The dictionary reads- tattoo-To prick and mark the skin with indelible pigments, to mark the skin with designs etc. One older dictionary reads- tattoo- a custom followed by heathen and sailors. (In respect for sailors, it has permeated past that group.)
It seems that the adults in the public eye are leading the way in demonstrating the graphics on the human body. Young impressionable people are encouraged to do the same when they see their favorite sports hero brandishing earrings and tattoos. It has become a big business with no end to the originality and location of the body that can be used for rings and tattoos. The navel ring has become quite popular with the girls. Of course this requires a special cut of the clothing in order to demonstrate their open shamelessness. A word now to the adult sports figures and parents- Remember: What you do in moderation your fans and children will do in excess.
Some of the graphics on the t-shirts are outlandish. One shirt had in bold black letters, “I’m a Hedonist.” (The doctrine that pleasure is the only proper goal of moral endeavor). If the course words on some of the other shirts were scrolled on a building, the perpetrator would be arrested. The apostle Paul in his second letter to Timothy states “This know also that in the last days…men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers…unholy…Without natural affection…fierce, despisers of those that are good…heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure…
Hedonistic practices, with open brothels, led the apostle Paul to continue admonishing the Corinthian church to use their body to glorify God,
“Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? Know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? For two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
The question presents itself. Are obscene and suggestive words on my t-shirt appropriate? This short article will in no way change the situation we are faced with. My hope is that in Judeo-Christian circles it would be taken to heart and the adults would become more of an example to their children and others in the community.
Throughout scripture the nation of Israel was warned not to emulate or follow the customs of the nations around them. Following God’s instruction always brought benefits. Disobedience brought disaster.
Reference: 2 Timothy 3:15, 1 Corinthians 6: 13-20 The Holy Bible