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The prohibited religious practices in these verses include eating bloody meat, fortune telling, certain hair cuts related to the priests of false cults, cutting or marking the body for dead relatives, cultic prostitution and consulting psychics. He is specifically telling them to stay far from the religious practices of the surrounding people groups. In this passage God is speaking to his covenant people Israel. Leviticus 19:26–31 - New American Standard 31 ‘Do not turn to mediums or spiritists do not seek them out to be defiled by them. 30 ‘You shall keep My sabbaths and revere My sanctuary I am the LORD.
SCRIPTURE TATTOOS FULL
29 ‘Do not profane your daughter by making her a harlot, so that the land will not fall to harlotry and the land become full of lewdness. 28 ‘You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the LORD. 27 You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard. The verse quoted above is part of a larger passage of scripture seen here.Ģ6 ‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor practice divination or soothsaying. When we study below the surface of this text, we then will see more clearly what God says about tattoo. We need to look at the word(s) of the above passage in full connection with the surrounding verses, and in context with the historic setting at the time of its writing. If we neglect deep study we will never truly understand the intent of the author. To comprehend the Scripture correctly, we must always examine the whole of Scripture and look at the particular context of a given passage. “You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the LORD.”Īt first glance this passage seems to indicate that tattoo is forbidden for Christians.
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The main scripture that concerns many people with regards to tattooing is this verse from the remarkable Old Testament book of Leviticus But does the Bible teach that God forbids tattoos and other cosmetic body modifications? It references specific scripture that can be found in the bible so that you can do your own research and decide for yourself.Ĭhristians with tattoos, Christian tattoos and Christian tattooists, what does the Bible teach about the current style of body décor? If the Scriptures tell us that tattooing is a behavior that God says is wrong in any way, then it's certainly off limits for God's followers. The following is an excerpt written by Pastor Chuckk Gerwig of Santa Cruz Bible Church in Santa Cruz, California regaurding the topic matter as he sees it. No matter what you believe in, we wanted to take a minute for the sake of knowledge to see for ourselves, what the bible really does say. Now you may be saying to yourself, “ All I know is my grandma always told me that my body is a temple and you’re not supposed to defile it with tattoos!” Well you may find it hard to believe, but your grandma might be wrong. Today we want to look at tattoos and the bible. However we are not here to argue religion. You may or may not believe in God, that’s up to you. Fortunately there is a God who can see our hearts, and knows our inner being even better than we know oursleves. Ultimately, who we are as a people internally is what counts. it doesnt really matter what anybody else thinks of you. That being said I feel its always important to remember. Unfortunately I fear this is a human stigma that is simply part of popular culture. Still, many are persecuted and judged for there tattoos and choices in body modification. We live in a time where tattoos are rapidly becoming more and more acceptable in the workplace as well as other forums. Tattoos as you know, have been around for thousands of years and have been linked to many ancient cultures.
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