Livin Leviticus Loca part 3

Alright, so after almost a month I am finally returning to tattoos and Leviticus. Things got busy around the church building – things falling, mold growing, all sorts of fun stuff. Plus this congregation expects a sermon every week. Slave drivers. I’m afraid that I began this jaunt down considering the holiness of tattoos and then left you hanging too long. The four people who read the blog have probably gone out and just covered themselves with tattoos of all kinds without the guidance of their pastor. I’m sorry.
We’ve looked at the Old Testament Law in the last two posts on Leviticus. I’ve shown how the law has been understood by some people as being ceremonial, civil, and moral. I also raised some concerns about this distinction because it isn’t always clear which is which and then one has to wonder why there would be parts of Scripture that seem to serve no purpose. Then I examined the Law from a New Testament standpoint and we saw that at times the law was superseded by Christ and in other times it was made even more challenging. However, I think a good rule of thumb is given by scripture that the two great commandments of love the Lord and love your neighbor hold the key.
So how would we apply these things to the specific question about tattoos? For some self disclosure – my ears have been pierced three times, two times on the left and once on the right. I had my earrings through seminary, but took them out before I was on the job. I’ve considered getting tattoos and still may at some point. I don’t think those things will earn me a spot in hell, but if they do then I was in trouble anyway because I’ve done much worse (which is no excuse to knowingly sin, but this issue should probably be kept in perspective). Sam said in an earlier comment that his response to tattoos would be, “how can you improve what God has made perfect?” If I got a tattoo I think my answer would be something along the lines of, “I know, I didn’t think I could be any better, but I’ve topped myself once again!” At which point Sam would make a mental note to pray for his pastor’s lack of any semblance of humility.
In Leviticus 19 there is a recurrence of the phrase, “I am the Lord.” There are groupings of verses then that are between occurrences of “I am the Lord.” This does not have to mean anything incredibly profound, but the groupings can suggest something in what otherwise appears to be a chapter of randomly collected laws. In the case of verses 26 to 28 we have the practices of eating blood (yum!), witchcraft, funky haircuts, disfiguring or scarring the body. According to one commentary these practices were all pagan practices (the hair cuts to be avoided were those of pagan temple priests). Verses 29 to 31 were also pagan practices. These laws were to distinguish the people of Israel from the surrounding pagan culture, not just in cultural activities, but in those things that had some sort of spiritual ramification. These practices were caught up in a pagan spirituality.
Verse 28 talks about disfiguring your body as a part of mourning for the dead. It then has a distinct second command to not mark your skin with tattoos. While there may be a connection to a pagan mourning rite with tattoos (I don’t have enough time and materials to research that, but the connection between cutting and mourning is one that I am aware of), it is not as clearly connecting with mourning. This prohibition (tattoos) seems to be more connected with disfiguring the divine likeness with marks. The appropriate question is what the connections were between tattoos and pagan spirituality and how that carries forward to today. I don’t think we can just carry this directly forward to today just because we have tattoos today. Verses 23 to 25 deal with planting fruit trees (which we have today) and not eating the fruit from them for the first 4 years (easy enough), but I’m not sure that we should get all worked up about it. Also, I don’t think anyone really knows that law, yet people get worked up about tattoos. So what does this all mean?
I think first off we should recognize that what we do with our bodies is a concern to God. Our bodies are a temple, so tattooing shouldn’t be taken lightly wherever you fall. However, I’d also say that obesity would also matter among other things. Second, I would think that your context would matter. Are you in a place or culture where tattoos or certain tattoos are connected with spiritual practices that are contrary to your beliefs? So, if you’re considering that tear drop tattoo on your cheek that is associated with having committed a murder, I’d encourage you to pass. But, I think there’s more. There are certain tattoos that have a sexual nature or promiscuous feel to them. Is having that tattoo going to send the wrong signals? We need to filter these questions through our lens of faith because our whole lives are called to be holy or set apart for God.
I think it is possible to have worked through these things – to ask how this tattoo fits into my loving God and loving other, and end up getting a tattoo. I think perhaps these particular laws in these verses should encourage us to carefully consider the spiritual aspect of all that we do. There is an equivalent to the pagan spirit in our day, are we identifying with those forces of falsehood or with the spirit of the age? I think that Leviticus should push us to be intentional about all aspects of our lives in asking how what we wear and do testify to our identification with the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings.  The thing that would give me the most pause then about tattoos is the question as to why I am doing it.  In a culture that is filled with self promotion and trendiness, I would personally ask myself if I am getting a tattoo to be trendy or to draw attention to myself.  I suspect, although I may be wrong, that this is one of the areas regarding tattoos where people in our culture are most likely to fall into sin.
Finally, I think I should briefly mention that it is quite possible and has happened that Christians that carry a lot of ink will have an easier time gaining a hearing with some groups than I would. I think they have the same questions to ask as all of us, but it should be noted that God has used tattooed people in ways that use the ink for the Kingdom. So, however that works, who knows. I should also mention that if I ever get tattoos they will be so amazing and awesome that people will be saved just by looking at me, so don’t worry about it.

What are your thoughts?