Thinking Biblically About Tattoos

well happy New Year to you and I have been asked I'll say more about that in a minute I've been asked by a lot of people over the years in fact this has been the most popular question as a youth pastor that I've received from students has been the question about tattoos and so I'm gonna be getting into that today in great detail I want to give you three things today just to just to start off by letting you know what I'm gonna tell you I want to understand the Old Testament prohibition against tattoos what was that about number two how does that apply to us today who were in Christ and number three what does wisdom and love say about how we should handle this contentious and divisive issue because this issue not only causes confusion in my opinion it causes a great deal of division in the body of Christ and that is the thing that bothers me the most and it should be the thing that bothers you the most the division is worse than the confusion on the topic of tattoos and so today we're gonna get right into that in the Tuesday first Tuesday live stream of 2019 happy New Year to you I hope that your year so far has been going good if not then don't worry most of it is still left if it'll get better okay so so just if you're joining me for the first time for a live stream right now if you're watching the replay or just hang in there you're gonna get all the upfront important content right at the beginning I'm gonna share all of that all the QA stuff where I interact with the audience that's gonna be at the end so you won't have to be sort of like bothered by the ad D nature of some live streams if you are watching live you can actually put questions and comments in the live chat as you please I do ask that we keep it friendly and kind and thoughtful and gracious in the live chat I think that's important for us especially those of us who profess Christ but you can put questions in there as well and I'll answer them at the end of the live stream and my friend AJ is going to be monitoring the live chat to send those questions over to me now many people are not going to agree with me on this topic that's okay in fact at the very end I'm going to tell you what to do if you don't agree that's that's kind of part of the issue here is that we don't agree on this issue of of tattoos so first things first let's look at the Old Testament passage the number-one Old Testament passage in question and it's Leviticus chapter 19 verse 28 which says you shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves I am the Lord and there's a few things I want to get into here and one is the context of it it gives us a little bit more information on this that's basically the paragraph itself it says you shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it you shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes you shall not round off the hair of your temples or Mar the edges of your beard you shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or to yourselves I am the Lord that's the section the I am the Lord section of that passage in Leviticus and it's a mixture in my opinion of moral truths that are truth for all time and specific laws for the people of Israel that we apply in a different way in an indirect way as Christians today we actually draw principles from them I'll come back to that though this is the issue though right if anybody's asked you about tattoos this is the passage that comes up it's verse 27 now I have to say right from the beginning if you're going to say that we have to take this because it's part of the Old Testament law and apply it directly into our lives no questions asked if that's your your stance if your position is tattoos are wrong because of verse 27 here then you also have to take all of the Old Testament laws all of them including about the Sabbath about the cutting of your hair including about the wearing of tassels on your clothing you're gonna need to embrace them all to be consist to be biblically consistent to say I'm gonna interpret the Scriptures consistently applying them in my life you have to do that and now so let's look at how this applied to the ancient Israeli what this was about to them we actually get a little bit more details in Deuteronomy 14 verse 1 there's another parallel passage where it comes up again it says you are the sons of the Lord your God you shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead this is the second time we get that phrase for the dead this leviticus passages is is highlighting something the cutting of the hair even that we had in verse 28 of Leviticus or verse 27 that it also refers to something being done for the dead this is stuff that the pagan nations around Israel would do for the deceased for for dead people now I've been to enough funerals to know that people are looking for something to do and if you have weird you know unbiblical and and false spiritual beliefs then you might do weird things upon the moment when someone you know and love dies you might do some weird stuff some strange things well they would cut themselves they would cut their hair they would even tattoo themselves it seems in relation to the deceased now I think the tattoo thing goes beyond that I think it's more than just for the deceased I think it's a general ban in the Old Testament law general ban on tattoos I'm gonna apply it to Christians in a different way but I think that that is how it would apply to the Israelite and I'll give you more I'll give you more reasons as to why but let's look at another passage in 1st Kings 1828 another parallel passage so this is on Mount Carmel Elijah he faces off against the prophets of Baal and and one of the things they do is they build this altar and they're gonna call upon their God to answer with fire to burn up this offering in this altar first Kings 18 is a really interesting passage and since probably most of you are somewhat familiar with it and the rest of you could just look it up I'll skip to the chase right when the false prophets are unable to get their God to answer because their God doesn't exist when they're unable to get him to answer by fire they start cutting themselves it says and they cried aloud and they cut themselves after their custom with swords and Lance's until the blood gushed out upon them see this is key the nature of this cutting of themselves and as does relate to tattoos back then is that it would cause their blood to come out and that this blood itself was something of an offering to get the favor of this God you see I lose a loved one in this case they're trying to get them to do a miracle of some kind but in the Leviticus situation I lost my loved one they've died and I believe in these false deities I'll cut myself I'll mark myself perhaps that will do something for the deceased loved one that'll cause the God that they went to go see to have favor upon them it was like a blood sacrifice a blood offering or something like that that seems to be at least one part of the story one side of the coin when it comes to these Old Testament this Old Testament prohibition on cutting yourself in tattoos we see later on the people of Israel in Jeremiah's 16:6 they were actually doing this they started doing this years down the road I mean God forbid them to do it so they're doing in rebellion to him but they were taking up these habits he says both small and great shall die in this land they shall not be buried and no one shall lament for them or cut himself or make himself bald for them so so we're seeing in Jeremiah's day there's other verses in Jeremiah 2 that mentioned this that they were actually doing these things they actually started doing this cutting practice and this shaving of their heads for the sake of these type of mourning then let's look at another