Posted on 03/30/2018 9:25:33 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
During a recent conference, Christian speaker Joyce Meyer made a biblical case for getting tattoos and admitted she has been thinking of getting one herself just to shut the mouths of religious people.
The video clip posted by Joyce Meyer Ministries on March 14 kicks off with Meyer explaining the difference between being holy and religious.
"Holiness is not legalism," Meyer declared.
She went on to explain that religious people have made a mess of holiness by putting a bunch of rules and regulations on people. She listed drinking, dancing, wearing makeup and more among those rules.
Meyer quoted Isaiah 44:5 in defense of getting permanent markings. The scripture says, "One will say, I am the Lord's; and another will call himself by the name of Jacob; and another will write [even brand or tattoo] upon his hand, I am the Lord's, and surname himself by the [honorable] name of Israel."
She also shared the counterargument often used to discourage believers from getting tattoos found in Leviticus 19:28: "Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the LORD."
Televangelist Pat Robertson, among others, has cited Leviticus to argue that getting tattoos is a "heathen practice."
"You look at the Bible, the people are told not to mark their bodies and cut themselves like the heathen did. Tattooing is a heathen practice, it is not a Christian practice," Robertson said in 2016.
But Meyer rejected the argument and contended that God also tattooed those He loves to Himself.
"The Bible says in Isaiah 49 that God has a picture of you tattooed on the palm of His hand," she maintained.
"I'm right on the verge of going and getting a tattoo," she added, pointing to her shoulder blade. "I thought I might as well just push all the religious people right off the cliff and just get it over with."
Meyer said her ink would say, "I belong to the Lord." She admitted that her husband pushed back a bit on her stance but they realized it was just a religious stance stemming from legalism.
Evangelist Christine Caine, seated in the front row of the meeting, can be seen rooting Meyers on as she expressed her interest in getting a tattoo.
"Why would I do that (get a tattoo)? Just to make religious demons mad, no other reason," she maintained.
"I lived in so much bondage from legalism," Meyer revealed of her past. "Everything in legalism is about something you can not do. Let me tell you something — it is not boring to serve Christ, it is so much fun and there's so much you can do and not only that, you can enjoy all of it!"
The Saint Louis native pointed out that in Ezekiel 16:9-13 there was a big celebration and God put earrings and nose rings on the Israelites.
"Here's the bottom line, it's all about your motives and how you are doing things. We can't look at the outside of somebody and decide for ourselves that they're an evil person ... That's why so many people today don't want anything to do with the church 'cause all they get is criticism and judgement," she concluded.
The clip finished with Meyer encouraging those in attendance to pursue holiness but in freedom.
Hillsong New York City Pastor Carl Lentz has also defended Christians getting tattoos and addressed the criticism he often receives about his own markings. "Biblical interpretation is huge right? So with tattoos not being allowed you mean Leviticus. We play both sides of the coin I think that is healthy. Like this paradox of scripture, interpretation is actually is part of our faith, the tension of it. So, on one hand, we say that is the Old Testament scripture, there is no New Testament verification of that. That law that had to do with slaves, that identified you as part of a tribe we don't believe that came through the cross," Lentz told World Religion News last year.
"We don't believe that when Jesus died and rose again that old Levitical scripture applied to our modern life. That is ridiculous," the Virginia native argued. "At the same time, there are some things we do believe follow through on the cross. So the way we break down we would literally put up the Old Testament and then put a cross in the middle and then we put up the New Testament and we say anything that comes through the cross is eternal. Anything that stops is Old Testament."
Making the case against tattoos, some Christians have cited 1 Corinthians 10:23, pointing out that the question isn't about whether tattooing one's body is a "sin." But it's more about whether it's "a good and necessary thing to do."
Will Honeycutt, a professor at Liberty University, believes that while "the Bible does not explicitly forbid tattoos," Christians should remember that "the Bible has a high view of the body as God's handiwork, which is not to be disfigured."
