Tattoo repair

[Thewhitedove]

A few years ago, before I became a Christian, I was peer pressured into getting a tattoo that I immediately regretted. It was some writing in a non-English script and looked so ugly on my skin. It's on my foot so I can hide it but it means I xant wear shoes I want to and always feel self conscious when I have to show my feet. Every time I see it, I always feel a little deflated and have cried over it in the past. Everyone who knows me agrees that its not great.

I looked into getting it removed, and it will cost a lot of money, time and pain. I went to a tattoo place last night and the tattoo artist used a marker to sketch on a cover up. It's a pretty floral design. It will take 30 minutes and cost much less than the removal process. I am thinking it over to decide how to proceed.

I have looked into the over arching themes of scripture, as well as checked out how my favourite online pastor John Piper views it, and also asked my own pastor. Their view is that tattoos are permissible but not advisable due to their permanent nature. 

I literally just want to cover the ugly one and be done with tattoos for the rest of my life. What do you all think? Would I be going against God if I get this repair work done? 

 

Thanks 

[Tzephanyahu]

Shalom @Thewhitedove

I hope you are doing well sister.

1 hour ago, Thewhitedove said:

I have looked into the over arching themes of scripture, as well as checked out how my favourite online pastor John Piper views it, and also asked my own pastor. Their view is that tattoos are permissible but not advisable due to their permanent nature. 

Tattoos are permissible? I'm not sure what they meant by this but, on the surface of things, I have to say I disagree with them.  It sounds like a compromise they have made for the many saints out there with tattoos, inked before and after becoming believers.

Even if we ignore what it says in Leviticus, the very practice of permanently marking your flesh, willingly, should not be seen as permissible but rather avoided with a passion. 

To think that an image a mere man designs and draws in ink could "beautify" God's creation anymore is foolishness.  Yes, some Christians are eager to get crosses and scripture tattooed to themselves (even depictions of the Messiah's face sometimes) but would they do such a thing if Messiah was stood next to them?  Not likely.  But if they would, then they have failed to understand the beauty of His creation but rather they have their desires placed in the world and in fleshly things, rather than spiritual.  

Even if we could decorate our flesh in a manner that the Creator would find worthy - should we?  Aren't we all counted as dead in this flesh?

But as to your dilemma...

1 hour ago, Thewhitedove said:

I looked into getting it removed, and it will cost a lot of money, time and pain. I went to a tattoo place last night and the tattoo artist used a marker to sketch on a cover up. It's a pretty floral design. It will take 30 minutes and cost much less than the removal process. I am thinking it over to decide how to proceed.

I understand your position here.  It's awkward and I can see why it would cause you upset.

Please accept the following response in the love and consideration I have for you and your well-being.  I  have no interest in "winning you to my theology" or any of that nonsense.  I say here what I would say to a dear friend: Don't get another tattoo to cover it up. 

Yes, doing so would cover the writing but then you'll be left with a poor imitation of one of God's creations on your skin.  Yes, it may look like a beautiful flower to your eyes, but how do you think it would look in the eyes of the Creator?  Would it not be like you tattoo a child's sketch on your back rather than hanging it on the fridge?  

What's past is past.  The tattoo you got before you became a believer has no bearing on you - being a scar from your former years.  However, if you got a tattoo NOW, as a believer, it could be an issue that you may have to give account for (for the reasons aforementioned).  

What then?  Should you get it removed?  If the tattoo is not offensive to God, His Son or His Word, then I don't think you need to.  You'd still be left with a scar for life (I think) and each time you see it you'd probably still feel nearly as sad as when you see the tattoo today.

So what then? Leave it as is??  I think so.  Please hear me out..

This tattoo or this "scar of the past" is part of YOUR story.  It was part of your life journey -yes, a part you regret, but still part of your story.  So try to re-frame the way you look at it.  See the tattoo as a confirmation marker of your old flesh.  Soon it will be gone when you're raised with a new body.  But for now, see it as the very symbol that, whilst you are new inside, you are still in this old flesh suit.  So it's okay to be upset by it and see it as just as vestigial as the rest of your body.  Soon it will be gone.  (As I get older, and things degrade, I remind myself of this fact too!) 

