Cover Story
by Tess Chierici
"Tattoos are an open door to all sorts of people."
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Tattoo art takes on
a new meaning
Youth pastor and Multnomah Bible College student Matt Brown, 20, stood at the register of Giovanni Pizza Place in La Center, Wash. He wore a white tank top, sometimes referred to as a wife beater, that revealed a colorful tattoo of Jesus holding a downcast man who gripped a spike in one hand and a mallet in the other.
A crowd of skaters stood behind Brown. A man in his 20s, also wearing a wife beater and baggy pants, confronted Brown.
"Man, that's a really cool tattoo--too bad it's against the Bible," he said.
Rather than debating, Brown explained his tattoo to the man and his friends. "The main character is holding a mallet and a nail, and Jesus is holding him up. Jesus died for each of our sins. When we fail, he holds us up. He is there no matter what."
"Why do you got to have blood on your tattoo?" the man said.
"The blood is one of the most important parts."
Brown explained that in the Old Testament, a pure animal needed to shed blood in order for a sacrifice to cover a sin. He said that only Jesus' blood can wash sins away.
Brown said that although he wasn't able to lead the young man to the Lord, he planted a seed. Now, whenever the man or his friends see Brown, they always stop to talk to him.
"Tattoos are an open door to all sorts of people," Brown said. The common ground of having a tattoo creates a kinship between people who don't even know each other, he said.
Brown has shared about his tattoo in grocery lines and at concerts. He said that wherever he goes, he gets a chance to witness because people ask about his tattoo.
He also has an opportunity to discuss tattooing with people who use
the Bible to say that tattoos are wrong. "I discovered all the Biblical passages people use don't hold up," he said.
People cite Leviticus 19:28, which commands against cuts for the dead and tattoos, to bring into question whether or not tattooing is a sin.
Professor Michael Tatlock, a worldview teacher and outreach pastor
at Grace Bible Church in Portland, Ore., said that some pagan cultures
used tattooing in their mourning rites during the Old Testament times. If God's people wore a tattoo, they would have been associated with the pagan cultures.
Ear piercing has also been associated with pagan cultures, Professor Tatlock said. Certain pagans wore earrings to protect themselves from evil spirits believed to enter the ear canal, he said.
The association between tattoos and pagan practices is indirect in North American culture today, Professor Tatlock said. "As far as what you have tattooed, that would be a different story," he said.
Professor David Jongeward, director of student ministries, said, "I feel that tattooing and body piercing are matters of Christian liberty. They aren't expressively forbidden in scripture. Therefore, we have freedom in Christ to do those things. But that doesn't always mean they are the right thing or the most beneficial thing."
Tattoos limit ministry opportunities, Professor Jongeward said. He said that although a tattoo might enhance youth ministry for a youth pastor now, that same youth pastor may be rejected for a senior pastor or elder position years later.
As a person raised in a foreign country, Professor Jongeward said that tattoos sometimes present a barrier for ministry in other countries. Church attendees in countries such as Africa are more traditional, he said.
"In an African church, for a woman to wear shorts would be totally unacceptable. You could always put on long pants, but you can't remove your tattoo," he said. People who get tattoos take the chance of limiting their ministry opportunities abroad, he said.
"I think you have to look at each case," Professor Tatlock said. "If an individual is trying to infiltrate a certain subculture where tattoos tell a story of your, tattoos could be an evangelistic tool to get into that subculture."
The Bible says that Christians' bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Professor Jongeward said he thinks the Christian has a duty to maintain the health of their physical bodies. "There is a health risk [in tattooing]. It is not natural process," he said.
Brown said anyone considering a tattoo needs to do research and needs to be willing to spend more money for a quality tattoo to avoid the health risks and the chance of sloppy art. "If [the tattoo] ends up ugly, it's on you ugly forever," he said.
According to an article published in the Journal of School Health in November of 2000, tattooing has three main health risks: blood borne pathogens, allergic responses, and infections. When tattoo artists use inadequate sterilization they can transfer diseases such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV.
Allergic reactions to the tattoo ink, although rare, do occur. The article said that today's tattoo pigments have no approval process, allowing the use of ink with unknown purity and identification.
Infection commonly happens when people treat their tattoos improperly during the healing process. Brown said that because tattoos require special attention to avoid infection, people constantly focus on their tattoo.
"The hardest part about getting a tattoo is pride," Brown said. He said he sometimes struggles between showing his tattoos to glorify God and showing off his tattoo to glorify himself. He wears long-sleeved shirts after getting a new tattoo to avoid vanity.
In the United States today, more and more people get tattoos for cosmetic reasons. Dr. Martin Monto, a psychology professor at the University of Portland, said that although tattoos were a statement of rebellion in the '50s and '60s, people today increasingly get tattoos and body piercing for beauty enhancement.
He said that in a strange way, tattoos and body piercing are similar to cosmetic surgery. Both are personal expressions of enhancing the body and both are fairly permanent. "To me [tattooing] is akin to putting on make-up, only more permanent," he said.
Brown doesn't avoid showing his tattoos to people. "I don't say, 'No, I can't because I've got to be humble,'" he said. "I'm going to show [my tattoos] to them because that's the purpose."
For Brown, his tattoos provide him a chance to witness to people like the man at Giovanni's. He said tattooing is a permanent way to show his permanent commitment to a permanent God.
"God is never going to change," he said.
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