Also, he argued, one should not get a tattoo out of rebellion. Rather, "our primary motive for anything we do should be to glorify God."
"Are you seeking to direct people's thoughts toward God or yourself?" Honeycutt posed.
If you want one, get one. Just don’t imagine it makes you some kind of non-conformist.
A permanent reminder of one’s temporary insanity.
How many tats did Jesus or the Disciples get?
RE: Will Honeycutt, a professor at Liberty University, believes that while “the Bible does not explicitly forbid tattoos,” Christians should remember that “the Bible has a high view of the body as God’s handiwork, which is not to be disfigured.”
___________________________________
The Old Testament law commanded the Israelites, “Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:28, English Standard Version ).
OK, some people might say that the above only applies to Ancient Israel and does not apply to Christians today because Christians are not under Old Testament Law.
But why do you suppose it was forbidden then?
No, it just makes you unique - just like everybody else.
Well, prior to Vatican 2 (can’t speak to what IT has said), Catholics banned tattoos as well.
They’re ugly, dirty and disgusting. And I won’t change my mind so the tattoo’ed need not bandy words with me.
I hope she gets one.
When old, elderly white women start getting tattoos, then won’t young people STOP following this trashy trend?
Now I’m older, I’m tattooed all over
My wife is tattooed too
A rooty-toot-toot, rooty-tooty-toot-toot
Rooty-toot-toot tattoo too
To you
This is much how I feel. It is simply an opinion.
As a man, I enjoy the look of the unadorned female body, and tattoos or piercings just detract from that look. The more of them there are, the less beautiful it seems to me.
But that is my personal opinion. If people want to get them, that is their business.
And I was put off by her statement "...But Meyer rejected the argument and contended that God also tattooed those He loves to Himself..."The Bible says in Isaiah 49 that God has a picture of you tattooed on the palm of His hand," she maintained..."
It sounds too much like saying "Well if God does it, we can too."
She’s written some good books (Battlefield of the Mind) but she is a false teacher in some aspects. I beleieve she is wrong here.
Conforming to non-conformity is conforming just the same. :)
Not impressed, and just reinforces my belief that Joyce Meyers is just another new-age faux Christian.
I’m not religous (because of or in spite of Catholic College?), but I’m often surprised how views which I try to reach logically conform to the Bible. Tattoos don’t make any sense. They’re a permanent identification to someone or something other than ones self. What I think of with tattoos is Nazi Germany, prison inmates, or the mark of the devil. On a more practical note, the image of an aging motorcycle rider with the disfigure butterfly tat on exposed on their rear end says it all.
Lots of them but since it was no big deal at the time, nobody ever talked about them.........
Maybe a biblical scholar can correct me, but I don’t see Jesus being motivated to do things in order to “tick off the religious folks”. He was motivated by love and obedience, and he sure did tick off the religious folks but that wasn’t his intent.
She’s as big an idiot to think that her having or not having a tattoo makes any real difference in the real world. Those who think that anyone who has a tattoo is stupid, godless, or insane are also idiots to believe that their personal view makes any difference in the real world.
Your specific denominational religious views on tattoos have no more weight with regard to the religious beliefs of people with tattoos than does this twit who thinks getting a tattoo makes any real difference in the world.
My son (21 years old) just got a tattoo.
He knew I didn’t favor them.
I pointed out two things to him...
1. No one ever didn’t get hired for a good job because they didn’t have a tattoo.
2. While not all people with tattoos are low lifes, nearly all low lifes have tattoos.
My arguments fell on deaf ears.
At least it is a Christian based tattoo.
Umm.. Isaiah 44:5 .. “iste dicet Domini ego sum et ille vocabit in nomine Iacob et hic scribet manu sua Domino et in nomine Israhel adsimilabitur”
‘manu’ is ablative. So it’s not “write upon the hand” as this lady seems to mistranslate, but simply “write with the hand”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.