Faith based tattoo question

[farouk]

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[farouk]

I think this is one of those subjects where it's a foregone conclusion that people are going to have widely differing views about it (yet there's no reason why it shouldn't be discussed respectfully):

Cachalot said:

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

 

SovereignGrace said:

 

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I have debated about getting a cross tattoo of some sort of 1689 tattoo that isn't too gaudy. ..She [wife] actually has three tattoos. I have two, so she has more than me. .. Actually, last year she got two tats the same day. One is ‘faith’ and ‘believe’.

 

source: christianityboard dot com

...............................

 

Some ppl are going to be totally against it, to the extent of even being prepared to disturb the peace of the church about it. Others might be strongly motivated to have it done for what they see as Christian reasons to have it done.

 

Some Christians will try to use its supposed unlady-likeness as a reason to be against it. (Others will think that it's a really fine idea for a Christian man or woman to want to be inked confidently with a witness-friendly Bible verse or ref., etc.)

[farouk]

Hi @DeighAnn Back a bit you said:

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Except for tattoos, as long as they are not for the dead, I am good ...I think because THIS body just goes back to the dust and we move forward in the spiritual one that it is ok.

 

Ps37 said:

I was in a home improvement store the other day and saw a fellow with Phil. 4:13 tattooed on his arm. Had to stop just to say "always good to meet a fellow believer."

 

As NConly rightly says:

it does not take long before one learns just how many conversations are started by tats. I am always asking people about their tats.

 

(This also seems why so many Christians emerge with faith-based ink from tattoo parlors with a lot of confidence, with likely future conversations in mind.)

Edited August 6, 2024 by farouk

[farouk]

Hi @BK1110

Back a bit: "if I were going to be a witness in the nation of Japan, where there is still a very strong negative cultural perception of tattoos due to their usage by the Japanese mafia (Yakuza), it could very much affect my ability to be a witness to those people to get a tattoo. To get one then would be unloving, as I would be placing my own desire for a tattoo above what is needed to show love to others in sharing the gospel as effectively as I can."

Think also of Korea and the cultural background of the martial arts. On the one hand in neighboring Japan tattoos have seemed to be a bit gang-related, yet in the Korean Taekwondo (I think there's even a word for the women's section of Taekwondo's One Championship) it seems like nearly everyone gets his or her inking with confidence. Someplace also I read that the One Championship champion — Angela someone from Singapore — has 13, and expects to get more tattoos. So it doesn't necessarily have that Yakuza-related connotation in other places in Asia.

[farouk]

Thanks @BK1110 for your 'well said'.

So you can see how Christian men and women involved in the martial arts might well use a tattoo parlor with confidence for a faith-related inking.

(It also shows how trying to claim it's supposedly not lady-like would also be rather unrealistic.)

[farouk]

A study published in the American Journal of Human Biology uncovered that tattooing serves to inoculate the immune system. There are two reasons behind this. One is that they have less reduction in immunoglobulin A. The second is that getting a tattoo stimulates an immune response. Immunoglobulin A is an antibody that helps the immune, gastrointestinal, and respiratory systems. Higher levels of the antibody help the body to ward of pathogens and even the common cold or flu. Tattoos also stimulate and strengthen the immune response. When the immune system detects a foreign invader in your body it sends antibodies to attack them. This happens when you get a tattoo. Your body attacks the foreign invader (tattoo ink), which is why swelling can occur. Eventually your body accepts the ink and you begin to heal. Over this time the immune system becomes stronger through its efforts to combat the ink. A first tattoo does not have the same effect as multiple tattoos. On the first one you are temporarily more susceptible because your immune system is already busy fighting the tattoo ink. However, more tattoos compound the positive effects on your immune system.

source: chronicinktattoo dot com

More ppl would likely be more open to tattoos if they were convinced of their health benefits.

cc @Henry_iain @Gracejj @Still Alive @Hopefully (I know you have your own conscientious perspective also; but this aspect might be significant to some) @Debp

Edited August 13, 2024 by farouk

[Gracejj]

On 8/9/2024 at 9:54 PM, farouk said:

More ppl would likely be more open to tattoos if they were convinced of their health benefits.

I think there are already many other natural ways where people aren't even trying but things happens and they caught something outside in the environment which cause their immune system to work hard to protect and in the process they develop better than before immunity. 

If you give me option, go jump in the muddy puddle in the rain or get a tattoo. I think I would gladly jump in the muddy puddle like peppa.

[farouk]

Thanks to all who voted so far in the poll.

If you have not yet voted in the poll, please vote now.

[farouk]

12 hours ago, Gracejj said:

I think there are already many other natural ways where people aren't even trying but things happens and they caught something outside in the environment which cause their immune system to work hard to protect and in the process they develop better than before immunity.

@Gracejj Thanks for your comment.

Thinking also about what you said thoughtfully just recently on the other thread, applied to the theme here, if it's already a "must do or must follow" traditional thingy (like you mentioned for ear piercing), I guess can also see how if ppl are already at least considering ink, then being convinced of its health benefits would be maybe an extra part of the motivation.

Same I suppose with young Christians already wondering about a faith based design based on a Bible verse, etc.

(If such thinking, that such ppl may have, has some logic to it?)

[farouk]

Hi @Debp Back: "A former neighbor, a young lady, had all of her arms and all of her legs totally covered with tattoos.    I didn't understand why she would want to totally cover herself but that was her choice."

Well, for a start, at 18 it's often regarded as a sign of adulthood to receive ink. Fact is that lots of young men and women might be happy to get 2 or 3 and then it might suffice -for a long while, anyway.

Increasingly, ppl seem to be somewhat aware also that it's claimed that some tattoos can be of some health benefit since they help to boost the immune system (see a few posts, above, also.)