Is It OK for Christians to Get a Tattoo?

i think we start with a basic teaching that our body is the temple of the holy spirit we do see that in scripture in first corinthians chapter three and especially in chapter six 6.

in essence it says in first corinthians 6 19 through 20 what don't you know your body is the temple of the holy ghost or holy spirit and then it goes on to say to glorify god in your body and in your spirit which belong to god's so we start with a very profound um conviction and that passage also says you are not your own you are bought with a price so we do not belong to ourselves we are first of all were created by god second of all we fell into sin god could have judged us and destroyed us but instead he redeemed us by the blood of jesus christ so now we belong to him in a twofold sense first of all by creation second of all by redemption now personal ornamentation and tattoos being an extreme expression of this are the ultimate statement in our society of individuality that i belong to myself i'm in control of myself and while that sounds pleasing to a secular person when you stop and think about it to a christian that's not at all what we should be saying we should be saying i owe everything to god i belong to god all that i am i commit myself body soul and spirit to god romans chapter 12 verses 1 through 2 it talks about this it says i beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of god that you present your body a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto god which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of god so there's a very strong appeal in view of the fact that jesus christ saved you from sin he redeemed you you owe everything to him therefore i appeal to you to present your body so not just your mind but your physical being to god as a sacrifice so even if it costs you something even if it's a denial of your will and of your flesh be willing to sacrifice yourself to god present your body a living sacrifice which is your reasonable service it's only what you should be expected to do in view of all that christ has done for you so when you look at it that way our body does not belong to us it belongs to god we should be an advertisement for god now you might say okay well maybe i should put tattoos of scripture all across well no that's the world's way that's a personal way and actually that brings glory to self if you want to do it god's way god created our bodies so the natural design is would be choosing god's way so the natural beauty and so that's why we as christians we say don't wear makeup don't wear ornamental jewelry and of course there's scripture for that the old testament has many examples in which every time makeup is mentioned it's always associated a negative sense with immorality or glorifying self and i'm not saying that everybody who does that has that intention but that is the connotation that's the practical result and the new testament talks about not wearing uh personal ornamentation in the form of ornamental jewelry uh precious stones precious metals first timothy two uh first peter three and the same thing if you want to adorn yourself which it's it's great to to look neat to look attractive to to adorn yourself but and it goes on to say in modest clothing so again while we say the body is created by god we understand that because of human sinfulness we have to cover the basic body because of the less the flesh the less the eyes the pride of life so obviously i'm saying in modest clothing was that what the bible says so if you want to adorn yourself if you want to look attractive that's okay according to first timothy 2 9 if as long as you do it with modest clothing and your basic appeal should be the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit or the ornament of good works um so there's a right way to present yourself and be attractive and to glorify god so when you glorify god in your body it should be with modest clothing not drawing attention to personal ornamentation but with your good works with your humble spirit uh with your worship of god so the bible is very clear that our body specifically is god's temple and our body specifically should bring glory to god and it tells us how through modest clothing and avoiding personal ornamentation so the same principles that would teach us not to wear ornamental jewelry not to dress extravagantly not to have wild uh showy hairstyles not to wear makeup those very same principles would tell us not to have tattoos if you say well i want to use this to glorify god the answer will be no you're not glorifying god glorifying god would be honoring the natural means the natural body not changing your body through tattoos or piercings or other body modification that is a denial of god's creative purpose not it's not giving glory to god's creative purpose so really tattoos are all about drawing attention to self and self-expression but that's really contrary to the christian's goal of glorifying god drawing attention to god and the best way we can glorify god is through the natural means and so i think of it like this we see a beautiful tree uh we don't immediately try to go and paint it if we see a beautiful butterfly we don't try to capture it and put glitter on it if we see a beautiful animal we don't try to capture it and die it's fur no we we see flowers growing wildflowers in the field we don't try to immediately go and and put paint on them to change them no we recognize god's natural beauty is what glorifies god and i think the same should be uh with our our body now the book of leviticus does have some statements against body modification and tattoos of course what you might say well that's under the old testament and also maybe that was associated with certain pagan customs where they're glorifying pagan gods and so those statements might not be directly applicable however just because they're in the old testament doesn't mean they have no relevance i do think they're supporting this overall concept that your body is the temple of the spirit and therefore it should be god's idea god's plan of how we present and use our bodies so i do think even though we're not under the law of moses the principles that the law of moses taught us still have relevance to our christian life today and so in summary my answer would be if we dress modestly with gender distinction with ladies letting their hair grow along men cutting their hair short and we have the holy spirit which does bring a natural peace and glow people are attracted to us because of of the spiritual reality in our lives that is the way we glorify god and that's the way we use our bodies properly without appealing to the lust of the flesh the lust the eyes are pride of life that's the way we can use our bodies as a witness of god in this ungodly age and that to me is the answer of the proper use of our body not using tattoos