Christians & tattoos.

Scott Hill (Beliefnet)

Yeah, so the ship has sailed in regards to “Are tattoos forbidden for Christians?” for me. I’ve got four and have plans for more.

I find it pretty interesting, though, when tattoos are uplifted as a means of spreading one’s faith (as opposed to a mark showcasing disobedience). Over a year ago, I posted pics on my blog, La Femme Negrita of an artist who designed Stations of the Cross tats. I fell in love with the idea so much, I plan to get one of those designs.

In a similar vein, my friend Jen (who is chock full of great links these days) shared on Facebook this Beliefnet story about a man who ministers and runs a tattoo parlor:

In the Old Testament’s third book of law, Leviticus 19:28 declares rather bluntly, “Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the Lord.” So, how can Houston-area pastor Scott Hill justify his weekday job? He operates Anointed Ink, a tattoo shop in Huffman, Texas. Recently he also led a heavily inked team of Christian tattoo artists who competed in the second season of the Game Show Channel’s blockbuster hit, the American Bible Challenge, hosted by comedian Jeff Foxworthy.

 

Hill is a preacher’s son, a licensed minister as well as member of the praise and worship team at God’s Word in Action, a church in Dayton, Texas. Each Sunday during the song service, he sings and plays the drums. What does he do when somebody quotes that verse in Leviticus banning tattoos? “Well, there are different ways to go about and it depends who I’m talking to,” he says. “I try never to argue with somebody about it, because that won’t help anyone, but I was beat up pretty bad on Facebook a while back by a minister.”

 

“My father was a pastor for 30 some years,” says Hill. “At 53 years old, he got his first tattoo because he studied everything you can study, Greek and Hebrew and Leviticus, and they were told not to mark their body for the dead. Everybody was running around thinking that they would tattoo themselves for dead family members. But the Levites, the priests in the Tabernacle and the Temple were told to keep from looking like the other people. They couldn’t cut their hair, trim their beard or shave. Anybody who talks to me about tattoos, I ask them if they’ve ever gotten a haircut. Have they ever trimmed their beard?”

Read the rest here.