leviticus passage and this is in leviticus 21 I'll start actually in verse 1 and now this passage I think is going to reveal something that probably you haven't thought of but if you're not Jewish right you didn't think about this when you were like what's wrong with tattoos what's wrong with cutting yourself well obviously if it's for a pagan deity there's something wrong with it but there's another side of the coin as well and that is just the nature of blood being unclean you see when you get blood on you from a human that's an unclean thing and now you are a nun you're unclean for a season for a time there's something unclean about the nature of it tattooing would include that as well so you would be having an emission of blood upon yourself that would make you unclean consider this if you were Jewish right Leviticus 21 it says in the Lord said to Moses speak to the priests the sons of Aaron and say to them no one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people except for his closest relatives his mother his father his son his daughter his brother or his virgin sister who was near to him because she has no husband has had no husband for her he may make himself unclean that meant if a relative died and they're the sons of Aaron the high priests right this group within the Levites the Levitical priests there is the ironic priests these guys they're not supposed to to even like carry a dead body unless it's for like this really close relative in other words they need them no one else can do it it's got to be them but as you read on you get more details verse 4 he shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself they shall not make bald patches on their heads nor shave off the edges of their beards nor make any cuts on their body because these things make them unclean but also their pagan ritual type things so it's both there's two sides of that coin there it's unclean so this this if it's an unclean issue then it also means that this tattoo thing would go across the board it would be you're Jewish you just don't get a tattoo you're out if you're under the Old Testament law just nobody gets a tattoo under this law because the releasing of the blood makes you unclean that that might have something to do with it I mean the limit to kiss passage doesn't explain itself in great detail so we're just sort of trying to put it together based upon really little bits of information so we're all markings wrong here's a good interesting question we're all markings wrong or was it just some markings well look at the data we get from Genesis 415 here's something you probably never thought of related to tattoos then then the Lord said to him not so if anyone kills Cain vengeance shall be taken upon him Sevenfold and the Lord put a mark on Cain lest any who found him should attack him then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the Land of Nod there's a mark placed on Cain by God that I mean some people they I think it's really interesting the weird theories people have about the Mark of Cain like it had to do with this the color of his skin or something like that it wasn't he didn't change who Cain was he put a mark upon him the closest relation to this would be something like a tattoo it's a permanent mark on the physical body of Cain I'm not saying God tattooed him like it required the releasing of Cain's blood or something like that I'm saying that here's the situation where God marks someone in the mark on Cain's a positive thing I'll do a video on the market came one of these days it's not a negative thing some people like to say that that certain or certain ethnicities are marked with the Mark of Cain but the irony of it is this is there always racists who say this right and if that were true then all it would mean is that those who are marked with the Mark of Cain are protected by God so I'm like if anyone's mark with Cain I would like it to be me okay if it was mark like that I would like to have God's protection like that on my life it would it would actually not be a bad thing it'd be a good thing so this is God's protection okay but it's like this it's similar to this it's like a tattoo type thing so I I don't know that we can say that the tattooing concept was always bad at all times but it is in the Old Testament law but in a time before the law here we have the Mark of Cain was all cutting like the cutting of the flesh was wrong was all cutting wrong there was every kind of cutting wrong I think we have to answer that with him know and I'll give you the reason why well two reasons one is if a servant in the Old Testament law a servant were to commit himself to a to his to his master for his life time he would do something he would go to the doorpost and he would get his ear pierced he would have piercing of an ear which would would be you know cutting into the flesh right so that was actually commanded so I I don't think we can say that all cutting of every kind was always wrong plus there's something called circumcision circumcision is a is ism is a mark in a sense upon the the people of God the Jewish people it's a positive thing it's a good thing it's a required thing and it's a cutting of the flesh so it's not like every type of cutting is Blanket wrong here but there is a sense in which perhaps tattoos had more of a blanket term against them now you might be Mike don't be so vague well I'm being as clear as I can be based upon what scripture will warrant these in some cases come down to questionable issues we don't know for sure if you were getting a tattoo a pagan related tattoo for the dead that was considered wrong and perhaps one of the reasons is this the tattoo was to indicate that a person was a slave of a particular deity so you would get us a tattoo of some kind to say I belong to such and such deity there was an allegiance of my life to a certain deity the pagans would do this sometimes perhaps in response to a deceased relative to earn favor with that deity but that was one of the things that they would do so so yeah if you're Jewish if you're under the Old Testament law or if you're a Christian who believes that we're under the Old Testament law then I don't think there's any real question about it here I think that your your most wise thing to do is to say yep tattoos are wrong don't get a tattoo don't get one under any sort of normal circumstance of life there is in Revelation we get that the people of God are marked but I don't know if you can call that a tattoo I was looking at the passage and it doesn't seem like I don't know if you can call that like a tattoo type mark it may well just be a spiritual mark that is only seen spiritually and not physically but here's the thing I think it's pretty clear in the New Testament that the Old Testament does not apply to us the way that it applied to ancient Israel I think it's very clear that as a Gentile believers in Jesus Christ we're not under the Old Testament law there's a lot of passages that actually teach this and this is an issue that I think is really important for Christians to understand nowadays because many of the skeptical and atheist attacks on Christianity they focus on Old Testament concepts that Christians sometimes are just unaware of so they don't know how to defend it because what happens is the skeptic presents to you a distorted version of the Old Testament and you're supposed to embrace that so you have to have a clearer understanding of you know how we treat the Old Testament law as New Testament believers as those who are in Messiah and what and what that Old Testament law originally meant well we've already talked about what it originally meant now let's talk about how it applies to Christians in the light of Jesus Christ number one thing I'll tell you is this the Old Testament law was never intended