1689 Hand Tattoo?

[JM]

Pastor Joe Thorn just had LBC 1689 tattooed on his hand in reference to the London Baptist Confession of Faith 1689.

To see it you'll have to look him up on facebook.

Any thoughts on an Elder getting hand tats?

Yours in the Lord,

jm

 

[faroukfarouk]

Pastor Joe Thorn just had LBC 1689 tattooed on his hand in reference to the London Baptist Confession of Faith 1689.

To see it you'll have to look him up on facebook.

Any thoughts on an Elder getting hand tats?

Yours in the Lord,

jm

A lot of Christians - men and women - get tattoos; many Christians find them to be effective in witness.

(The 1689 LBC has good content in many ways but I struggle with the idea that the New Testament believer is under the law, rather than under grace.)

Blessings.

 

[prov1810]

I have hand tattoos. Cuticles are a new world of pain. The things I do for art.

 

[faroukfarouk]

creativefan dot com

 

[abacabb3]

I am against tattoos, as I believe the Scripture speaks of modesty, not making statements.

 

[faroukfarouk]

I am against tattoos, as I believe the Scripture speaks of modesty, not making statements.

What about faith based designs that many Christians find to be useful in witness? e.g., Christian fish sign <><, John 3.16, etc.?

My wife and I talked to a young lady who had John 3.16 in full tattooed on her wrist area. It was her favorite verse, and mine, also.

Blessings.

 

[JM]

I am against tattoos, as I believe the Scripture speaks of modesty, not making statements.

I’m interested in reading your argument about tats being immodest.

 

[faroukfarouk]

I would hardly say a Bible verse, say, on a wrist, would be immodest. (Two cents.')

 

[gord44]

I am against tattoos, as I believe the Scripture speaks of modesty, not making statements.

While I am not 'against' them at all, I see no reason to get one. I always found tattoos kinda 'egocentric'. I guess it depends where you got it and why.

 

[faroukfarouk]

While I am not 'against' them at all, I see no reason to get one. I always found tattoos kinda 'egocentric'. I guess it depends where you got it and why.

Some Christians are motivated to get faith based ones that are effective in witness conversations.

 

[gord44]

Some Christians are motivated to get faith based ones that are effective in witness conversations.

I can understand that.

 

[faroukfarouk]

I can understand that.

It's very widespread, isn't it? In North America today apparently 59%-70% of parlor clients are women, many of whom get faith based designs.

 

[grasping the after wind]

Why deface what God has made?

 

[abacabb3]

I would be in accord with the Puritans that were opposed to excessive outward adornment. I am unsure how something permanently dyed to your skin would not be excessive.

As for why, the following two verses probably sum up my application of the following ones:

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world&#8212;the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions&#8212;is not from the Father but is from the world (1 John 2:15-16).

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4)

Things that are worldly, which are in my view possessions or habits that merely edify the individual person and not someone else, are not fitting for the Christian.

For example, if my wife and I enjoy a movie with one another, then we mutually edify one another. If I merely watch a movie alone and there is nothing educational or anything about it, I do it to merely entertain myself. This is selfishness, and not good.

Now, I don't put myself out there as an example of perfect asceticism. I do not even view asceticism as in of itself good. I just feel the more I am tugged by the Spirit, the less I desire the things that satisfy the flesh. I'm not perfectly there and will never be in this life,

 

[faroukfarouk]

pinterest dot com

Christian fish and John 3.16 tattoo

 

[abacabb3]

Now, if anyone is still following me, here is to me the main evidence against tatoos, extravagant hairstyles, unnecessary jewelry and clothing: the Bible warns against immodest attire.

Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness&#8212;with good works (1 Tim 2:9-10).

Do not let your adorning be external&#8212;the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear&#8212; but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God&#8217;s sight is very precious (1 Peter 3:3-4).

And you, O desolate one, what do you mean that you dress in scarlet, that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, that you enlarge your eyes with paint? In vain you beautify yourself. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life (Jer 4:30).

For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, &#8220;You sit here in a good place,&#8221; and you say to the poor man, &#8220;You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,&#8221; have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives (James 2:2-4)?

