Tell your son that if he doesn't want to get judged by his tattoos, he should cover them up when he's not among friends. Duh, is that really so hard?
Did he get tattooed for him? Or did he get tattooed to make some kind of statement? Guess what? He's making a statement all right! And people are judging him accordingly.
I'm at work right now. If you saw me, you'd think I was an average Joe, stepping out of the Lands End catalog. At 5:30 when I go to band practice, or to the tattoo shop to shoot the breeze, will be another story.
And save the "of all people, you should know better" speech, cause I've been there, done that. I've had people look at me when I've gone to the store in short sleeves. I've flown cross country with my friend who owns a tattoo shop and has tattoos on his neck and hands. He makes $150 an hour and $150,000 a year CASH and people still treat him like he's felonious parolee. I don't like to be looked at like a circus freak and I don't like "show and tell" about my tattoos, so when I go out I wear long sleeves.
There's a time and a place for everything. It's not unChristian to look at a guy wearing a hat in a restaurant like he's a dolt, because indeed he's acting like a dolt. The same goes for other similar situations.
From a guy with 2 "sleeves" and a "half-sleeve".
"Tell your son that if he doesn't want to get judged by his tattoos, he should cover them up when he's not among friends. Duh, is that really so hard? "
First of all, he DOES cover them when he is in situations where he is concerned about what others will think. Duh! Did I forget to say he was also INTELLIGENT?
As a matter of fact, last year he had an experience that cracked us up. He was meeting with a new potential landlord to discuss his renting the place. It was hot out but he dug out a long, sleeved shirt so he could cover his tatoos because he was concerned this guy would judge him by his tats. Anyhow, the landlord shows up, a man pushing 60 years old, in a short-sleeved shirt. And lo & behold that older fella has tattos all over his arms! Our son complimented his "art" and then rolled his sleeves up to show this guy his own "art". Yep, he rented the place to him, no problem.
No, he did not get his tattoos to make a "satement". He is an extremely talented artist, a musician as well, and decided that his body could also be his palette. He isn't covered head to toe, and the ones he has are, IMO, very cool. He and I have talked before about the possibility that he could make a very good living at being a tattoo artist.
As for this thread....I couldn't care less about operas, or what someone's wearing to some fancy theater. I only became involved when people started acting as if wearing jeans to church was so horrible. My point was, and is, that God doesn't care so why should we.
Well, Modernman said that that a person wearing a t-shirt in a nice restaurant would not be worth knowing. I think making those kind of judgements about people regarding their outward appearance is an un-Christian like attitude. If he thinks they are slobby or uncultured, fine, but to judge another person's worth by what they are wearing is a totally different thing. Can you see the difference?