for all people for all time it was never meant to be for instance let's say that you think we should all obey the law and I may do a video on this in the coming future and so I know there's a good group who were gonna disagree with me here but I asked him do it graciously Abraham certainly did not even know about the law not the Old Testament law he knew about moral laws he knew about some things for sure but he didn't know about the Mosaic law was 400 years later it was never intended for all people when when when we have Gentiles who are believing yea in in the God of Israel they're not told to go back to their Gentile lands and convert them all to follow the law of Moses they're just told to cast off those false idols and worship the God the true God so we don't we don't have this sort of universal application of Old Testament law even before Christ after Christ though we have the fulfillment of the law by Jesus he says I didn't come to abolish the law but to fulfill it meaning there's an accomplishment of the haha mission accomplished that's the idea and I'll put in my video description a more thorough two-part series I have on how to understand the Old Testament law I think that may be helpful for you I'll put that down there but here's a couple verses for you that I think are very important and one is acts 15 so if you're gonna understand how to apply the Old Testament law to New Testament Christians or current day times then you need to understand something and that is the the structure of the Bible the Old Testament was all written directed primarily towards the Jewish people and secondarily applications towards Gentiles and the rest of the world the Gospels are not primarily this message of Jesus reaching out to the world no actually Jesus in his mission in the Gospels he is reaching out to the Jewish people it is after his death and resurrection that the gospel is then to go out into all the world remember when Jesus said to the woman I'm only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel remember when he said that he didn't mean forever he meant right at that moment in that season of his ministry then after his death and resurrection he Commission's the church and he says now go out into all the world and preach the gospel so then this is this is a the the tipping point or the shifting from Israel focused to being really inclusive of Gentiles it's not in between Malachi and Matthew at the end of the Old Testament beginning of the new rather that shift is actually at the end of the Gospels and at the beginning of the book of Acts and as you read Acts with that in mind you see that the early church is moving towards in being inclusive and understanding how the gospel applies to all people and then of course the natural question arises when they see all these Gentiles getting saved are they supposed to obey the Old Testament law hence the council in Acts chapter 15 so the early church has an actual council there's this is like a legitimate church council with the actual Apostles right not I'm not talking the Council of Trent or Vatican 1 or 2 we're talking legitimate this is the Jerusalem Council with the actual apostles there including Paul and and here's the issue acts 15 it says some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers and you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses you cannot be saved after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the Apostles the elders and and the elders about this question so this is this is the issue there's people coming from Jerusalem they reportedly came from Judea area and they're saying hey you Gentiles you need to become more Jewish you have to be circumcised and you have to keep the law of Moses or you won't be saved okay that's how it starts the council gets triggered by that moment now I think most of us would agree you don't have to do these things to be saved but others will say you still have to do them because they're just good I'll I think I'll deal with that in a future video but but today I'm focusing on tattoos so let's look at how this applies to tattoos as you look at verse let's see I think it's verse 5 we can see what they said at the council it says but some believers who belong to the party the Pharisees rose up and said it is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses 2 issues here not one circumcised and keep the law of Moses circumcision was sort of a way that a non Jew would say I am now going to keep the law of Moses so it was kind of like that um that doorway when enters to come into the room of the Mosaic law it say I'm now under this thing so they gathered together and they debate the issue I'll skip kind of the conclusion there's this long discussion and Peter talks about it and he testifies and all this stuff happens and so they're figuring out the answer right well in verse 23 we get the conclusion they send a letter to the brothers in Antioch I'll just read it to you says with the following letter the brothers both the Apostles and the elders - the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch Syria and Cilicia greetings so here's the message to the Gentiles what do we want the Gentiles to know about this issue it says since we've heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words unsettling your minds although we gave them no instructions so first thing they do is they distance themselves from those those people we didn't tell him to tell you that stuff okay so that wasn't the Apostolic teaching that wasn't good theology we gave him no instructions verse 25 it has seemed good to us having come to one Accord meaning they all agree on this topic okay there's full agreement there in there there their unanimous to choose men and send them to you with our beloved brothers beloved Barnabas and Paul men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ verse 27 here we have therefore sent Judas and Silas who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth so they have the letter they have the men they have representatives of both camps so everybody knows this is clearly the decision that's been made they understand what God is telling them verse 28 for his for his seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden than these requirements so the Holy Spirit is included here so they're saying that they're being led of the Holy Spirit this is this is this is the Lord guiding this decision and in verse 29 here's what they're asked to do abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality if you keep yourselves from these you will do well farewell okay first off it's not a Salvation issue this is they're not even talking about salvation they're just talking about conduct now right they never change the fact that they're saved by faith through grace that's not the issue with the letters actually doing is establishing what is even expected of Gentile believers in Christ and the idea is that the Old Testament law as a whole is not expected now if it is I'm gonna do it and I'm gonna submit nomine but I want to be biblical and I want to follow what Christ has revealed to us so it says that we don't have to okay where it should do is abstain from the things sacrificed to idols that that's things involved in pagan rituals and first Corinthians gives us more details on that'll maybe talk about some other time and from blood and that goes back to Genesis 10 this is a pre-law issue and then from what has been strangled and from same thing as blood there and from sexual immorality and sexual immorality is just an overarching moral issue something that's pervasively wrong in Gentile communities we must admit right that sexual immorality this is not about a ceremonial issue of the law no no this is about moral issues that apply to all people of all times and