So when you see that tattoo  and it upsets you or looks ugly to you - re-frame it and perceive it as a positive reminder that the old you is soon to fade away, along with all its issues.  But don't get another tattoo, as a believer, in an attempt to cover it with something "beautiful".  That would profit you little (and even then only in the eyes of humans) and it could even work against you.  Again, Whitedove, you are new inside.  But outside you are still the old Whitedove.  Let that tattoo be a constant reminder to you of that.  Just as the tattoo is ugly to you, so is our sinful flesh to Him.  So once again, re-frame it!

I've rambled enough, but I hope it makes sense.

Love & Shalom

[Billiards Ball]

3 hours ago, Thewhitedove said:

A few years ago, before I became a Christian, I was peer pressured into getting a tattoo that I immediately regretted. It was some writing in a non-English script and looked so ugly on my skin. It's on my foot so I can hide it but it means I xant wear shoes I want to and always feel self conscious when I have to show my feet. Every time I see it, I always feel a little deflated and have cried over it in the past. Everyone who knows me agrees that its not great.

I looked into getting it removed, and it will cost a lot of money, time and pain. I went to a tattoo place last night and the tattoo artist used a marker to sketch on a cover up. It's a pretty floral design. It will take 30 minutes and cost much less than the removal process. I am thinking it over to decide how to proceed.

I have looked into the over arching themes of scripture, as well as checked out how my favourite online pastor John Piper views it, and also asked my own pastor. Their view is that tattoos are permissible but not advisable due to their permanent nature. 

I literally just want to cover the ugly one and be done with tattoos for the rest of my life. What do you all think? Would I be going against God if I get this repair work done? 

 

Thanks 

Don't listen to the cult members on this thread.

Biblically speaking, you have freedom in this area, unless it feels like sin to you. If something seems sinful to you, don't do it. You can also save money on removal and show people the tattoo or tell them about it to compare your old life to your born again life in Jesus Christ.

[BeauJangles]

4 hours ago, Thewhitedove said:

A few years ago, before I became a Christian, I was peer pressured into getting a tattoo that I immediately regretted. It was some writing in a non-English script and looked so ugly on my skin. It's on my foot so I can hide it but it means I xant wear shoes I want to and always feel self conscious when I have to show my feet. Every time I see it, I always feel a little deflated and have cried over it in the past. Everyone who knows me agrees that its not great.

I have looked into the over arching themes of scripture, as well as checked out how my favourite online pastor John Piper views it, and also asked my own pastor. Their view is that tattoos are permissible but not advisable due to their permanent nature. 

I literally just want to cover the ugly one and be done with tattoos for the rest of my life. What do you all think? Would I be going against God if I get this repair work done? 

Greetings Thewhitedove, 

While the Levitical Laws do indicate sinfulness in what we in today's society consider "body artistry", it seems tattoos are more popular than recorded history. At least here in the United States. Marking with permanent means of decorating the anatomy of one's flesh has been known for literally thousands of years. While the Lord wanted His Chosen Ones to have physical differences from heathen nations such as, circumcision, hair, beards, manner of dress, etc. And we cannot discount the identification marks of those who were taken into the death camps during World War II. Many held onto them as a way in memoriam and also a sign to the world what had happened. "Remember Me". 

In our church for instance, many came out of the world and into Christianity with extensive tattoo work that obviously couldn't be altered or removed without the expensive means of cost and yes, painful procedures. Some of them coming into the congregation were PKs (preacher's kids) and had gotten several so-called designery marks because they are so common today. It is similar to a custom "rite" as it were, as was probably your case of peer pressure to be one of your former clique. The decision is yours, of course. It is your body and you will have to wear it. That is between you and the Lord. What does your heart tell you concerning how you should deal with this? God bless you, dear. Pray for direction, my friend. 

