For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.
In my mind, it is telling that the subject of cutting, piercing, and tattooing is even a subject for Christians. Unfortunately, we have degenerated so far down the path of corruption that even the so-called Christian world has little to no discernment concerning the standards of God’s righteousness.
The basis for righteousness is that we are a “holy people unto the Lord.”
It’s a separation issue. We do not do as those who are not Christians do, because we belong to the Lord.
- We don’t cut ourselves
- We don’t pierce ourselves
- We don’t mark ourselves with tattoos
Because we belong to the Lord.
- We are to be holy because we are wholly His
- We are to be a peculiar people because we are particularly His
I am waiting for the astute critic of such standards of righteousness to point out that the very context I am working with also references the clean and unclean meats, and we all know that the New Testament retracts the standard of unclean meat. I agree that it is perfectly fine to eat those meats today, and to give God thanks for it. But even the New Testament teaches that eating those meats with an “in your face” attitude towards those who think differently is not fine.
I can see an application to the young soldier with tattoos he innocently got while serving. While I do not encourage young soldiers to get those tattoos, that does not compare to the raucous destruction of the flesh practiced by the modern tattoo craze.
I see an application for the young lady wearing earrings. It is an entirely different spirit to have discrete ear piercing for jewelry than it is to pierce one’s body or cut oneself in a grotesque, obnoxious, and indiscrete manner.
Can a person get wild tattoos, piercings, and other physical alterations and still be a Christian? Yes. But it is not becoming the Christian. It reveals a love for the world and is evidence of no holiness toward God.
And since the friendship with the world is enmity with God,[1] the salvation of this one’s soul is a genuine concern.
[1] James 4:4 (KJV)
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.
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