so therefore we get statements like that in Colossians 2 and we can see how they apply these things how they apply these things that we can we don't throw worry about feast days we don't have to worry about specific ceremonial I would call them that's the term I would use for these types of things in the Old Testament law they don't they simply do not apply directly to us and you who were dead in your trespasses and uncertainty uncircumcision of your flesh here Colossians 2:13 God made alive together with him having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands not only the record of the dead but also the legal demands cancelled this he set aside nailing it to the cross he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him therefore conclusion let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival a new moon or a Sabbath these are specifically law related things food and drink what you can eat and drink and not eat and drink the clean and unclean animals festivals that would absolutely be regarding things like Passover or or you name it these are shadows of things to come but the substance belongs to Christ so he sees that Jesus is the fulfillment of these things and that's why we're not under them now because we're in Christ so in Christ we have the fulfillment of those things let no one just qualify you and it goes on and begins to change subjects onto other issues as well so that's the Colossians passage so the underlying principle for Christians is this we don't want to be involved in things that violate you know overall moral laws like don't murder okay that's not just a ceremonial civil thing that was true before the law it's true after the law it's simply true for all people of all time but with things like the tattoos or if it's not related to pagan worship not related to pay your Mercia obviously cuz pagan worship is wrong in and of itself then these things simply don't apply to us directly it's so it just doesn't apply my bottom line with tattoos is that the leviticus passage while it would truly I think it would say don't get tattoos it doesn't apply to us like that as New Testament believers in the same sense that I can wear clothing that is made of cotton and polyester in the same sense that I can so my my feel with two different types of seed in the same sense that I'm not under the same requirements as the law but rather there's these moral rules and this seems to not be one of them I don't think the tattoos are inherently morally evil if so I'm not sure why God gave something like that to Cain right as a way of protecting him so so I hope that that logic follows but you see this is this is where a lot of people in the conversation they end the conversation and they say things like so go ahead and get tattoos and don't let anyone judge you and move on but that just that's this is where the conversation begins because now we have to ask our third question right we said what is the Old Testament statements what is the New Testament light that has shed upon that and then the third question what does wisdom and love have us doing as Christians now because let me show you what I see happen okay you guys may have heard of this guy his name is grant something I apologize for not remembering his name but but his his thing is Ranson ation that i've seen this this video i seen many times seen it pop up over and over again and I have I have a couple things I think we can learn from through it so first off this gentleman he received and he's a believer he does a lot of talk on politics and things like that that's not what I'm actually getting into today at all but a lady has had sent a post to him and listen to what she said and she kind of attacked him for having tattoos and she did this from the perspective of a Christian so listen to what she says and then we'll talk about that because I think that wisdom will have us acting in a very different way than this lady does she says Graham I really want to like and your message but your tattoos make you look trashy and take away from your message and as a Christian I just can't stand to look at you as now here's the phrase that bothers me the most of what the lady says I'm assuming that Grant correctly quoted her right if she if she really wrote that then that's what she said as a Christian I can't look at you what she did was she not only has a view of tattoos that tattoos are wrong but her view is that that view is a Christian view but I just showed us from the scriptures that she shouldn't say that so she's pushing her view as though it this is this is simply the simple overarching mortal truth for all people and you should know better grant she's what the Bible describes as the weak Christian that's the term who feels that something is wrong even though it's not really wrong in that sense but then we get this because she's wrong I get this but grant also shares some things that this and this is what concerns me this video got shared not because of her comments but because of his listen to how grant responded to her and I want to ask you is this the acts the actions of one of us who's following Jesus in this area of our life Wow wow talk about judging somebody by their cover and not by what's inside of them so he's pretty upset he's mad at her for judging yet everything the grants gonna do next is ripping on and judging her and Christianity in general and churches as a whole listen to what he says next in fact the sad part about it all is if you want to know where you can find the most self-centered judgmental people in the world that go to this place called church once a week on Sunday and before you get offended and you say oh my goodness Graham not my church and not me bah bah bah bah blah if you're sitting here watching this video as a Christian and you don't understand what I'm talking about at all then I'm probably talking about you you okay i am i only share this video because it's been viewed by so many people i mean millions and millions and millions of view this and it's become their voice like they share this guy's video as their like here's the final word on tattoos and i'm saying no this is unbiblical on both sides the lady judges him unfairly and an unrighteous lea and he just turns and judges her right back and rips on not only her anybody I mean just this big vague reference of Christians that he hates Christianity and stuff and it's like I get what you were trying to do there grant but that was not what scripture is asking us to do and so I'm gonna say they're both wrong but I'm not doing it to rant against them rather this is a perfect example this video from from Graham or from rant nation is a perfect example of exactly what the scripture warns us about in Romans 14 it shows us that we don't want to be judging others about things that are conviction issues and we don't want to be ripping on others because they don't understand the difference between their convictions and God's actual desires so let's look at hold off to move this back over here let's look at Romans 14 and and I can explain now what I've just rambled on about we're gonna read a big chunk of Scripture and for me to read this this is the disses that do not judge stuff this is a good stuff though it says needful stuff this so applies to tattoos it so applies to tattoos it's a tattoos or a conviction issue right as in it's not really just plain wrong and therefore it's depending on your heart your relationship with the Lord if it seems to be wrong to you do not do it if it seems to be okay to you and in all honesty and you're truly clean harder before God on the issue then then you can do it if it passes this test so Romans 14 talks about the issues verse 1 it says as for the one who's weak in the faith welcome him but not to quarrel over opinions okay let's talk about the term weak in the faith took me a really long time to get this but Romans 14 it describes the person who's weak in the faith and the weak faith individual is the person who feels that something is sinful when in fact it's permissible by God so I'm gonna eat this hotdog and it's got pork in it but I feel like pork is wrong because under the Old Testament law it was wrong even though Scripture seems to clearly indicate no one can judge me in food or drink I feel like it's wrong and therefore you're of weak conscience so do not eat of it that's the idea you're a weak brother but don't then put that on everyone else because your conscience is week you're gonna dump it on them that's not what you should do romans 14 is beautiful for this this sort of conscience can conflict issues so as for lone is weak in the faith in this case who can't get tattoos who thinks tattoos are just wrong they can't get him welcome him but not to quarrel over opinions so who is this actually written to it's written to the strong one the one who's like I'm cool with tattoos I'm fine with it but guess what you're too welcome the weak one without arguing over the issue of tattoos so this this is to say I'm trying to give you the theology on tattoos but now I'm gonna stop and say this if you feel tattoos are wrong that's fine don't change how you feel don't get a tattoo I welcome you you're my brother guess what I don't have any tattoos if I did I wouldn't show them to you anyways because I love you and I wouldn't want to cause division between me and you my brother my sister in Christ that's the idea so welcome him but not to quarrel over opinions one person believes he may eat anything while the weak person eats only vegetables or in this case one person thinks tattoos are okay and one person doesn't let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats for God is welcome to him and here's the two sides hate to the to the grant side right you're like down with tattoos this means a lot to me I got all my tattoos you know what don't despise the person who abstains don't be like you're the most judgmental hypocritical person no you're just you're in the flesh man stop hey calm down don't despise the one who abstains and to the person who abstains don't look at the guy with tattoos like grant and think that something's wrong with him because of it no you leave him to God leave him to God and you guys need to seek unity that's the concept in Romans 14 verse 4 who were you to pass judgment on the servant of another it's before his own master that he stands or falls and he will be upheld for the Lord is able to make him stand on these tough issues controversial topics you know where it's somehow confusing for individuals just let let God be the judge there don't worry about it don't worry about it this isn't as black and white perhaps as we want it to be just let it go verse 5 one person esteems one day as better than another wall another esteems all days alike someone's observing a feast day they don't one perhaps is every day is the same to them each one should be fully convinced in his own mind maybe one of those days is Christmas maybe you think I'm Eve because I celebrated Christmas well Romans 14 is for you to write the one who observes the day observes it in honor of the Lord the one who eats eats in honor of the Lord since he gives thanks to God while the one who abstains abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God we have two Christians doing opposite things for the same reason to honor the Lord what should we do be united give get over the conscience difficulties and differences and say God at least there they seem to be doing this to honor you I will just embrace them as my brother and sister someone gets this cross tattoo on their arm and you're like you marked the temple of the Lord and they're like are you kidding it's I am the temple the Lord that's why I got this to remind myself that I belong to God you know what we can't divide on this stuff the division is worse than the issue I mean it's it'd be better to be wrong on tattoos than to cause division over an issue like this that doesn't need to be divisive at all we need to learn to be embracing one another accepting each other on this tough topic tough for some I should say then for most many of us it doesn't matter at all but for others it's a huge huge deal so the one who observes by the way that we're gonna get more we're about to get to the passage in Romans 14 where it's gonna it's gonna explain that the that the requirements or the expectation God has is higher for the person who has the freedom of conscience the one who says tattoos are okay and I know it it's God expects more of you than he does from the person who abstains who you think oh they're the judgmental Pharisee actually God expects more of you than he does of them that's actually what Romans 14 says so we'll go to verse there we go verse 10 why do you pass judgment on your brother or why do you despise your brother for we will all stand before the judgment seat of God right the the abstainer of tattoos passes judgment on the one who gets them the one who gets him despises the one who abstains you Pharisee your judgment you fundamentalist right and Romans 14 is just saying you're all just being carnal you all need to stop verse 11 for it is written as I let as I live says the Lord every knee shall bow to me and every time she'll confess to God like this is they don't about at you they bout a god so then each of us will give an account of himself to God therefore conclusion here's what to do about it let us not pass judgment on one another any longer but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother and how do we do that how do I avoid from stumbling you if I'm say the one with the freedom right he says I know and I'm persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean so the person who feels like tattoos are wrong guess what it really is wrong for them because they're violating their conscience before God so then when I show my tattoo off to them am I not hurting my brother because to them it's wrong no I'm not wrong but I'm being wrong to them this is where the issue comes down this is where you're not gonna like me anymore after this verse 14 I know and it persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing in itself is unclean but it's unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean for if your brother oops if your brother there we go right here is grieved by what you eat you are no longer walking in love but what you eat by what you eat do not destroy the one for whom Christ died you see how it exalts the Worth and value of that person you were disagreeing with on this issue of convictions they're worth so much why would I on this issue create division with them why would I wound them why would I hurt them with my tattoo by what you eat do not destroy the one for whom Christ died so do not let what you regard is good be spoken of his evil for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the holy spirit whoever thus serves Christ verse 18 whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men so then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding it's about unity do not for the sake of food or tattoos destroy the work of God everything is indeed clean sure tattoos are fine but it's wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats or read the tattoos he wears I'm gonna getting a big tattoo school on my arm but it has a secret meaning that I know about that will oh if only they don't knew how spiritual it was it would really bless them but they judge me because they're just hypocrites or or maybe you're just unnecessarily stumbling and treading over the heart of another brother or sister on an area where you have freedom