Quote:
Originally Posted by serpentdove
Lev 19:28
Hi, sd.
Here's the verse you referenced...
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD. Lev. 19:18The "marks upon you" in that passage are tied to the "cuttings in your flesh for the dead." Those people had practices that the Israelites were to totally avoid. The prophets of Baal and Asherah, for example, cut themselves...after their manner.
And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. I Kings 18:28Things like that were the manner of the pagans. So the Israelites were to not look like the pagans they were set apart from.
There was nothing inherently immoral about a mark on the skin, just as there was nothing immoral about picking up sticks on the Sabbath, yet it was made illegal with penalty of death (Num. 15:32-40). There was nothing immoral about a mark on the skin, just as there was nothing immoral about muzzling an ox on the threshing floor (Deut 25:4). Yet God required certain things to separate the Israelites from the pagans.
We are not under the law of Israel. There are some parts of the law that are inherently immoral, like murder, stealing, and lying. We refrain from those things (hopefully) not because of the Sinai law for Israel, however. We refrain from them because they are inherently immoral and we know this (not to mention the fact that we have a law of the land against some of them).
We are not bound to the law of markings, cuttings, ox-muzzling, or Sabbath-keeping that were given to Israel. If one chooses to not get a tattoo because he thinks they're stupid or offensive, then he is justified in not doing so. But if he does it because Lev. 19:28 says to not do it, then he is placing himself under a law that has nothing to do with him and is, by default, subjecting himself to the entire 600+ laws and the associated penalties.
Why would one want to sever himself from grace and subject himself to such things? It is grace that teaches us (Titus 2:11), not the law given to Israel.
My 2 cents. Thanks for your consideration.
Randy
This post is worth more than 2 cents. No too many Christians are bold enough to tackle the thorny issue of tattoos. Chickenman addresses this issue from a sound scriptural perspective without letting bias and emotion get in the way. :thumb:
