tattoos and piercings

I know this may come off as a rant, but I needed to vent. It seems that I am one of the few people left in America under 40 who doesn't have a tattoo or piercing! It's sad to see how prevalent this is among Christians. It is an extremely widespread practice and is nearly ubiquitous now. When I take the bus to our local supermarket I pass 4 tattoo/piercing places! That is 4 businesses in a 7 minute bus ride. And the trend used to be for women to get a small tattoo on their wrist or their ankle, now the trend seems to be to get huge garish disgusting tattoos that cover their entire arm or leg! Another trend is to get numerous medium sized tattoos on the arms, legs and chest. And I see these guys with tattoos on their neck and even face!!! NO ONE WILL HIRE YOU MORONS! People say that tattoos fade and distort over time and that's true, but I think the vast majority of the tattoos I see are simply hideous and revolting even now. And what's with all the young women with pierced navels! It's the new "tramp stamp" (tattoo on lower back just above the bum) I guess! I wish parents would train up their children in the ways of the Lord and not allow them to succumb so easily to this foolishness. I wish I could take a bus ride or walk down the street without seeing MULTIPLE people with tattoos. Sigh.

Even though we as Christians are no longer under the Law it is a good idea to see what Scripture has to say about tattoos and body piercings.

“Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.” - Leviticus 19:28

Tattoos and body piercings were pagan practices.

We should ask ourselves if we are doing something which honors God. I think you'll find that nearly all tattoos and body piercings are NOT honoring God. Remember: 

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” - 1 Corinthians 10:31

Further, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit so that is another reason we should keep them pure and undefiled by such pagan practices.  

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” -  1 Corinthians 6:19-20

By the way, in a study performed by Rovardo & Colleen, 2010 women with body piercings were found to be more likely than women without to have premarital sex.

Nearly half of 26-40-year-olds (40%) and 36% of 18-25-year-olds have tattoos, and 22% of 26-40-year-olds and 30% of 18-25-year-olds have at least one body piercing, according to the Pew Research Center.

Finally I want to implore you, the reader, to think very carefully and to use discernment and prayer before getting a tattoo or body piercing. Ask yourself if what you are doing is honoring God or is it a manifestation of ego or narcissism. Once you get a tattoo it is permanent for all practical purposes. It is possible to remove tattoos using laser treatment, but it is very expensive and from what I've heard also very painful.

Four Blood Moons

Pastor John Hagee now has this wacky Four Blood Moons theory he's pushing, and gullible Christians are gobbling it up! He is founder of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas. It's a megachurch. Hagee was on Fox News and Glenn Beck talking about his new book about it. In this book Hagee asserts that based on certain historical events and the timing of the Blood Moons that major prophetic events will be happening with the state of Israel in 2014 and 2015 when the next Blood Moons occur. Hagee's analysis is neither scientific nor proper Biblical exegesis.

He is using a bizarre hermeneutic for interpreting Scripture, that much is certain. Oh there is such a lack of discernment in the Church. I recall a few years ago when another wildly popular yet dubious theory was being popularized, the so-called Bible Codes. So many Christians fell victim to that and we are seeing the same thing happen again here. Sadly Hagee's alarmist Blood Moons book is very highly rated on amazon (4.5 out of 5 possible stars). Why do so many people fall for this nonsense?
 

Hagee is a Christian Zionist and he is, sadly, no stranger to controversy. In his book, "In Defense of Israel", Hagee asserted that Christ did not come as the Jewish Messiah. He says that since Christ did not come as the Messiah that the Jews are not to be expected to accept him as such so they are without blame for rejecting Jesus as the Messiah. This is pure heresy. He also advocates not

proselytizing the Jews. Hagee believes in a heretical theology called Duel Covenantalism or Duel Covenant  theology which basically is an extremist Zionist approach to the Bible. According to this theology Jews aren't even obligated to believe on Christ as Savior in order to be forgiven of their sins. One of my friends flipped through Hagee's Blood Moons book at his local book shop and he said that the book says that Christians are spiritually obligated to give money to Israel! This is outrageous and totally wrong.

If you want to learn precisely what Hagee is teaching about the Four Blood Moons and don't want to buy his book (why make him richer) then you can watch this sermon by Hagee:

Tattoos

I could not date a girl who had tattoos. I find tattoos to be wholly repugnant and utterly disgusting. It ruins their body. Also there are Biblical reasons why they are not wise.

Scripture says:
Leviticus 19:28 You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord.

Further our bodies, as Christians, are temples of the Holy Spirit so we should not defile or deface our bodies.

Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

I noticed that girls used to get a small discreet tattoo, but now the trend is to either get many smaller tattoos or to get a huge garish one. It's really unattractive. And girls should realize that tattoos are permanent unless one has very painful and very expensive laser surgery to remove them.

More depressing news on how the Church views mental illness

According to this article, more than 50% of Americans believe prayer and Bible study alone can cure mental illness!

This is really worse than I thought things were. Feeling very depressed after reading this article! It's shocking, but at the same time understandable. So few Christians are raised in a way that educates them about mental illness. So few pastors are teaching on mental illness, nor do they provide any resources for those in their churches suffering with mental illness. Couple these factors with the explosive popularity of Charismatic/Pentecostal churches where every disease is believed to be caused by a Satanic attack, and where they believe the cure for every disease is prayer and Bible study! Ugh. This is really appalling.

Biblical hermeneutics

The hermeneutic I like to follow is this:

1. Let Scripture exegete Scripture where possible.
2. Follow the principle of contextual realism. You accept what the text is saying as real (as opposed to allegorical, symbolic, metaphorical) unless the context or genre clearly either indicates you should not.
3. Believe that God's expressed purpose and Will is evident in one consistent and connected thread from OT to NT.
4. Note the particular grammatical-historical-cultural dimension of the text.
5. Take into account Church tradition and preponderence of teaching.
6. Engage in a systematic theology whereby each issue is analyzed across all of Scripture in a rigorous way.