but it's not loving maybe that's that's what's happening it is good not to eat meat or drink wine or get a tattoo or do anything that causes your brother to stumble if it causes them to stumble don't do it that's the idea the faith that you key that you have keep between yourself and God blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves but whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats because the eating is not from faith for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin and then verse 50 or chapter 15 it concludes the whole argument and it gives you the bottom line right we who are strong that's people who know tattoos earn are not a problem we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves let us let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up for Christ did not please himself but as it has written the reproaches of those who were approached you fell on me that's the bottom line here in Romans 14 and 15 is that you who are strong bear with the scruples of the weak you who have the ability to say I'm ok with tattoos I know they're alright ok use wisdom to not shove that in the face of your brother and stumble them so I would say that if if I have tattoos and I have an international ministry and I know my tattoos are going around the world and some people they're stumbling and some people like him maybe perhaps I shouldn't put those front-and-center in my ministry because of the the wrong conscience of the brother I love over there who is being hurt by my tattoos instead of calling him judgemental and calling him you know hypocrites and calling him a bunch of names maybe I should take care for their heart and for their weak conscience and do what scripture says and bear with the scruples of the week I've the one piece of advice I've given people on tattoos is if you get a tattoo I recommend you get it in a location where you can hide it whenever you want to so that you can bear with the scruples of the week or get a job get a job interview at a job where they don't want to do is you know I think that this is just wisdom this is just love this is grace this is kindness you know this is just what you do as a follower of Jesus Christ you give up your rights to bless other people now this is unpopular because what's popular is to rip on the lady who wrote the email or the message saying can't look at you because your tattoos to rip on her instead of saying is there a way I can help her look at me is there a way I can minister to her to bless her to be kind to her she showed the love of Christ to her I mean if I told you that in in some foreign country where you were gonna be a missionary that it was gonna be offensive to them if you had a beard like if you just if you had a beard of any kind it was considered really offensive to them you would shave your beard off so you could outreach to them out of love but if I told you that the ladies sitting behind you in the pew that if she saw the tattoo behind your ear that that would really offend her and then it would stumble her you might mock and ridicule her I'm saying this you shouldn't love the world more than the church we should love them all we should love our fellow brothers and sisters and we should bear with the constant the conscience of the weak that's what scripture tells us to do the onus and the requirement for changing behavior is is on the one with the strong conscience not the weak conscience that's what scripture actually says so I'm not saying here no Christians can get tattoos what I'm saying is here's the biblical principles apply them into your situation perhaps you have a parent who hates tattoos I'm sorry why would you ever get a tattoo if you love that parent or ever get one at least that would be known to them right at least that would be aware of it's fine to privately have your your freedoms you can have your freedoms to yourself scripture says that's fine you're not hiding it because you're ashamed you're hiding out of love for that person so you don't stumble them so use this wisdom I think of this might help obviously with tattoos there's other things to consider I'm not gonna get a some naked lady tattooed on my arm that would be sinful for multiple reasons I'm not gonna get something that sends an ungodly message I want to guard my heart that I don't get a tattoo that's just about my vanity but I have to do the same thing with my hair and my clothing and and you know after Guardians vanity in lots of ways and of course we should be doing that so there's lots of things to consider with tattoos you don't want to accidentally get a tattoo that you regret later on because they messed it up I mean you want to be wise with your tattoos but but that's that's it that's my teaching on tattoos guys I hope it's been helpful and I know I probably should offer some clarity so I'm gonna open it up to your questions please send your questions in to through the through the live chat and AJ will send those over to me now and I will answer them and see maybe how wrong I am I hope that this has been useful to you guys man I want it to be useful division is worse than being wrong about the tattoos division that's actually worse keep that in mind it's the division that we gotta watch out for so here we go question number one from Austin Avenue key he says um I still would like to get more tattoos but strictly biblical related ones is that okay I already have a lion cross crown of thorns and a david-and-goliath sleeve thank you aa stone I think that in and of themselves the tattoos the tattoos aren't unbiblical if if in some way is an unhealthy obsession it's unbiblical if it's if it's gonna cause others to stumble around you then it could be unbiblical for that reason but I don't think it's unbiblical because you want to get like a like if you had a tattoo that says like you know I'm a servant of Christ or something like that like I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with that so I would just say pray through it think about it make sure your conscience is clear and then ask before look around your life and think of those you'll minister to now and those you may minister to in the future and ask if this is gonna maybe be a stumbling block for them in which case you could put it in a less obvious place or not get it I know a buddy who he wants to be a missionary to the to the Jewish people one day wants to go to Israel but at the same time he's young he's in his early 20s and he really wants some tattoos and he says he won't get any tattoos because he wants to be a missionary to the people in Israel and see that's a respectful perspective isn't it like he's he's like I'm not gonna do this because because I lovingly want to to outreach to this community and I know it will impact that outreach and see that that's a great way that's a great balance and right attitude to have number two James em says please ask Pastor Mike can the Gospel message be communicated through tattoos okay yes of course it can cuz any message can be communicated through an art medium like tattoos and I know some people say that like they go well you can get mad at my tattoos because they're christ-centered but think of it this way what if I go to a Jewish culture and I and I give them the Gospel message but I draw it out in pork sausage but it's the gospel but I draw it out in pork sausage the whole Gospel message all in pork they can't get mad at me right because it's the gospel actually what I've done is I've added pork to the gospel and now I'm reaching to a Jewish audience with that that's gonna be offensive and it'll backfire for some people James only and I'm not saying for everybody maybe where you live maybe in your circle it won't matter but for some people communicating the gospel with a tattoo may actually backfire