Tattoos

When I was a sophomore in college I did one of the stupidest things, I think, that I have ever done. I let a girl talk me into getting my ear pierced. But not the normal place where guys usually get their ear pierced, I got mine on the upper part of the ear. It didn't hurt at all. I thought I looked cool and everything, but I went to a Christian college where they have strict rules on guys having pierced ears, so hiding it was going to be a bit of a project. Like most of my projects, it lasted for about two days. Some how my parents found out, I think I might have told them, and my mom started crying, no joke, threatening that I wasn't going to be allowed in their house with my ear pierced. We were going back and forth for about two hours over the phone, I was saying that stuff like " God doesn't look at the outside of the man but what is on the inside." What a dilemma, home cooked meals and laundry done for you or looking cool and stylish. I went with the home cooked meals. But I got them back, sort of. I was going to meet them halfway that weekend at Harding's road game in Russelville, Arkansas. So I got together earlier that week with my roommate at the time and I bleached my hair, or attempted to bleach my hair. I have dark and thick red hair and I bought that stuff from Wal - Mart that is supposed to only be used on light colored hair. It looked okay for about a day and a half and then it turned into this hideous yellow orange color, I really don't know how to describe it it was really bad. So I went to the game and I also got a magnetic clip on ear ring just to do a joke on my parents. I surprised them alright, especially when I went to hug them and my dad took off my hat and looked at my hair, he was speechless and I don't mean in a good way. I later went on to shave my head and start over, but that is another story for another time.

Today I am in conflict of rather or not I should get a tattoo. I have nothing against tattoos or against the people that have them. What I am in conflict with is why is it just a huge deal when it involves Christianity? I grew up in a small town Arkansas sheltered away from a lot of the big city stuff. So I was raised on my parents thoughts on why things are the way they are. On tattoos I felt like I was Adam Sandler in the Waterboy when he asked his mom questions and her reply was always " because it is the Devil." But she wasn't too far wrong with how many Christians think and act on topics such as this. Leviticus 19:28 stats" Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourself. I am the Lord." On doing research for this topic, this is the scripture that everyone put out there on why we shouldn't get tattoos as Christians. But I started reading a little bit more in Leviticus and came upon these things as well, " Do not eat meat with the blood still in it," and " Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard." If this is so, then how come hair salons are being looked down upon as much as tattoo parlors. And how come it doesn't mention anywhere in the New Testament about the sinful nature of getting tattoos. In 1st Corinthians 6: 19 -20 it stats that " our bodies are a temple for the Holy Spirit, it is not your own." and " therefore honor God with your body." i know for me personally, in the past, I felt uncomfortable talking about my faith and my beliefs with someone that had tattoos all up and down their arms, and I don't know why. Some of the greatest people I have come to know have a lot of tattoos, and I am not going to treat them any different then anybody else. I admit, I stare at them. And even so, they are still children of God, like it is stated in 1st Samuel 16: 7 when Samuel anoints David as the next king, " the Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." That was the argument I used about my earring, but I couldn't be laid out there any better then that. I am not saying that I personally am going to get a tattoo, it has crossed my mind though. I am still just a little afraid of the needles. But if I do I am not going to get something like my favorite sports team or Alma mater. But rather something that I know wouldn't defile who I am as a person or a child of God, no matter what is on the outside, my heart still belongs to God.