Shalom, 

David/BeauJangles 

Edited September 17, 2020 by BeauJangles

[appy]

There are multiple brands of makeup available that is specifically designed to cover up tats and other skin blemishes that do a very good job of covering up tattoo's completely making them unnoticeable.   They are made specifically for hiding tattoo's.

I am in agreement with beau, in that this was done before you became a Christian and isn't something you need to fret over with regard to your past. We all have memories of things we did in the past that we would like to forget ever happened.  While it isn't possible to forget the past, and wipe out old memories of the things we regret doing.   Every thing you did before becoming a Christian is no longer counted against you, for Jesus has cleansed you of all unrighteousness. We can then focus on the present and the future, our new life in Christ, rather than the past and our old life.  A couple of scriptures that  come to mind that speak of this.

Isaiah 43: 18,19
“Forget the former things;  do not dwell on the past.   See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness   and streams in the wasteland.

Philippians 3:13
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,

 

[WowLookaDuck]

Personally, I would do it, but you should definitely pray about it. 

[Marathoner]

19 hours ago, Thewhitedove said:

A few years ago, before I became a Christian, I was peer pressured into getting a tattoo that I immediately regretted. It was some writing in a non-English script and looked so ugly on my skin. It's on my foot so I can hide it but it means I xant wear shoes I want to and always feel self conscious when I have to show my feet. Every time I see it, I always feel a little deflated and have cried over it in the past. Everyone who knows me agrees that its not great.

I looked into getting it removed, and it will cost a lot of money, time and pain. I went to a tattoo place last night and the tattoo artist used a marker to sketch on a cover up. It's a pretty floral design. It will take 30 minutes and cost much less than the removal process. I am thinking it over to decide how to proceed.

I have looked into the over arching themes of scripture, as well as checked out how my favourite online pastor John Piper views it, and also asked my own pastor. Their view is that tattoos are permissible but not advisable due to their permanent nature. 

I literally just want to cover the ugly one and be done with tattoos for the rest of my life. What do you all think? Would I be going against God if I get this repair work done? 

 

Thanks 

Let me encourage you, my friend. There are some who fixate upon the exterior of the cup, washing the outside so it appears clean to the eye. There are those who judge the cleanliness of the cup by how it pleases their eye, blind to the greed, murder, and adultery which abound within. As Agur the son of Jakeh wrote,

There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.
There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.
There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.
There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.
(Proverbs 30:11-14)

Let no one judge you according to this flesh which is perishing. All flesh is grass and its beauty as the blossom of the field; the grass withers and the blossom fades but the word of the Lord endures forever. (1 Peter 1:24) By the Word you have been washed clean from within, for the Lord Himself said a man is defiled by what issues forth from his heart. There are many who judge according to that which is corruptible and returns to the dust one day; pay these no mind, @Thewhitedove, and refuse to be carried away by such folly.

Billiards Ball rendered righteous judgment. There's no shame in these scars we bear... never forget that.   

[missmuffet]

One thing about tattoos is that they are permanent. It cost a lot of money to get them removed and it is not 100%. It takes a number of laser treatments which are not good for the skin. 

[Thewhitedove]

19 hours ago, missmuffet said:

One thing about tattoos is that they are permanent. It cost a lot of money to get them removed and it is not 100%. It takes a number of laser treatments which are not good for the skin. 

Do you think I should get another design tattooed over the one I hate? 

[BeauJangles]

17 minutes ago, Thewhitedove said:

Do you think I should get another design tattooed over the one I hate? 

Please read this edited post, friend. Perhaps you missed the vital emphasis in conveyance.  

On 9/17/2020 at 6:46 AM, BeauJangles said:

Greetings Thewhitedove, 

The decision is yours, of course. It is your body and you will have to wear it. That is between you and the Lord. What does your heart tell you concerning how you should deal with this? God bless you, dear. Pray for direction, my friend. 

Shalom, 

David/BeauJangles 

Shabbat Shalom

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,

Matthew 23:37-39 KJV ³⁷ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! ³⁸Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. ³⁹For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the LORD.