for them they may find it actually offensive I know people my own family who are mostly older people right but who they would find it offensive they'd be like I can't believe that they so lead you know the gospel by making it into a tattoo it would be like pork sausage you know to the Jewish person so give some thought to that give some thought to that know sometimes we dismissed the elderly oh it's just grandma that doesn't like it well the Bible actually says that we should lift up the elderly have greater respect and honor for the elderly in our lives not dismiss them as being outdated last millennium older generation just ignore them doesn't matter what they think right that wouldn't be our perspective our perspective would be one of love and respect and kindness and honoring them so I can't give you straight yes and no because I don't know your whole situation in life but there's some things to think about barely Protestant asks could Mike explain what he means by legitimate counsel are the counsels of Nicaea through calcetin not considered legitimate what place do counsels have in Mike's theology while there's interesting questions I would say it's a legitimate counsel in that the declarations of the council in acts 15 are authoritative for the church right in fact they're even in Scripture they're they're literally in Scripture the declaration it was there with the apostolic authority those that Jesus gave the authority to proclaim the gospel of Christ and to be the ones who would who would explain these things now anybody who comes later they have to bow down to the things that happen in the first century they're Galatians one is a good example of this let me give you an example here Galatians 1 he says as I start a verse tonight as I've said before so now I say again if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you've received let him be accursed so he's like if I do it if anybody does it this my conclusion from this is there is no way to have a council that's authoritative enough later on in order to sort of undo what was done in the first century so it's like the the faith that was delivered once and for all to the Saints so councils are kind of like this counselors are like this they go which way is is is the church blowing so to speak what is just what is happening in the local church it's a good way of assessing what's going on in the church depending on who is in the council at the time right well the Council of Trent was an anti Protestant council so it's a very anti Protestant event you know going on Nicaea was a different kind of council than kalsa Dodd I don't care I don't think any of them carry this scriptural like type authority that we see in the council in acts so my theology of councils as I consider everything that happened after the period of inscription after first century everything else is extra biblical and under the Scriptures because the faith was once and for all delivered from cam it says mike winger please respond to the recent videos of apology at church promoting tattoos is it wrong for a church to promote getting tats I I don't honestly I haven't followed those videos so I don't know I can't speak to what apology a church did or didn't do I think that tattoos are enough of a cultural conundrum for people that it really is offensive to some people that I wouldn't as a church promote it I I would accept it I would allow it but I would not promote it because I'm I think forcing the weak brother to feel compromised in their conscience and I think I'm going against scripture by doing that so I think based on Romans 14 and 15 and that I think tattoos fits in that passage the concept that promoting it is different than allowing it and trying to create I want to create an environment pro and con tattoo people can fellowship and be united and allow each other to disagree I don't want to create an environment where our church supports tattoos I think that's an unhealthy environment for believers that's my opinion Kaylin Van Conant says hey Mike would all body modifications fall under this teaching I have my ears gauged and have never felt like I was grieving the Holy Spirit because I'm pierced and tattooed actually ear piercings are even less controversial than tattoos in the Bible including nose piercings they're even they're actually less controversial because they were allowed so not all body modifications though I mean I my own personal opinion if someone's getting horns implanted into their forehead I think that or something weird like that I think that something's like probably psychologically wrong with that person no I maybe I'm being subjective here but I think it seems pretty obvious that something's actually wrong with that person so body modification if it's moving into that genre in that category where you're actually you're trying to become something other than like a normal human being I think something's wrong but your piercings were actually pretty culturally normal back then maybe even more so than they are at the moment let's see question from Sarah Sarah boot camp or Beauchamp sorry says if it doesn't violate your conscience and would be a Christian tattoo should you be worried that it might stumble someone random at some point in your life or is it only wrong if you know of a specific person in your life it would stumble no I think you should consider your whole life I think that's just wisdom right so I I the reason why I never got tattoos was I wanted to minister to old ladies that was that was what I said in my youth right I was a little more like clumsy maybe with my words but I remember saying that they could hey the tattoo sounds pretty cool I think I'd like to get one but you know why I won't because I want to minister to those old ladies and I feel like they won't be able to hear me if they see a tattoo on me and so I didn't for that purpose that was my whole reason years down the road unbeknownst unexpected by me I am now doing a ministry that's reaching the people around the world and I'm really glad I don't have that the stumbling block of having to deal with tattoos and talk about them and have them in the comment section all the time I'm glad for that I'll say I'm happy for that situation while I don't think it would been sin necessarily for me to get one I think it was perhaps wisdom not too pleased by that personally but I would not hinder a person from serving in ministry if they had tattoos I wouldn't stop them I just think it would create a stumbling block or something they'd have to constantly bring up and constantly talk about and constantly explain that would be annoying at least for them to have to deal with and potentially closed doors for them to minister to certain people which is just unfortunate even if it's because those people just have wrong views I still want to minister to them even if they're just wrong JP Jacob Inglot says is there any biblical reason to get a tattoo if Noah I get one there's no biblical reason that I can think of to get a tattoo but but here's my concern with with that if we apply that thinking to other issues because if it's if it's if that's a good way to work it is there any biblical reason to have indoor plumbing I mean I don't know of any biblical reason to have indoor plumbing do you does that mean we shouldn't have indoor plumbing or is there any biblical reason to have for restaurants to have drive-throughs which I happen to really like coming drive-throughs I'm always in a hurry and I just eat in my car all the time you know so but I don't know of any biblical reason for them to have drive throughs or is there a biblical reason to have him I mean you could just fill in the blank you could you could go along these along these lines for quite a while so so I don't think that that I don't think that's