By Victor Ochieng
Does God allow his people to wear tattoos? That’s a question many have been asking, especially those who had tattoos before being born again. But then we also have those who just love tattoos and would like to have them even in their salvation.
That’s a question Hillsong, New York Carl Lentz sought to answer, specifically because many people have criticized him for his tattoos. To give his answer, the pastor mainly focused on the interpretation of the Old Testament, picking a passage from the book of Leviticus, specifically chapter 19:28, which says, “Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.” The pastor said it’s important to hold a balanced view of the Old Testament, explaining that you should neither dismiss it completely or follow each and every of its instructions.
According to Lentz, his approach to handling the Old Testament is to “put up the Old Testament, then put a cross in the middle, then put up the New Testament and anything that comes through the cross is eternal. Anything that stops is the Old Testament. For example, blood sacrifices of animals stopped because of Jesus. Honoring your wife as God honors his church comes through the cross. So that is our scope for all Scripture interpretation.”
For many evangelicals, tattoos have always been viewed as unbiblical. Those wearing tattoos to church are often considered as still holding on to things of the other world. This was mainly because of the Leviticus passage that Lentz mentioned. However, according to Life Church Pastor Craig Groeschel, the verse doesn’t speak about the tattoos we’re having today.
“In the context of Leviticus 19, the Israelites had just escaped from Egyptian bondage and God was telling them don’t take on the pagan practices of Egyptians. When Egyptians would die they would cut into the body to let out lifeblood. Some would tattoo pagan gods on themselves, and God was saying ‘don’t do that.’ Leviticus also says don’t trim your hair or beard, and other things that we do everyday.”
Even though both Lentz and Groeschel hold somewhat similar views of the Old Testament, Lentz has a strong belief that the command against tattoos “died on the cross.”
“If [an Old Testament command] died on the cross then it needs to die in our theology. Tattoos are a no-brainer. Are you kidding me? Jesus was pretty clear in every detail. Whether it is diet, whether its image … that stuff died on the cross. Now it becomes a matter of personal conviction. So now if I don’t believe these tattoos devalue the temple that is the Holy Spirit, my body, I am doing it. If I do then I don’t, but I am not going to turn my conviction necessarily into theology or doctrine.”
On the issue of tattoos, Pastor Jarrid Wilson asks some very specific questions, including why one would want to get a tattoo. The other two questions are who the tattoo is made to glorify and what the tattoo would say about them.
He, therefore, believes there are tattoos that don’t violate the Leviticus command, which was mainly to warn against idolatry through drawings on their bodies. And that view is somewhat in line with Lentz’s.
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