Leviticus 19:28 Says No, but Tattooing is a Billion Dollar Business

For identification purposes, Thoroughbred race horses are
tattooed on the upper lip. This is Paris Jackson's (lower lip)
horse tattoo identifying her as motley.

Not sure if any of you reading this has a tattoo, and this is not written as reproach (“Who am I to judge?”) but living in Florida, with Miami Ink which started the pop culture tattoo boom, everyone is dressed scantily because of the heat. Daily we see literally thousands of tattoos – because no one has just one.

One person alone could have several, as in full sleeve which means from shoulder to wrist, on one or both arms, or just half sleeve on one or both arms. A person could have their entire leg(s) tattooed. Both legs and both arms, with more tattoos on neck, chest, hands head – all on just one person. (With no tattoos myself, I feel naked in public.)

Or people have several tattoos here and there – front of upper leg, ankle, back of upper leg, calf, half sleeve on one arm, front and back of neck, with a sprinkling of falling stars on the other arm. Women wear short shorts and tank tops in various shapes to show off tattoos, men shave their head to display multiple odd tattoos along with ear plugs. Gross is the ear where the plug has been removed and the ear lobe hangs long and loose flapping in the wind.

I try to avoid reading people’s skins when they have messages tattooed on themselves. Who needs to read the National Inquirer at checkout when the person standing in front of you has some sort of meaningful message tattooed across their back? (“Wait, wait.” Hold still. I’m not finished reading your skin yet.”)

Then there are body piercings which I had thought were fairly on the wane. Tattoos and piercings go together, therefore a person with tattoos and ear plugs almost always also has piercings. Just last week I was out to dinner with friends and our server was a beautiful tall girl. Seated as we were and since she was so tall, we were looking straight up her nostrils. She looked as if she might want to make a discreet trip to the ladies room to blow her nose, and I tried to avoid staring at her left nostril until halfway through the meal I realized that what was there was the fastener for her nose piercing which was a silver ball perched on the outside of her nose. I would have thought that a girl as stunning as she was would not want people to think she had some sort of glaring debris in there.

Pop culture reflects secular society and secular society means just that – secular.  Devoid of God. Earthly, worldly, irreligious, profane and materialistic. Tattoos are now a $1.1 billion business (by 2020) which mirrors, along with everything else, the enormous void of God on earth where man is more interested in himself than the things of Heaven. It’s almost as if people think they are not beautiful the way God made them. They must beautify themselves with colorful tattoos of art.

Sometimes we do things when we’re young without having had the benefit of wisdom or acquired knowledge from having lived past 17, or 25, or 40 or so. Sometimes we regret our youthful decisions. If so, we go to God expressing our repentance and ask for forgiveness. If a tattooed person regrets their decision, just cover up, go before God and discuss the situation with Him. He will understand that from now on that person will be thinking more of Him and the beautiful creation that He made that person to be.

But all is not lost. The good news is that the tattoo removal business is on the rise.

Bonus video: How to Read a Lip Tattoo (Just in case you run into Paris Jackson, try this.)