Welcome to Biblical or NOT Biblical #2

[Pastor Gary]

Is there any New Testament prohibition against this?

[ugpastor]

1 Corinthians 3:16-17
16Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are

Definitions of defile on the Web:

place under suspicion or cast doubt upon; "sully someone's reputation"
tarnish: make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used metaphorically; "The silver was tarnished by the long exposure to the air"; "Her reputation was sullied after the affair with a married man"
foul: spot, stain, or pollute; "The townspeople defiled the river by emptying raw sewage into it"
a narrow pass (especially one between mountains)

[Brian]

I sure hope not cause here is my newest one! I have two others also. Another cross on my other forearm and my wife's name on my bicep.

[Pastor Gary]

1 Corinthians 3:16-17
16Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are

Who is that passage written to, and what does it address?

Is it a passage about a person's fleshly body? Verses 16 & 17 use a plural form that might be translated into southern vernacular as:

"Don't y'all know that together y'all make up God's Temple, where His Spirit dwells? If anybody messes with y'all he's messin' with God's property and God'll take care of him..."

By no stretch of proof-texting is this a passage about tattoos.

[Paully_44]

Brian, love the ink. Did you design it?

PG,
Is that your back?


I guess its time for me to get another.


I am sure glad my God judges my heart.

[Paully_44]

1 Corinthians 3:16-17
16Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are

Definitions of defile on the Web:

place under suspicion or cast doubt upon; "sully someone's reputation"
tarnish: make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used metaphorically; "The silver was tarnished by the long exposure to the air"; "Her reputation was sullied after the affair with a married man"
foul: spot, stain, or pollute; "The townspeople defiled the river by emptying raw sewage into it"
a narrow pass (especially one between mountains)

Not sure how ink "tarnishes a reputation".

Does this hold true then to what goes in?
No sugar, light on the carbs, no coke, no cake, no butter, no church potlucks, no breathing exhaust fumes.....no........whatever

[Brian]

Brian, love the ink. Did you design it?

I am sure glad my God judges my heart.

No Paully I didn't design it, wish I had designed my own though . It is actually a cover over a tweety bird that I got about 18 years ago. It was looong overdue.

I have a sort of original that I have wanted for about 12 years. I want to get it on that same arm, bicep. It is a crown of thowns but you can see the eyes of Jesus (profile) with His head facing downware and apears to be in pain. The whole thing has a very tribal look to it. It is really powerful looking. I think I have it scanned, I will post it below.

And I too am glad that God looks upon my heart and not this stinking flesh!

[Poimen]

By no stretch of proof-texting is this a passage about tattoos.

Touche!

Yet when coupled with 1 Corinthians 6:19 (which does include reference to the individual's body), then a case against spiritual "vandalism" may be made. Vandalism may come in various forms. Tattooing (the analogous equivalent here to graffiti) would certainly be one.

Furthermore, modesty (in principle) is about not drawing undue or inappropriate attention to one's self. Tattooing would generally serve to be a violation of this principle as well.

It comes as no surprise then, I'm sure, but...

My vote -- NOT Biblical.

[Pastor Gary]

By no stretch of proof-texting is this a passage about tattoos.

Touche!

Yet when coupled with 1 Corinthians 6:19 (which does include reference to the individual's body), then a case against spiritual "vandalism" may be made. Vandalism may come in various forms. Tattooing (the analogous equivalent here to graffiti) would certainly be one.

Furthermore, modesty (in principle) is about not drawing undue or inappropriate attention to one's self. Tattooing would generally serve to be a violation of this principle as well.

It comes as no surprise then, I'm sure, but...

My vote -- NOT Biblical.

I am starting to get very concerned about the lack of contextual exegesis being used to support preconceived views. Chris, read the entire section from which you pulled that scripture. Can you tell what the subject is?

(In the interest of moving the discussion along, I'll answer my own question: sexual immorality.) To extrapolate from that passage anything OTHER than sexual immorality does violence to the scriptures and is simply not accurate.

I am an old-timer in this regard: never liked tattoos very much at all. I can't imagine any design I like enough to have someone cram ink under my skin with thousands of needle pricks and mark me permanently. I have tattooed people at my church, including some with scripture tats, and one young women works at a tattoo place.

BUT -- I can't find enough NEW TESTAMENT to support a view that tats are prohibited.

[Poimen]

I am starting to get very concerned about the lack of contextual exegesis being used to support preconceived views.

Scriptural context is important. Vital! No argument here.
But a principle revealed therein finds valid application in other and/or similar contexts as well. Such is (IMO) the case here with tattooing and the believer.


BTW, I have several congregants who have tattoo's also. One man in particular has noticeable, distinguishable, prison tats even.

In our case, these are indicators of their former life. What's done is done (generally speaking). That said, if one got a tat to cover up another bothersome tat (as Brian mentioned above) I could see the value in that. That's the exception however, and not the rule.

[Shellie]

No.

Nor is there any OT besides that which is found in Lev. which states you shouldn't make any marks in the flesh "for the dead".

[free]

I've got plenty of folks in my church with tats...Young and old...I can find no scripture that prohibits it...I personally would not do it (I hate pain)...But I think the pic pastor G. showed is beautiful art.

[JohnDB]

All I know is some generalities.

Tattoos intristically aren't evil. It is just some ink in skin. It usually shows what is most important to you.

Like PG has said...needles and the longevity of the markings? Never seen any human's artwork that I liked so much that I couldn't settle for the T-Shirt instead of a tattoo.

IMHO
Man is sinful...man's interpretation of God is also bound to be full of sin too.

God created this body as a piece of his artwork. Who am I to come in later and try to improve on what He has done?

But the covering of one tat with the other...ain't got a problem with that either.
It ain't my body and it ain't my worship of God...it is his. If he believes that this is more gooder...then so be it. He is hurting no one and defiling no one else...don't see the harm in it whatsoever.

Encourage someone to get one?
nope.

[Shepherd]

1 Corinthians 3:16-17
16Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are

Who is that passage written to, and what does it address?

Is it a passage about a person's fleshly body? Verses 16 & 17 use a plural form that might be translated into southern vernacular as:

"Don't y'all know that together y'all make up God's Temple, where His Spirit dwells? If anybody messes with y'all he's messin' with God's property and God'll take care of him..."

By no stretch of proof-texting is this a passage about tattoos.

Amen! You sound like a The Church of God preacher. It was written to The Church of God at Corinth. I couldn't resist.

[RamboPreacher]

Is there any New Testament prohibition against this?

no.
however, with that said, there may be certain images that are intrinsically ir intimating of values, ideals, and nouns that would be considered contrary to Biblical teaching.

Further, the issue of reputation comes in to play as well (though only indirectly related to certain NT teachings). example: many jobs that are professional careers would frown on having visible tats.