Christian Tattoos?

This is the well-known Serenity Prayer, first seen in a 1943 sermon by Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971).

  

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
 The courage to change the things I can,
 And wisdom to know the difference.”

Here are photos of an unusual way of presenting the prayer.

http://creativefan.com/serenity-prayer-tattoo/

In the ancient world tattooing was a pagan religious practice but now, many people, including some Christians, see it is no more significant than piercing ears for earrings. Some see tattooing as a way to begin a conversation with non-Christians, in other words, an act of evangelism. Other Christians see tattooing as a horrible offense toward God.

Biblical references:

Leviticus 19:26-29

Romans 7:1-4, 14:23

1 Corinthians 6:12

I believe that tattooing falls into the category of meat offered up to idols.  We are not bound to the Old Testament Law for our salvation, but to the gift of Christ. On this point, Paul was willing to argue with and if necessary to break with Peter (Acts 15:1-5; Galatians 2:3-4,11-21). All things are lawful to us but not everything is profitable; permissible but not beneficial.

We should not become aligned with or comfortable with the shifting and vapid trends of our surrounding culture. Christians are to be a set apart holy people, noticeable because of our differences from the surrounding culture and how we love one another..   

The following links present a variety of opinions about the Christian and body-modifications. The articles run the gamut from hyper-fundamentalism to extreme permissive liberalism. All of them think that they are correct.

http://christianity.about.com/od/faqhelpdesk/f/tattoochristian.htm

http://judaism.about.com/library/3_askrabbi_o/bl_simmons_tatoos.htm

http://carm.org/it-okay-christian-get-tattoo  (Read carefully the last two sentences of this web page!)

http://blogs.christianpost.com/confident-christian/is-getting-a-tattoo-a-sin-12619/

http://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-tattoos.html  (This is always a good site for reasoned answers to biblical questions.)

http://www.raptureready.com/featured/schaefer/tattoo.html

http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/should-christians-get-tattoos-what-does-the-bible-say/

http://www.biblebelievers.com/watkins_tattoos/bible.html

http://www.compellingtruth.org/tattoo-sin.html

http://www.todayschristianwoman.com/articles/2008/july/3.16.html

http://www.emilywierenga.com/on-christians-and-ink-why-i-believe-tattoos-are-not-a-sin/

http://tolovehonorandvacuum.com/2014/05/christian-legalism-real-christians-can-get-tattoos/

http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/faq/should_christians_get_tattoos.shtml

http://www.born-again-christian.info/questions/answers.113.htm

The Church of Body Modification is a non Christian group which finds spirituality in piercing, cutting, and tattooing.

http://uscobm.com/news/back-where-we-started/

http://uscobm.com/statement-of-faith/

Church of Body Modification

http://uscobm.com/ 
The Church of Body Modification is a legally recognized religious body in the United States.  They believe that modification of the body is essential to spirituality and to becoming truly healthy and complete because the mind, body, and soul are all inextricably interconnected.  They declare that they respect those who choose not to modify their bodies.

Body modification techniques include scarring, piercing, insertion of objects (such as needles and metal balls) under the skin and into body parts, splitting of the tongue and/or sexual organs, insertion of posts into the skull onto which objects can be attached, removal of teeth and replacement with prosthetic fangs, multiple versions of appearance changing contact lenses, hanging the body by removable hooks, etc.  Extreme body modifications include the surgical removal of healthy organs (tongues, external ears, eyes, etc) and appendages (such as fingers, fingernails, feet, arms, and legs).