Joyce Meyer Defends Tattoos, Says She Might Get One to Make Religious People Mad

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.

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.

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?

I think because it signified a demonic pagan practice of engaging in such permanent bodily mutilation. Which often is the result of impulsivity.

As is usually the case with such women preachers which think it is orthodox to be pastors over me,, their own teaching serves as examples why WOMEN PASTORS UNBIBLICAL

Meyer quoted Isaiah 44:5 in defense of getting permanent markings.

One shall say, I am the Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel. (Isaiah 44:5)

But contrary to the take of Meyers, the classic scholars Keil & Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, state concerning this,

But apart from the fact that kâthabh, with an accusative of the writing materials, would be unprecedented (the construction required would be עַל־יָדוֹ), this view is overthrown by the fact that tatooing was prohibited by the Israelitish law (Lev_19:28; compare the mark of the beast in Rev_13:16). בשׁם קרא is interchanged with בסם כִּנָּה, to surname, or entitle (the Syriac and Arabic are the same; compare the Arabic kunye, the name given to a man as the father of such and such a person, e.g., Abu-Muhammed, rhetorically called metonymy).

And as Albert Barnes states,

The mark, or writing, was not on the hand, but with it - literally, ‘and this shall write his hand to Yahweh; ‘and the figure is evidently taken from the mode of making a contract or bargain, where the name is subscribed to the instrument. It was a solemn compact or covenant, by which they enrolled themselves among the worshippers of God, and pledged themselves to his service.

The manner of a contract among the Hebrews is described in Jer_32:10, Jer_32:12, Jer_32:44. A public, solemn, and recorded covenant, to which the names of princes, Levites, and priests, were subscribed, and which was sealed, by which they bound themselves to the service of God, is mentioned in Neh_9:38. Here it denotes the solemn manner in which they would profess to be worshippers of the true God; and it is expressive of the true nature of a profession of religion.

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.

Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. (Ezekiel 16:9-13)

Rather than there literally being a big celebration where God put earrings and nose rings on the Israelites, which thus would provide precedent for such, this is not literal language, but metaphorical, and thus precedes with,

Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine. (Ezekiel 16:8)

"Spread my skirt over thee: " is a euphemism for conjugal consummation of marriage, and if Meyers wants to this to affirm literal tattoos, then she can also sanction the idea in Mormonism of how the virgin Mary became pregnant.

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