Visual Witness

"But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed. 
 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all." 
- Isaiah 53:5-6


Welp... It's Monday again. And to add to the start of the week, it dropped 20 degrees over yesterday and snowed. The good news is. I survived. Mondays don't necessarily feel like Mondays to me anymore as I am not in school and have two days off work, not in a row that don't occur on the weekend. The only reason that I truly know it is a Monday is because I went to church yesterday and generally Mondays follow Sundays. Go figure.

I decided that when I started this blog I would let God guide the discussions that I post. Mostly I would allow any ideas that popped into my head to be thrown up onto the screen for all to read. But apparently I haven't taken my ipecac today. So, just as any Christian blogger may do, when inspiration fails, reach for your bible. 

I read today's daily verse from my bible app, which is written at the top of the post, and it reminded me of something mostly different from everything in that verse. Tattoos. 

I am a believer in tattoos. I think they are true art and can have incredible meaning and witnessing principles. Now, before anyone starts condemning me for marking my body. Hear me out. In Ezekiel; Ezekiel 34 to be exact, the bible talks of God as the shepherd of His people. He rebukes the leaders of the church saying. "You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally." He calls those leaders the "shepherds of Israel." They are the leaders, the spiritual leaders of the Jews and they have done a terrible job having any kind of compassion for their flock or passion in their profession. He says that He will "remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them."

The chapter continues and talks of how God will become that shepherd needed by His people. He will tend the flock, guide them and leave the flock to find any and all lost sheep and return them to the flock. He will judge the sheep and lead them to rich pastures. 

I think that is a beautiful portrayal of how God is to be viewed. We are humans. Because we are humans, we make mistakes; we are sinful. We are not perfect. And because of that, even God's chosen people were being led by shepherds that did not have their best interest in mind. But, God never gives up on us, even the one sheep that strays from the flock. He will personally go out and find that sheep and return it to the flock. He has our best interest in mind and will lead us to the best pasture.

I want to get that beautiful portrayal of God shepherding his flock as a tattoo. I want a whole arm sleeve dedicated to this chapter and God's continual shepherding of His flock. I want to have comfort in knowing that God will never leave and I need continual reminders of that fact. We all do. 

However, many of you might quote the most common verse against tattooing in the bible; Leviticus 19:28, which states, "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord." This is a controversial topic as some people believe this verse as infallible truth. We are not to get tattoos or mark our bodies. I am not one to tell you that you shouldn't follow this because as long as you love God and believe in your heart that what you are doing is the right thing and in God's plan, I have no ill to speak on you. 

The context of the verse is early in the historical narrative of the bible. Moses and the Israelites are defining the new kingdom of God on earth in Israel. Because this is God's chosen land and God's chosen people, He wants it to be pure and He wants it to be unblemished. For that reason, Leviticus can be defined as a book of holiness. It is full of instructions to follow in order to be an individual in the community of Israel under God's protection. Moses tells the Israelites in the verse stated above that God didn't want them to be like the pagans who would cut and mark their bodies as a way to gain attention from their deity's. He wanted them to be more pure and righteous than the pagans. 

However, in our day and age, tattoos are not meant to only be religious in nature. They have gone from a purely paganistic ritual to expressions of each unique individual. People get them for every reason from just wanting one to see what it's like to cultural rituals in which the individual getting the tattoo uses the art as a shield from animal spirits taking over their bodies and actions. Check out the powerful video of this occuring here. 

In my mind, I use tattoos as a part of who I am as a person. I depict important aspects of my core being. God being at the center. I have four tattoos at the moment, all depicting important puzzle pieces of my life that have shaped who I am as a person. Two of them are Christ centered and I intend for them to be witnessing tools as well as reminders to myself of the love God has shown and the reminder of his unfailing support of my life. Tattoos are generally not seen as a christian undertaking, albeit the stigma is slowly changing, and the people mostly drawn to tattooing their bodies are unchurched. If I can reach one of those people on their level because they are attracted to my tattoos, it opens the door to talking about my beliefs and my love for Jesus. Something that God calls us to do; be disciples.

Tattoos aren't for everyone and some people may not think they are pure because of God's instruction and that's OK, because God will certainly use you in a different way to reach people that my tattoos can't. That's what makes us unique and even more clearly defines the unique traits God has placed inside each of us.