Mixed message: Religion and tattoos

[Key Guy]

Excerpted from online article: Evansville, Indiana, (USA) Courier Press

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/jun/28/mixed-message/

Quote:

"I'm very anti-tattoo," said Terry Ruebush, the pastor at Evansville First Seventh-day Adventist Church. "I don't care what form they take."

"The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and we shouldn't defile it," Ruebush said. "If you call yourself a Christian, your body is a representation of Christ and the Holy Spirit." Seventh-day Adventists also believe "the adornment should be on the inside, not on the outside." They also discourage wearing jewelry or much makeup, he said.

"God can use anything," Ruebush said, "but what would he rather have?"

(more text precedes and follows this quote, photos online)

[phkrause]

That's why we need to be careful not to say things that are easily compromised when another has an opposing view of the same thing. Like one nurse saying that its wrong to work on Sabbath, while another says its OK. I think there's nothing wrong with saying that you don't agree but have no problem with someone else believing slightly different. Or one christian saying its OK to go swimming on the sabbath and another saying no way jose. Just my 2 cents worth.

pk

[Tom Wetmore]

And what if someone decides to tattoo a favorite Bible text on thebody as a permanent reminder?

[Kountzer]

Tatooing a favorite verse someplace on your body is like displaying the ten commandments (including the 4th) on the side of a courthouse. It is showy, but if it is not written in a person's heart, and demonstrated in the life they live it really doesn't mean anything. A lot of foul living people wear chains with crosses around their necks.

[Tom Wetmore]

And I suspect that most upstanding, clean living, well groomed types would likely misjudge the motives if they encountered one of those leather clad, chain and stud tattooed types with a Bible verse or picture of Jesus tattooed on their body or the cross on the chain. The prejudgment and assumptions would allow them to avoid having to actually get to know those people or even inquire about their personal story.