation against the idea.

Bob,
How would displaying a tattoo (an art form displayed on someone’s body) be different from performing a musical instrument or training your voice to sing or fingers to paint (also art forms done with the body)? (Ear rings, as mentioned above, would also fall into this category.) Seems like there are some things we do with our bodies (ostensibly, at least, to glorify God) that are more culturally accepted than others. I’m not sure that permanence is a valid argument since that would put a life-long painter in the wrong and it would put a freshly tattooed person in the right. (Beyond that, at what point would the permanence become a problem? A month? A year?) Thoughts? Thanks. Champ

I feel tattoos are ugly. They grow especially ugly as one’s skin ages.

However, while I appreciate your concern to help people think about the Biblical principles concerning the temple of the Holy Spirit, I would very strongly warn against making a spiritual law to bind to the consciences of other men in the absence of a direct command from scripture. The Bible gives us principles concerning the body, but it does not give us a direct command concerning tattoos. It does give us a direct command not to bind other men’s consciences with religious laws not found in the scripture (Mark 7).

I feel tattoos are ugly. They grow especially ugly as one’s skin ages.

However, while I appreciate your concern to help people think about the Biblical principles concerning the temple of the Holy Spirit, I would very strongly warn against making a spiritual law to bind to the consciences of other men in the absence of a direct command from scripture. The Bible gives us principles concerning the body, but it does not give us a direct command concerning tattoos. It does give us a direct command not to bind other men’s consciences with religious laws not found in the scripture (Mark 7).

“I would very strongly warn against making a spiritual law to bind to the consciences of other men in the absence of a direct command from scripture.”

Could you show us where Bob made a “spiritual law to bind the consciences of men?” I can’t find it in the OP. It’s like you read into the blog what you thought would be there when in fact it wasn’t. What I did read was this

“I also think that it is good common sense to tell Christians to think twice about getting a tattoo on the grounds of property rights: God’s property and His rights”

When I read the previous quote too fast I see how one could mistake “good common sense” for “binding spiritual law” . . .uh well actually I don’t

Jason, you are absolutely right. From what I can see in Bob’s post it seems pretty clear that he was not making a religious law to force onto others. He said “it is good common sense to tell Christians to think twice . . .” He was giving believers something to think about as they make up their own minds about it. That’s great. I didn’t mean to imply that he was making up some commandments of men for us all. Actually I was about to follow up my first post with a clarification, but then it seemed like too much trouble at the time. Thanks for your comment.

Bob,

I thank I can track with you there. I don’t think the “temple” argument works too well, since it has to beg the question that tattooing is bad before it works, but I’m not a big fan of tattoos myself. It’s more the permanence thing—a lot of tattoos are kind of a youthful fad, and it’s pretty hard to change your mind once you “grow up.”

But some people like them for that very reason, and use them to commemorate something they don’t want to forget. *shrug* I think a lot of it really is culturally contextual. There’s a very big difference between how a dragon snaking down your arm and a little “Jesus fish” on your foot will be perceived.

Piercings are similar. I bet my grandmother would be horrified at the idea of a nose piercing. But today, I agree with you—they’re cute and feminine. I have a navel piercing. In Florida where I’m from, everyone does, even grandmas! In the mid-west it’s a little more edgy.

Rob,

I hope you haven’t rounded off the side-growth of your heads nor harmed the edges of your beard. (Lev. 19:27)

When I was about seventeen I got this big bat/snake tattoo on the top of my foot that went up to my ankle. Over the last 23 years it has literally faded away. Only now can I see just a few faint lines. In the course of conversations I have told people this and they ask to see, so I show them. Many times I have heard, “what a miracle of God to take that off your body.” (or something very similar)

I usually reply with, “yeah, it never really bothered me all that much.” Maybe that response is a bit too nonchalant, but the reality is that I never really equated all that much moral value one way or another in it.

Would I go out now and get that same tatoo? Nope. I don’t think it would represent who I am now. Would I go out and get some other more “wholesome” tattoo? Probably not. I’m a baby when it comes to pain.

Great post! Love the humor, but more importantly it is a good reminder that our bodies are not ours. Looking forward to having you back in the pulpit on Sunday!

Jason

this is a weird conversation. i don’t like tattoos personally, but . . . ?

i like a lot of stuff d. wilson has written, but this is a strange post. i’m not sure i agree with his analogy of the female illustrations the doing-the-right-thing-badly-versus-doing-the-wrong-thing-well. that is really confusing. getting an atrociously expensive manicure is a good thing done badly and wearing sweats to the store is a bad thing? and wearing a halter top is a bad thing done well?

it’s weird. and he’s the older woman giving advice to younger women? it seems like a jumble of ideas tossed up in there. maybe my small intelligence is not sufficient enough to grasp the entirety of what he’s trying to communicate.

not sure i can see the temple/tattoo follow through either. seems kind of random. if you consider eyebrow plucking, hair coloring, liposuction, shaving, nail painting, colored contact lenses, teeth whitening, perms, and just point out that tattooing is different because it’s more permanent, . . . i don’t know.

i just dunno.

dunno . . . and from a guy with a goatee? . . .I am so cunfoozed. it can be shaved, true, but . . . ?

i am not smart enough for topics like this, this one just hits my hazy intellect as kinder strange.