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

[farouk]

10 minutes ago, Hopefully said:

Given what we have been told in the Bible about the fate of the total human population, I feel good if 10 million people disagree with me. It seems more of a narrow path that way.

 I truly take issues to God and believe what the spirit tells me. Why would I listen to the broad path?

No matter how many people say God is okay with tattoos I don’t believe he is. Do I believe the tattoo alone decides salvation? No I don’t but it’s not going to be good all around if people seek advice from the masses.

God is alive and he can hear us. We can hear him to.

 

@Hopefully I can indeed see where generally you are coming from; it reminds me of: "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil" (Exodus 23.2).

Whether or not a young lady with John 3.16 on her wrist would come into this category I'm not sure I would want to be dogmatic that it is. Romans 14 also speaks of things which ppl need to be fully persuaded in their own minds about, one way or another. A lot of Christians would see things in the Old Testament that are not absolutely carried forward into the NT.

I also found the quote above interesting from a Christian father who regretted having dissuaded his daughter from training as a tattoo artist.

Edited June 25, 2023 by farouk

[farouk]

@Hopefully (I'll get to your question, above, shortly.........)

[farouk]

22 minutes ago, Hopefully said:

“I mean we are made right with God through faith, not through what we have done to follow the law. This is what we believe. So do we destroy the law by following the way of faith? Not at all! In fact, faith causes us to be what the law actually wants.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭3‬:‭28‬, ‭31‬ ‭

What do you think about this verse? 
 

I feel like my faith is still growing so I will continue to become what the law wants.

 

@Hopefully I can certainly see the point about justification, as Romans shows.

But the NT believer is not perfected by the law.

Hebrews 7.19: "For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God."

Galatians 3.3-5: "Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

⁴ Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.

⁵ He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?"

It's good to dig into Scripture and for ppl to follow by conviction what they understand from it.

I can see how the young lady that my wife and I talked to with John 3.16 tattooed on her wrist, having considered the various angles from Scripture, might have gone with calm and assurance into the tattoo parlor and with joy having become an inked up woman with a such a conversation-starting witness tool.

[Hopefully]

25 minutes ago, farouk said:

But the NT believer is not perfected by the law.

I agree. Do you believe faith causes us to be what the law wants?

I do.

Because of my faith causing me to be what the law wants I order all meat well done because the law did not want us to consume blood.

 I don’t believe eating a rare steak will affect my salvation but just why do it. I order well done out of sheer respect for the law not for salvation.

Just another example.

if consuming meat with blood was an issue before Jesus why eat it now and say well I have Jesus so it doesn’t matter.
 

It’s so easy just to order well done no biggie. It’s just a why do it thing for me just like the tattoos. It’s not something I have to have.

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Hopefully

[farouk]

1 hour ago, Hopefully said:

I agree. Do you believe faith causes us to be what the law wants?

I do.

Because of my faith causing me to be what the law wants I order all meat well done because the law did not want us to consume blood.

 I don’t believe eating a rare steak will affect my salvation but just why do it. I order well done out of sheer respect for the law not for salvation.

Just another example.

if consuming meat with blood was an issue before Jesus why eat it now and say well I have Jesus so it doesn’t matter.
 

It’s so easy just to order well done no biggie. It’s just a why do it thing for me just like the tattoos. It’s not something I have to have.

 

Hi @Hopefully Not everything in the OT law is carried forward into the NT. For example, dietary restrictions are modified in Acts (Peter's vision, etc.). Even assuming that 'tattoos' - thus referred to in some versions of the English Bible - correspond exactly to what in modern time ppl receive in the tattoo parlor (an assumption not universally shared), there does not seem to be evidence of references to tattoos in the NT. (Unless, of course, as in Revelation 19.16, in which case it would go the other way, positively.)

But you are right when you say: "......tattoos. It’s not something I have to have".

Some other Christians also think differently; FYI:

Dave L said:

I think when I was a young Christian, a scripture or Christian art Tattoo would have helped me stake a claim as a Christian and made people aware early on. It would have helped sort out friends from the start. So I regret not having that as an option during that time. .. If I found myself in a similar situation to when I was young, I'd probably have a tattoo.  christianityboard dot com

[farouk]

@Tristen I think also that legalism does influence ppl's thinking today.

Sometimes also that legalism is mixed up with rather old fashioned mindsets; FYI:

Cachalot said:

Tattoos are unlady-like. That is why I would never have one. 

christianityboard dot com

 

Whatever one's convictions and preferences are (and which should be respected), it's hard to maintain the supposedly 'not lady-like' idea today, though; there is probably overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

[Hopefully]

26 minutes ago, farouk said:

I think when I was a young Christian, a scripture or Christian art Tattoo would have helped me stake a claim as a Christian and made people aware early on. It would have helped sort out friends from the start. So I regret not having that as an option during that time. .. If I found myself in a similar situation to when I was young, I'd probably have a tattoo.  christianityboard dot com

I’m not so sure these scripture tattoos are even noticed as such. You have to be pretty close to a person to read it but from afar it’s just a tattoo.

When I make new friends I just ask do you believe in God? You don’t need a tattoo to show your christian or to sort out friends imo. 
 

I have never seen a scripture tattoo on a person probably because I wasn’t close enough or just didn’t look at what the tattoos even were. I don’t recall really paying attention to peoples tattoos unless they are super huge where you can’t miss it. I can’t tell you what tattoos anyone I know has except my brother. People I’ve known for years.

Most say their scripture tattoos are small and those are not noticeable unless you’re really personal with someone. 

[Hopefully]

@farouk you never answered, do you believe faith causes us to be what the law wants. Are you able to answer with just yes or no?

[farouk]

5 hours ago, Hopefully said:

@farouk you never answered, do you believe faith causes us to be what the law wants. Are you able to answer with just yes or no?

@Hopefully I think the answer lies in the believer being in Christ, well expressed in the following lines:

"Thou hast fulfilled the law,
  And we are justified:
Ours is the blessing, Thine the curse;
  We live, for Thou hast died."

(From: 'Jesus, the sinner's Friend')

I think that we have to  be careful to avoid the legalistic notion that in order supposedly to stay justified we have to keep trying to do this or that or the other. Rather, what Paul calls 'the obedience of faith' and 'obedience to the faith' (Romans 1 and Romans 16) - all centered in Christ - is the believer's characteristic.

The verses quoted in earlier posts would indicate that the believer does not supposedly  become gradually perfected by the law.

All questions carry assumptions, and to project assumptions that are not necessarily stated and then to expect others' thinking to encompass either yes or no in a sweeping way, can sometimes unwittingly project one person's legalistic thought processes onto someone else's. This is why I have preferred to respond with nuanced sentences instead.

 

[farouk]

5 hours ago, Hopefully said:

 I can’t tell you what tattoos anyone I know has except my brother.

@Hopefully So you guys are both tattooed.

Are his faith based in design, maybe?