Couple of days back, few of our Church youth boys had come home. They celebrated the birthday of one of their friends at 00:00 hrs. I joined them after their celebrations were over, as I over heard them discussing about a sensitive topic – Can Christians have tattoos?

Not a great question to answer at 00:45 hrs, but I told them Bible doesn’t prohibit having tattoos and we should look at the issue from a Moral, cultural & social perspective. It’s certainly not a yes or no answer. So this blog is to bring out some perspectives on this topic.

The Bible verse usually that gets pointed to forbid having tattoos is Leviticus 19:28 which states

28 “‘Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:28

Leviticus chapters 17-24 deals with How to live a Holy life. If you look at these chapters closely, these are a mix of moral, civil & ceremonial laws. Most of the Moral laws about sexual purity and honesty apply as much to people today as to the Israelites. However the penalties mentioned doesn’t apply, we are governed by the laws of our governments. Civic laws about crops and harvest were for ancient Israel, but their principles are true and relevant even today. Laws about food, offerings, worship, clothing, haircuts or tattoos are ceremonial laws. These were fullfilled in Jesus Christ and do not apply to us.

So, let’s first conclude if Leviticus 19:28 about tattoo’s can be classified as “ceremonial law”. Just to get more clarity let’s look at the previous verse.

27 “‘Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.

Leviticus 19:27

Do we really practice this? I hope all of us will conclude that we needn’t follow this and it doesn’t apply to us. Its a ceremonial law for sure. If we agree on this, we can extend the same conclusion to the next verse to. Just add more strength to the argument, lets read the 19th verse, which says forbids to wear clothing made of two materials. So are we to check, if the T-shirts we wear are made of one material or multiple materials? Let’s be clear that some of these laws in Leviticus are “ceremonial” and do not apply to us today.

These verses about haircut & tattos,  were to keep the Israelites from imitating the pagan practices of their neighbors. Some people had tattoos, cut themselves or used disfiguring haircuts as signs of mourning and humiliation to gain favor with their pagan gods. For example, the prophets of Baal cut themselves when they faced Elijah on Mount Carmel ( 1 Kings 18:25-29)

However, the larger picture we need to consider is leading a Holy life. These chapters are written to ancient Israel to live a Holy life. Leading a “Holy Life” is an essential part of Christian living. This same chapter in verse 2 reads.

2 “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

Leviticus 19:2

In our today’s context, I would like answer the question -Can Christians have tattoos? by pointing two bible verses.

19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

We have to honor God with our bodies. The question we need to ask is, Does the tattoo I sport honor God? Does my hair style honor God? Does the clothing I wear honor God?

These things in a way reflect our thoughts. Jesus warns us that our thoughts is what defile us. In Matthew 15:11-20, we see Jesus speaking on what defiles a person.

. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person;

Matthew 15:18-20

To conclude, I would say things like sporting a tattoo, our hair styles & the clothes we wear reflect the thoughts that come out from our heart. We should weigh them and see if they are appropriate in God’s eyes, Are they honoring God?

With tattoos, we have to be extra cautious. we have to bear in mind a tattoo is permanent. Should you one day decide you don’t want it, having it removed is tedious and expensive.

Tattoos make statements about yourselves to the world. Be sure it’s a statement you wish to permanently display. Above all, Be sure it’s a statement that honor’s God.

If you ask me, personally I would choose not to sport a tattoo.