Moreover, the Lord said, &#8220;Because the daughters of Zion are proud and walk with heads held high and seductive eyes, and go along with mincing steps and tinkle the bangles on their feet. Therefore the Lord will afflict the scalp of the daughters of Zion with scabs, and the Lord will make their foreheads bare.&#8221; In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, headbands, crescent ornaments, dangling earrings, bracelets, veils, headdresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, amulets, finger rings, nose rings, festal robes, outer tunics, cloaks, money purses, hand mirrors, undergarments, turbans and veils. Now it will come about that instead of sweet perfume there will be putrefaction; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well-set hair, a plucked-out scalp; instead of fine clothes, a donning of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty (Is 3:16-24).

When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. And she painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out of the window (2 Kings 9:30).

Like a gold ring in a pig&#8217;s snout is a beautiful woman without discretion (Prov 11:22).

In fact, the only positive mentions of outward adornment relate to a wedding:

Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with strings of beads. We will make for you ornaments of gold with beads of silver (Song 1:10-11).

For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels (Is 61:10).

When he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister&#8217;s wrists, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, &#8220;This is what the man said to me,&#8221; he went to the man; and behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring (Gen 24:30).

Now when the turn came for each young woman to go in to King Ahasuerus, after being twelve months under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular period of their beautifying, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and ointments for women (Est 2:12).

&#8220;I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine,&#8221; declares the Lord God. &#8220;Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. I also clothed you with embroidered cloth and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you,&#8221; declares the Lord God (Ezek 16:8-14).

&#8220;Lift up your eyes and look around; all of them gather together, they come to you. As I live,&#8221; declares the Lord, &#8220;You will surely put on all of them as jewels and bind them on as a bride (Is 49:18)

Has anyone ever wondered why? I have a speculation which I think may answer the question:

Well, if we believe in God&#8217;s complete sovereignty, there are no such things as coincidences. We already know from Ephesians 5 that marriage is a picture of Christ and the Church. When we read the description of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 where the Church is a bride descending from heaven and her gates are covered with beautiful jewels, we can understand the context of all the positive descriptions of jewelry.

It all points to our union with Christ, the marriage supper of the Lamb! Christ is our Head, He is the Bridegroom, the Church is His bride. The adornment of brides points to a future reality in heaven.


In conclusion, being that the Scripture uniformly warns against outward adornment, other than in the marriage context, I believe it to be a matter of obedience to show humility in dress and adornment.

 

[faroukfarouk]

I would be in accord with the Puritans that were opposed to excessive outward adornment. I am unsure how something permanently dyed to your skin would not be excessive.

As for why, the following two verses probably sum up my application of the following ones:

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world (1 John 2:15-16).

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4)

Things that are worldly, which are in my view possessions or habits that merely edify the individual person and not someone else, are not fitting for the Christian.

For example, if my wife and I enjoy a movie with one another, then we mutually edify one another. If I merely watch a movie alone and there is nothing educational or anything about it, I do it to merely entertain myself. This is selfishness, and not good.

Now, I don't put myself out there as an example of perfect asceticism. I do not even view asceticism as in of itself good. I just feel the more I am tugged by the Spirit, the less I desire the things that satisfy the flesh. I'm not perfectly there and will never be in this life,

Some Christians would see faith based tattoos as actively constructive and edifying in that they promote witness and are effective in this way.

 

[abacabb3]

Some Christians would see faith based tattoos as actively constructive and edifying in that they promote witness and are effective in this way.

Yes, so would billboards. That's not the question. The question is whether it is consistent with what the Scripture teaches about how we should be adorning ourselves.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Yes, so would billboards. That's not the question. The question is whether it is consistent with what the Scripture teaches about how we should be adorning ourselves.

Well, in Ezekiel 16.12, the Lord is even recorded as giving Zion a nose ring.

Romans 14 and the truth of Christian liberty would tell us that there are some things that should be left to the individual conscience.

Especially if the thing itself is manifestly effective in witness.

I don't in any case understand the mindset whereby one believer tries to 'lay down the law' for another, on secondary matters.

 

[abacabb3]

Well, in Ezekiel 16.12, the Lord is even recorded as giving Zion a nose ring.

Please read http://www.christianforums.com/t7850061-2/#post66580763 for context.


Further, concerning Rom 14, I agree it is a matter of conscience. However, though the Sabbath is a matter of conscience, that does not mean we ought to not tell others that the Christian is under no obligation to uphold it as we see in Col 2. Matters of conscience do not negate truth.