Runboard.com
Слава Україні!

CTA


runboard.com       Sign up (learn about it) | Sign in (lost password?)

Page:  1  2  3 

 
warchild33 Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Registered user

Registered: 08-2006
Posts: 218
Reply | Quote
GOD & TATTOOS...the neverending battle (thankfully)



GOD & TATTOOS...the neverending battle (thankfully) I have read over the course of the last few months, lots of posts, blogs and comments about tattoos and God, about Christianity and Tattoos, about Religion and Tattoos and even though I am tattooed and a tattoo artist I have always felt compelled to stay silent and rather than argue or make a point....to trust God and smile, cause I know he is in these battles and in the end, he will prevail for his own purposes. Which I have no idea what they might be in each persons life.

Last night at 4AM in the morning God woke me up out of a perfectly peaceful sleep, which I have not had in such a long time and I wasnt sure why. Well, it was to share some time with him, unhindered from my daily routine and so he could tell me he loves me, which made me cry I am so blessed.

I got online and did some things I wanted to do, checked mail and was actually looking for a email or comment from someone in particular when I notice a Post from a brother about tattoos. I wandered into his page and read his blog and I felt God begin to stir me to words.........it is these words I wrote below and am now posting here to share with my friends as well. Now remember it is 4AM and I cant type all that good or even spell for that matter....I mean, I am a tattoo artist, why do I need to know how to spell (wink, wink).

In many ways in life you will run across things that will test your faith. Faith in what God has shown you, on who God is to you and in every situation....whether we are right or wrong, God is working. God is working in us, God is working in others and God is using others to work in us and using us to work in others. Our God is an awesome God and we should not simply see him as so simple in anything because he is bigger than that, bigger than we can imagine. In everything, I believe God is working.

We are called to two things and everything begins and ends in these two things....everything. If anything does not begin here and end here it is wrong.

MATTHEW 22

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

Because of our brokenness and the fact that we are of God, with God but not God, because we live in a broken world, because each of our journeys are different, just as each of our personalities and struggles are different. God, in his infinite wisdom, grace and love must and I believe does, use every circumstance, every choice, every struggle and every joy not only in our own lives for his purposes but also in the lives of others for his purposes in them. Which is why the verses in Matthew, which sum up the law and the prophets are so key and so important in our everyday lives....in our every thought......in our every choice.

Regardless of our sinful thoughts, our sinful emotions or possible even our sinful circumstances or choices....no matter how legalistic or grace filled they may or may not be, God is working and is both trying to show us his love for us, is asking for us to show him our love for him but also asking us to show others the same.

I have two full sleeves (unfinished), my neck is covered, my entire back is covered(unfinished), my chest, i have tattoos on my stomach, my legs and I got all of these before I was saved. I have not been tattooed for five years and I do tattoos for a living!!! Since before i was saved I have not been tattooed. BUT and above all.....I plan to get more and not to respresent Gods glory through what the images are or what they say (although I will say it is another way to show Gods glory) but more importantly because through the conflict they bring forth both in me and in others....God can work and his glory and love, his abounding grace can be found, can grow stronger and can bloom.

It doesnt matter to God if I am tattooed or if I am not..... what matters is can he use them, will I allow him to use them and me no matter how much I am condmened or accepted???? If not, if I will not allow him to use them (to give my tattoos to the poor, so to speak) then they are WRONG for me to get and for me to have and an inner conflict will arise and begin to destroy my relationship with God and others. (The exact reverse of Matthew 22, which is sin.)

I can promise you that right now standing here before God with a clear conscience and a heart that knows I love God and want to please him in all things. A heart that wants to align my life with his in all things......my tattoos only matter if God can be found from them.....not in them.

But more importantly than my tattoos or my right to have them or not have them, right or wrong in anyones eyes, are a few aspects that to me rings infinately more clear and of the upmost importance.....

