A friend of mine told me the other day that she was having a conversation with someone, where they mentioned that they would never get a tattoo, because the Bible forbids it. My friend said, "Well you know I have a tattoo, don't you?", to which she received a mumbled response of some sort. Anyway, it made me wonder, seeing as how I recently got a tattoo myself...
The section of scripture that the person was referring to is from Leviticus Chapter 19, Verse 28 (NIV); "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord." It appears to me to be talking about the ritual practice of defacing your body in grief, such as was practiced by some of the people at the time, in order to appease the gods of death, etc., so I guess if you are getting a tattoo for idolatrous reasons that would be wrong. But isn't it interesting how we can sometimes take things like this passage out of the Bible and apply them to others, without worrying about the rest of the reference? For instance, in verse 28 it says, " 'Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard." and in Verse 19b; "Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material". Hmmmmm, perhaps I need to re-examine my wardrobe, and change my personal grooming habits.
One section of this Chapter of Leviticus that really jumped out at me though was verses 33 and 34; "When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the Lord your God."
Somehow it seems to me that this admonition has much more relevance and applicability today, for me anyway, than a warning that I should not breed different kinds of animals together. (Verse 19a).
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3 comments:
I'm glad that you are feeling convicted to treat our visitors from space nicely. Have you come across any of them recently?
Have you heard about the book where the author tried to live biblically for an entire year? Right down to the no beard-trimming no mixed-fiber-clothes wearing. It's called The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs. I haven't read it yet, but I'd like to. I'll let you know if it's any good. :)
I would love to hear about it MAB.
I personally have not bred different species of animals together, ever. So I am way out ahead on that one.
Oh, and I have never slept with a woman who is a slave girl promised to another man but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom. (But thank goodness for all the additional qualifications in that one.)
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