Currently one in five U.S. adults has at least one tattoo (21percent) which is up from the 16 percent and 14 percent who reported having a tattoo in 2003 and 2008, respectively, by the Harris Poll. Photo Credit: Stock Photo
Mark Driscoll Shares Thoughts On Whether Bible Permits Christians To Get Tattoos
Controversial pastor Mark Driscoll has shared his thoughts on an often-debate issue: Does the Bible permit Christians to get tattoos?
In a video newsletter posted to his website this week, the Arizona-based Trinity Church pastor said that while he does not have any tattoos, he’s not against them – and neither is the Bible.
” … If you love Jesus, and you’re of age, and your conscience is clear and you want to do it as an artistic expression – or maybe even to share your faith with a verse – I would say then it’s between you and the Lord Jesus and I would give it to conscience, and I don’t think there’s anything in Scripture that expressly forbids it,” he said.
The pastor went on to address Leviticus 19:26-30, which reads, “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord.”
“When it comes to tattoos, there’s only one place in the Bible that seems to say you can’t get a tattoo,” he asserted.
Driscoll explained the verse in context: In the days of the Old Testament, some Christians took part in the cultish, ancient pagan practice of marking and cutting their bodies in order to be affiliated with “the realm of the dead,” essentially branding themselves like cattle.
Thus, the Bible isn’t just referring to “any old marking of the body” in Leviticus. … Read More