the best question to ask when deciding what to do you should ask easy glorifying God is a blessing my neighbor is it is it honoring what clear teachings we have in scriptures number eight kid a says Mike why do you apply Romans in this way to issues like tattoos but not to other issues regarding women and premarital sex for example well actually let's go back to acts 15 and let's look at why I'll just give you one passage that deals with that what did they decide down in verse 20 here we go verse 29 that they abstain from what's been sacrificed to idols from and from blood these are and strangled these are things related to pagan worship that they were not to engage in and then from what sexual immorality this transcends the Old Testament law laws against sexually sexual immorality is a moral truth that that there's anything outside of man woman marriage any sexual activity outside of that environment is considered sexual immorality it's a catch-all term and that is transcendently true above and beyond the law now it's in the law those moral trees are in the lock because God was giving them good laws but guess what it was true in Abraham's day it was true in Adam and Eve's time it was true you know throughout the Scriptures so in that sense that's why I only apply Romans 14 to conviction issues which means issues where this is totally permissible but some Christians feel bad about it anyways those are the issues that you can apply romans 14 to Deen Meadows hey Dean good to hear from you what are your thoughts about tats that have political statements on them should Christians do that say like the Confederate flag well I don't understand the whole Confederate flag stuff I'm from California so I'm not it's not even like nobody I've seen like one Confederate flag in my life in California I don't it doesn't it doesn't come up down here so I can't even pretend to know all of the political baggage on both sides on that issue I don't know how to answer that one Dean I don't know how and here's why let's say it's not about the Confederate flag let's say it's about just a political statement like live free or die or no taxation without representation I feel like on my side I'm like tying myself to a political view in that way seems pretty extreme so I wouldn't do it but some people perhaps they're called to do politics and perhaps that's their thing and this is their passion this is where God wants to use them and then in that case I don't even yeah I'll say in my view I will abstain from that from even trying to put my foot down on that issue I just don't think I have the wisdom to answer it and I would leave it up to the individual I would just say it's a conscience issue in wisdom good luck ministering to a lot of people if you have a confederate flag tattooed on you right or wrong this is going to burn bridges for you number 10 Linda PB says you mentioned horn implants what about hair implants I think hair implants are different ABS I guess that would be like liposuction so hair implants are different because that's literally just trying to restore what was already there like you're not trying to turn yourself into like a dragon or monster or something inhuman you're trying to restore what was already there I think liposuction there's nothing inherently wrong with liposuction but for both hair implants and like liposuction there's questions of vanity that have to be wrestled with for the people and I will leave it to them I'm not gonna look at someone who goes through one of those procedures and just assume they have a vanity issue God knows their heart and I don't think I have a right to go there so um so in that sense yeah and then sweet role thief question number 11 says Mike can a pastor continue with pastoral leadership if he repents from a sin like adultery or divorce that's a heavy question and I'm not sure oh I've left this up the whole time there we go I'm not sure I'm not sure off the top of my head I can't there's there's some scriptures that are coming to mind but I feel like I need to go back and look at him again before I answer that question some things just escape me in the moment and that's the case here but this year speaking of what's coming in 2019 I intend to do a thoughtful careful teaching on the topic of marriage and divorce and remarriage using from the Scriptures like a thorough treatment of the topic answering the the toughest questions I can find and the best of my ability that's one of the things I intend to do this year in 2019 so it's been good you guys I think I can keep it under under an hour today if I if I if I stopped right now so I'm gonna do that but I'll be back let's see this coming Monday which is six wait it's Tuesday now it has a six days from now I'll put live a video a new video on Jesus in the Old Testament so that's gonna be coming out on Monday and we're gonna be dealing with most likely if I have the time to prepare at all Jesus pictured throughout the book of Judges I'm just going to survey the whole book of Judges and look at Jesus and the pictures of Jesus we see in the book of Judges which I think will be really fun and really neat and then we'll be back here next Tuesday for more content I might do some content on the Hebrew roots movement I've been asked I asked you guys what you wanted me to cover in the future this was the number one requested video was the Hebrew roots movement so I'm I'm gonna have to take some time to research and study learn what they really believe what they're really thinking and there's it's a different move a vast movement with different branches so if I can I'll come at that with some real thoughtful and gracious and hopefully biblical clarity and that would be my goal and if you guys want to send me stuff you can put comments in this video related to the Hebrew roots movement if it's don't you send me everything in the world send me what you think is the clearest best teaching from that movement that represents them very well that would be the stuff I'm interested in and until then well well hope you guys have a really wonderful new year and just remember every year every year I think about this I look back on my life and I just think what life is short I just turned 40 like a week ago so life is short things are going by fast and as we move forward inch forward towards eternity all that matters is ultimately that we are right with God that we have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ that it's not about just the tattoos and it's not about all these conviction issues the number one issue is that my sin is washed clean by the blood of Jesus Christ and then I've put my faith in the one who died for me and rose again showing me that God loves me more than I've ever loved anyone that he sent his own son to die on the cross for you that you might know him in know eternal life maybe you've been putting off spiritual things in your life and I would say this everything else in your life should be put off until you deal with the spiritual things of your life and get your heart and your life right with God and your mind and your will focused upon him because that ultimately ultimately that's all that's going to matter so Lord bless you and keep you make a space to shine upon you and give you peace have a great evening

Channel: Mike Winger

Views: 174,891

Rating: 4.8609867 out of 5

Keywords: tattoos, tattoos in the Bible, tattoos in the old testament, tattoos in the Bible Old Testament, are tattoos bad, are tattoos a sin, thinking biblically about tattoos, leviticus tattoos, can a Christian get a tattoo, tattoos and Christianity, Christianity and tattoos, what does the Bible say about tattoos, tattoos the Bible and Christian Unity

Id: D_z5_pXDnTk

Length: 59min 49sec (3589 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 01 2019