Addictions, bad and good........tattoos of Bible verses; thoughts?

[Marathoner]

For myself, I find that visiting with the sick and the lonely is the most effective witnessing "tool." Looking after their needs... offering counsel when asked... listening to their burdens... and serving others as the Lord served me is the greatest honor that He could bestow upon me in this life. From that day when the Son of God called me, I dreamed of serving Him.

No crosses worn around the neck, fish symbols, or tattoos required. Don't need to be rich, a smooth talker, nor gifted to serve the Lord. All we need is a heart beating for Christ!

[farouk]

Just now, Marathoner said:

For myself, I find that visiting with the sick and the lonely is the most effective witnessing "tool." Looking after their needs... offering counsel when asked... listening to their burdens... and serving others as the Lord served me is the greatest honor that He could bestow upon me in this life. From that day when the Son of God called me, I dreamed of serving Him.

No crosses worn around the neck, fish symbols, or tattoos required. Don't need to be rich, a smooth talker, nor gifted to serve the Lord. All we need is a heart beating for Christ!

@Marathoner There is indeed a great deal to what you say! the art of visitation - especially in these post-Covid times - is in danger of being lost.

(I think with things such as logo bracelets, theme tattoos, etc., it's often young ppl using them to talk with other young ppl.)

[Sower]

33 minutes ago, farouk said:

@Sower Your contributions appreciated!

Just never reviewed nor discussed, just jump to another  "FYI..............another of my threads; any wisdom?

[Sower]

2 hours ago, Marathoner said:

For myself, I find that visiting with the sick and the lonely is the most effective witnessing "tool." Looking after their needs... offering counsel when asked... listening to their burdens... and serving others as the Lord served me is the greatest honor that He could bestow upon me in this life. From that day when the Son of God called me, I dreamed of serving Him.

No crosses worn around the neck, fish symbols, or tattoos required. Don't need to be rich, a smooth talker, nor gifted to serve the Lord. All we need is a heart beating for Christ!

Nobody could have said it better, Marathoner, for sure brother.
Washing feet, as unto the Lord. Sowing that seed.......

[JustClay]

I’ve just spent the last half hour trying to comfort a friend whose daughter is in hospice care, dying from a brain tumor.  Throughout the last several years, her daughter has developed what I would call an addiction to getting tattooed.  She could never have enough of them.  Now, I am not blaming her tumor on the tattoos, but I do think anyone who is considering them should take a serious look at health risks, especially those that might result from black-out tattoos.  
 

Last year, a melanoma appeared on my shoulder.  If I’d had a tattoo there, I might never have seen it.  It was just a small black spot.  Left untreated, a melanoma can become a life-threatening problem in as little as 6 weeks, and yes, melanoma can spread to the brain as well as to other internal organs.  You may recall that former President Jimmy Carter had melanoma in his brain.  Two years ago, I lost a friend to melanoma cancer, and his was not an easy passing. 
 

So let this warning be my witnessing tool for today.  Tattoos can cause allergic reactions to dyes, skin infections, other skin issues such as granulomas and keloids, and blood borne diseases such as MRSA, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C.  Tattoos can even interfere with MRI’s.  

[farouk]

4 hours ago, Sower said:

Just never reviewed nor discussed, just jump to another  "FYI..............another of my threads; any wisdom?

@Sower Actually I commented as follows:

"Oh I can see how this would not go down well in the West among those who are so young.

One can remember also the context of those in professedly Christian families who have it done in the Middle East.

It is actually highly widespread among young women in the Middle East who belong to professedly Christian families to receive a cross tattoo: it would be described really as a kind of cultural insurance against being pressurized or  propositioned by men of other convictions.

I know a Christian family - with fine evangelical convictions - who moved from the Middle East to North America. The wife has her cross tattoo; the daughter who was a born again Christian sadly passed away in her teens; I do not know if otherwise in time she would have submitted to the tattooing of a cross."

[Workman]

On 2/3/2023 at 8:09 AM, farouk said:

... some Christians really like getting Bible verse tattoos that they use as witness tools. ... (Thoughts, ppl?)

I put them on the same level as bumper stickers.  If people don't know you're a Christian by how you live your life and treat others, no amount of verses in the form of tattoos, bumper stickers, shirts, flags, trinkets, etc. are going to help.  Pray and let God bring the people to you.  Even Jesus had to introduce Himself to people, e.g. lady at the well.  He did not stand out in a crowd (Judas had to kiss him when he was hanging out with the disciples because there was nothing about his appearance that stood out).  "He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him." Isaiah 53:2  

In short, visible "ads" that you're a Christian are a waste of time.

[farouk]

@Workman ; @JustClay ; @Sower Thanks, guys, for your posts!

[farouk]

8 hours ago, Workman said:

I put them on the same level as bumper stickers.  If people don't know you're a Christian by how you live your life and treat others, no amount of verses in the form of tattoos, bumper stickers, shirts, flags, trinkets, etc. are going to help.  Pray and let God bring the people to you.  Even Jesus had to introduce Himself to people, e.g. lady at the well.  He did not stand out in a crowd (Judas had to kiss him when he was hanging out with the disciples because there was nothing about his appearance that stood out).  "He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him." Isaiah 53:2  

In short, visible "ads" that you're a Christian are a waste of time.

@Workman FYI, @Tristen said:

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I personally don't have, or like, tattoos. But I have noticed that people with tattoos often have other random people approach them to ask about their tats. In the context of a faith-based tattoo, that can lead to a non-Christian opening the door to a discussion about the Gospel. I can therefore see some merit in that motive.

Edited March 31, 2023 by farouk

[farouk]

23 hours ago, Dave-regenerated said:

Back in the 90s I remember seeing a statue of a woman in the guinness world of records that had the most tattooed body in the world.  In those days, it wasn't considered normal to have tattoos but today it is.

Hi @Dave-regenerated I think that this would probably have been because of the sheer amount of tattoos that the lady had that it would have been regarded as unusual, rather than because it was a woman that had received them.

UnrulyBeauty said about hers:

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I have several tattoos. I've never felt the slightest guilt over them...The last one I got was many, many years ago. I would love to get a few more before I'm old and wrinkly...Tattoos have been "non-taboo" for a good 20 years or so. I think a lot of older people (and I'm not young to begin with lol) still think that tattoos are this grungy, rough, male trend. But that hasn't been the case for many, many years.

source: christianityboard dot com

While for a while in the 20th century it was regarded as somewhat of the preserve of male sailors and bikers, historically it was not so.

Things have seemingly come full circle now. It has seemingly become almost exponentially associated with certain demographics; e.g., nurses, military spouses, etc. In the 19th century it was regarded by many ppl as a highly classy - a rather womanly - act to undergo.

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Surprisingly, one of the major resurgences of interest in tattoos ...occurred among 19th century high society Victorian women (as well as men) ..even Winston Churchill’s mother had a tattoo .. on her wrist. Queen Victoria was also believed to have had a tattoo of a Bengal tiger.. . From Victorian Europe...to America. In 1897, (art critic, Margot) Miffin says that an estimated 75% of American society women were tattooed..

source: (Black Fire: Women, Tattoos, and the Transformative Power of Body Art )

 

 

Edited March 31, 2023 by farouk