What Does The Bible Say About Tattoos?

the law also says we cant eat lobsters or crawfish.

so what do you do if u already have tattoos and never realized before that doing so was sinful?

I got a tattoo back when things in my life were going bad, I was on drugs and alcohol really bad and even though I was a christian I still did it. Do I need to get the tattoo removed I really wished I would have never got the tattoo.

Seth,
In the Book of Leviticus in the Old Testament there were sacrificial offerings for intentional & unintentional sins. Jesus fulfilled the law, died for our sins. When we sin willfully even though we know God says not to that is offensive
to Him and rebellious. Obedience to God is better than sacrifice. Please don’t tattoo, imagine what happens when one keeps willfully sinning & die before repenting.

Cultural context please. That verse does not apply to all people at all places. If we are to treat this verse as universally applicable, should we not also treat the verse before with like reverence? “You shall not round of the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.” Surely we do not accept this as a universal statement.
The Bible is not specific on tatoos, and that is ok.

Just think of all the time…and I mean all the time put into Tatoos, from thinking of getting one to what if I don’t like it to what others will think, what it will be of, where it will go, how many should I get, covering an entire body, the time it would take to remove, all of the time people spend learning how to become a Tatoo artist, learning of the process, what tatoo joints are the best, all the designs and photos of Tatoos, seminars, workshops Tatoo competitions, Magazines, all the conversations of and about Tatoos… we could go on for ever with this…Basically, could you imagine if all the time ever envolved with tatoos was used to truly worship God………………………….

If you know what god truly wants/expects from you while you are on earth, material objects would hold no value or importance. righteousness must be from the heart and not outwardly. So it does not matter what you do as long as you are righteous. Once you commit your life in being faithful to our heavenly father, you will feel your needs and cravings disappear. Anything that gives pleasure to the flesh over the holy spirit in you, with your knowledge, IS A SIN. Jesus came to us to tell us to forget the ‘law’. The old testament talks about high priests memorizing the laws(which were so ridiculously many)that they forgot to be righteous from their hearts. There came a point when the more laws u could follow, the more holy you were. Jesus came to tell us to discard this blind habit and follow just the 2 commandments – love your god with all your heart ; love your neighbor as you love yourself. By truly loving god, we will understand that he has important and blessed plans for each of us, which goes beyond tattoos, food and other things attached to the body. God wants you to be happy and peaceful and not pressurize your holy spirit with laws.

I just want to Love as Christ Loves. With no Questions about it. When it’s my time to go before God I don’t want home to say, Who Are You? I never knew You!

if your going to obey that verse then men also need to obey the one right above it “Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.” Leviticus 19:27 You cannot pick and choose the verses you follow in the bible. and not only that but every other verse in leviticus. Leviticus was all of the rules that the ISRAELITES needed to follow. My pastor preached a full sermon on this last year.

Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Would you scratch up a Mercedes Benz? Would you paint a mustache on Mona Lisa? Tatoos have more to do with paganism. God does have things to say about cutting or tatooing our bodiesand right afterwards says I am the Lord thy God I do not change. Thats pretty clear.

THE TRUTH IS THAT.. you don’t need a tatto.
and for you to back her up? thats so wrong on your part.. i thought you are sooo deep relationship with God?? if that was true..you would not have backed her up on it and would have done the opposeit DUH!!

IF you are a christian you are to help your brother if you have taken the log out of your eye to remove the speck that is in your brothers eye. We judge all the day long and God expects us to make righteous ones. If we closed our eye to everything how much more worse would this would be. We are to take a stand. I am sure they said the same thing to Paul when he spoke too. “Do not judge me.” We are to love and help one another but people don’t want to feel condemned so they come out with the do not judge! Do you not know that we judge the Angels? How much rather those who are of this world? Corinthians 6:3

Gods people are destroyed for lack of knowledge and your contributing to that lack of knowledge with this erroneous article. You CAN NOT give one part of Scripture and say this is law then reject the other parts of the Scripture. This is also a sin. If you continue reading Leviticus particularly that chapter your going to see that God also commanded the Israelites to not shave the sides of their heads or trim their beards. Yes your were correct in stating that God does not change. Your right, He is forever the Eternal Loving God and Creator. He isn’t ever going to change. However you also have to understand that some laws given to the Israelites in the Old Testament were not meant to be followed in today’s time. This is evident by any serious student of God’s Word. Do you believe eating pork is sinful? You have to understand the context in which these laws were given. You see at the time of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, God wanted the rest of the world to know His chosen people. He wanted the Israelites to be separated from the rest of the cultures, nations, empires, and kingdoms that at the time were abound. This is also why, up until the time of Saul and David, Israel remained with out a king or a human system of authority. This distinguished them as they relied solely on God’s direction and His priests and prophets. Hence the esteem and respect of Moses as he led them through the wilderness. These people were seen by the rest of the ancient world as weird and odd and some one to be feared because of the reputation of God and His might. These laws given to them separated them as a nation apart from the rest who lived lives in opposition to these laws. This is the main reason these laws were given. On top of that, many if not all pagan religions at that time required shaven heads or odd hair cuts from their religious leaders. They also required markings to celebrate the dead and remember the dead while marking themselves to show they serve their many false gods. God saw this and told the Israelites to never imitate these people by shaving the sides of their heads, trimming their beards, or marking themselves in the same fashion of the false religious leaders. Also particularly among Egyptian mystic cults members had to be clean shaven. Now do you believe that it is a sin to trim a beard or shave the sides of your hair? No. Our culture is not the same as the cultures of the ancient world there for those laws can not be held as a standard to Christians today. Back then those were huge signs of ones faith and culture, now a days a beard is just a beard and you can have any hair cut you want. I myself have short hair and have a lot of tattoos. I know first hand that these tattoos do not hinder my relationship with God. I have a very rewarding relationship with Jesus and the tattoos in no way impact that relationship. Now I will say this, if you get a tattoo do not get a tattoo that promotes violence, drugs, abuse, sex, or anything of that like. These are in my beliefs sins because your promoting that which you know is sinful. To break this down further, if you have a tattoo of a bunch of stars on your arms is that a sin? No. If you have a tattoo of a naked lady smoking a joint and holding a bottle of whiskey is that a sin? Yes. Your promoting and encouraging that which is sinful and that is offensive to God. If you get a tattoo just make sure it does not promote the occult, the sins of the flesh, or any other sinful act that the Bible clearly denotes as being a sin. Stars, crosses, skulls, hearts, birds, flowers, religious tattoos (such as praying hands and a rosary or the face of Jesus or angels), ect are not in any way sinful or offensive to God. In closing, if your going to preach or teach the bible to God’s people you need to have your facts straight before hand. Don’t give part of the message and distort the rest to serve your needs. This is perverting the Word of God and this is a far more horrible sin than getting an offensive tattoo.

Yours truly,

Reverend Alexander LaFountain
Senior Pastor of Divine Freedom Ministry
Demonologist/Exorcist