'Christian tattoos to start a conversation as the Lord leads.'

[farouk]

@Hopefully I appreciate you have come to your conclusions and thank-you for your past comments.

I guess also there is a scenario for example which can be considered: A woman with the name of a non-Christian ex-bf tattooed (e.g., BILL) after being soundly converted might not want perpetually to carry the name BILL on her skin and so it's possible that she might choose to go back to a tattoo parlor for the BILL to be changed by an able artist into another word which better expresses her identity as a Christian woman (e.g., BIBLE instead of BILL).

Maybe you as a tattooed Christian woman yourself you might empathize with such a wish, in the circumstances described...

[Hopefully]

1 minute ago, farouk said:

Maybe you as a tattooed Christian woman yourself you might empathize with such a wish, in the circumstances described...

I don’t have any names tattooed. My thought was get them removed but God told me he has removed them. 
 

 

[farouk]

2 minutes ago, Hopefully said:

I don’t have any names tattooed. My thought was get them removed but God told me he has removed them. 
 

 

@Hopefully Thanks for the response.

I realize what you say in your circumstances.

I guess other tattooed Christian women might be in sightly different circumstances and if they strongly regret having gotten - say - a non Christian bf's name tattooed, their instinct and impulse might be very strong either to have it painfully removed or else adapted into another word that better reflects their new and permanent convictions.

(Thanks again for the comment.)

[Hopefully]

Just now, farouk said:

their instinct and impulse might be very strong either to have it painfully removed or else adapted into another word that better reflects their new and permanent convictions.

I would have never gotten a boyfriends name tattooed just seems like a bad idea. People know relationships don’t always last. 

[farouk]

4 minutes ago, Hopefully said:

I would have never gotten a boyfriends name tattooed just seems like a bad idea. People know relationships don’t always last. 

@Hopefully Oh I agree.

Some ppl are in that situation, of course. A truly converted woman, but having had a bf who gave her all sorts of memories that she would dearly prefer to forget and the Lord indeed helps her to forget. (But keeps being reminded by a highly regretted tattoo. The challenge for her: so, what to do?)

[farouk]

25 minutes ago, Hopefully said:

My thought was get them removed
 

 

PS: @Hopefully It can be expensive and painful to have them removed altogether and involve several sessions. (This is why some ppl choose other strategies. A tattoo artist would be able to advise - assuming the person was willing to go back to the tattoo parlor.)

[Hopefully]

3 minutes ago, farouk said:

PS: @Hopefully It can be expensive and painful to have them removed altogether and involve several sessions. (This is why some ppl choose other strategies. A tattoo artist would be able to advise - assuming the person was willing to go back to the tattoo parlor.)

Yea I had found a place and got the costs and all and yep several sessions. I could afford it, I was more worried about the pain. Before I went through with it God said they are already removed.

Perhaps it’s good for them to be visible to others so if anyone should ask about them I can explain my mistake. 

Edited June 24, 2023 by Hopefully

[farouk]

5 minutes ago, Hopefully said:

Perhaps it’s good for them to be visible to others so if anyone should ask about them I can explain my mistake. 

@Hopefully Seems like for you they provide ready make witness tools to use to explain to ppl how you have moved on to other priorities.

I guess also that since you would want to use them for this, their visibility isn't in that sense a problem for you, since they also provide an opportunity, right?

I reckon that the argument used by some legalists that it's supposedly not lady-like doesn't really apply to your thinking, since your 'good for them to be visible' thinking doesn't really go along at all with the thinking of some legalists who might say that nylons and long sleeves need to be worn all the time because it's supposedly not lady-like.

Whereas it seems like you try to find a positive way of referring to them and then transcending them in the light of other, and faith-related, priorities.

(I saw a quote also which seemed to show that the supposed 'it's not lady-like' argument isn't historically accurate, either, since it was apparently widespread among upper class women in the 19th century to have it done.)

 

[Hopefully]

6 minutes ago, farouk said:

I guess also that since you would want to use them for this, their visibility isn't in that sense a problem for you, since they also provide an opportunity, right?

Yes it does provide me an opportunity to witness and what better witness than a repentant one vs one who has none.

It can also show people you can’t read a book by its cover.

my tattoos are small and located on my left hand. I have one on my right arm and one behind my ear.

 I do think arm sleeves and leg tattoos are not lady like but millions of women without tattoos are also not ladylike lol.

[farouk]

7 minutes ago, Hopefully said:

Yes it does provide me an opportunity to witness and what better witness than a repentant one vs one who has none.

It can also show people you can’t read a book by its cover.

my tattoos are small and located on my left hand. I have one on my right arm and one behind my ear.

 I do think arm sleeves and leg tattoos are not lady like but millions of women without tattoos are also not ladylike lol.

@Hopefully

Here's the quote I referred to; it's actually the case that in the 19th century it was quite widely regarded as a classy and womanly thing to do:

"Surprisingly, one of the major resurgences of interest in tattoos in Europe occurred among 19th century high society Victorian women (as well as men), after British explorers .. brought back the practice to Britain. .. grew during the 19th century, and even Winston Churchill’s mother had a tattoo .. on her wrist. Queen Victoria was also believed to have had a tattoo.. . From Victorian Europe...to America. In 1897, (art critic, Margot) Miffin says that an estimated 75% of American society women were tattooed.."
(Black Fire: Women, Tattoos, and the Transformative Power of Body Art )

In those days evidently it wasn't regarded by a lot of Victorians as something that was supposedly not lady-like, anyway.

But as you say, a lot of tattoos - women's tattoos especially - are rather small, anyhow.

Often something that's done at 18. Really small ones, even.

One can also understand that a lot of new adult Christian young women at 18 would just think something like, I want mine to count as a small, quietly visible tool for dignified faith conversations (such as a brief Bible ref. "Jn. 3.16" in tiny letters on a wrist, or a Christian fish sign <><, etc.)

Doesn't have to be big at all, anyway. (And plenty of Godly Christian women would likely deny that such little tattoos were supposedly unlady-like.) To each her own...