Body Piercing And Tatoos

The people of Israel are God*s chosen people. He loves them. He calls them the apple of His eye. That is His wonderful term of endearment for them. God never gave the people of Israel, the apple of His eye, any bum advice, instructions or commands. With few exceptions, what is good for them is good for us.

Deuteronomy 32:9: For the LORD*S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. 10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

Proverbs 7:2: Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.

Zechariah 2:8: For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.

Leviticus 19:28: Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD. 21:5 They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.

Deuteronomy 14:1: Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.

Another issue about body piercing and tatoos is that God created us and He created us in His image. We ought not destroy or deface what He has created.

Psalms 139:14: I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

If we know Him and that His works are marvelous including His work in creating us we will not change them. If we trust Him, we will trust that Our Creator has created us the way He wants us. If we love Him we will love everything He has done and what He does. None of this is to say that we should not have cancer and other things that threaten our lives cut out of our bodies. Neither should we be against repairing cleft lips and other abnormalities. Some have even been wise enough to remove their tatoos.

I have been told that the people who apply tattoos use sterilized needles. But no one has proven that the ink is harmless. Even if it is free of bacteria it has chemicals in it. This is not scientific but I have known 5 individuals who had hepatitis. Four of them had tattoos. Many have gotten tattoos while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and not in germ-free conditions. When we receive a blood test or injection, medical people always sterilize the skin first. God created our skin. It keeps most bacteria out of our blood stream. Medical experts know that bacteria that is normally kept out by our skin can get into our blood stream when our skin is pierced.

Genesis 1:27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Getting a tattoo can express dissatisfaction or even hatred for what God has created. It can be a slap at the image of God or insulting to the work of God. It can show that people are ignorant of the fact that they are created in God*s image. Before I got saved I enjoyed movies and cartoons that distorted people. Now I am troubled by those things. Being created in the image of God has more spiritual significance than physical significance and God is a Spirit. But we should try to keep our appearance from detracting from the image of God in us or His own image. I think of it rather like painting a mustache on an attractive woman. And it would be horrible to try to paint a mustache on God or change Him in any way. The only times Jesus skin was pierced were when He was circumcised and when He died for our sins. Body piercing and tatoos are not a very good testimony.

Care to discuss Body Piercing And Tatoos with Ron?

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