My tattoos allow me infinite opportunities in the church to shows Gods amazing gift of grace and love to those who enjoy tattoos, even if they do not have any. To those who are in the church family and are not even interested in tattoos or like them, I am a symbol of Gods infinite grace. To those in the church family who dislike tattoos and feel they are sinful, I am an opportunity to show our freedom from law (Galatians 5,6) and able to be a branch for Jesus to work through (John 15:5). To show his love, his grace, his glory but also for me to be a witness of that grace and love through loving our brothers and sisters in even more ways...for me to grow. From blessing them (Matthew 5:44) regardless of how they feel or what they say and from being patiently steady, silently truthful, lovingly still in my approach and to simply watch God work, to let God be God and to trust him with all of my heart (proverbs 3:5)......to be a witness to his glory before and above my selfish (and prideful) desire to be a vehicle of his glory. Which in the end, usually ends up being a lot more true, a lot more worthy and a lot more loving. God is perfectly capable of being God, even if we fail to let him.

To those outside of the church God gives me daily opportunities to work in places where those without tattoos could never be a witness or never fulfill his work with grace, with authenticity and above all....with love, which we only know through grace. Not to show how much better I am (belieeeevvvveee me, i am not)....not to show others the "truth" (what do I know of truth?? Only God knows truth!!) but to be a light of grace, of unconditional love (1 corinthians 13:4) and to bare others burdens (1 Corinthians 13:7)....it is that simple and that clear. To LOVE GOD AND LOVE MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS....no matter how many colors they are or are not, how much they accept me or not or how much they believe what I believe or not.

So I say to you my brothers and sisters..........God is in you, in this situation and in these opportunities for each of us as well as for others......as well as for each person who witnesses this, reads this or is a part of this situation in each of our lives.......for his glory, for his purposes.........because of love. It is how I believe we can see the gigantic picture of the gift of life in this world, all the people in it....... shrink right before our eyes to a singular vision and a singular purpose........true love. Not only Gods but our own.....which are both commandements.

Many blessings to each of you on your journey, I know you already are but I pray for you right this second that you will not lose heart and that in that heart......LOVE WILL RULE.

THANK GOD FOR HIS LOVE THROUGH CHRIST OUR LORD AND SAVIOR.....WHOM WITHOUT NOTHING IS POSSIBLE.

warchild
Aug/30/2006, 2:03 pm Link to this post Send Email to warchild33   Send PM to warchild33
 
purp1 Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Registered user

Registered: 04-2006
Posts: 12
Reply | Quote
Re: GOD & TATTOOS...the neverending battle (thankfully)


hello

for the most part i think i understand, and honestly, some i didn't. don't know if its me, where i am with God, or whatever. I have one Tattoo, just got it this year. God helped with the design of it. and for some reason i am conflicted and seem to have a hard time getting this settled within myself.


i seem to go back and forth. I'm not sure what it is. If its thinking of the way ppl at church will view it or think about it.
Or maybe i'm tripping on ppl's interpretation of the Bible and their willingness to beat others with.

i know God led me to ur post. That's no mistake. maybe i need to take some time to pray and ask what i'm supposed to see from it, just drink it all in.

Thank you for ur post, God Bless U. emoticon
Sep/30/2006, 3:41 pm Link to this post Send Email to purp1   Send PM to purp1 AIM MSN Yahoo
 
Sojouner Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Registered user

Registered: 10-2006
Posts: 2
Reply | Quote
Re: GOD & TATTOOS...the neverending battle (thankfully)


null
Warchild,

I want to thatnk you for your post,
This is my first time replying to a post so I hope im doing this right. I have one tattoo on my chest of my wifes name, We both love the Lord very much and I feel the same as you, I came from a very strick family and piercings and tats were cosiderd Wordly and sin, I have my dif with them but with that they are also my parents and I show them respect by not wearing my earings around my fam and not showing my tat to them. I belive in something called conviction and if we keep are relationship close to God then we will be able to here what he will have us to do. I read your post and it was a blessing to me that from what i read you feel the same, Its hard for me to stand up were I live My wife and I are pretty much the only ones that we know of that a strong faith and have the same lifestyle, We live in what is called the "bible belt" but it is so full of many dif faiths and said to say not the right one. So I just want to say thank you for listing to God and writing this post.
May god bless you and your work!
Sojouner
Oct/1/2006, 11:44 am Link to this post Send Email to Sojouner   Send PM to Sojouner
 
Juggernaut73 Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Registered user

Registered: 11-2006
Posts: 3
Reply | Quote
Re: GOD & TATTOOS...the neverending battle (thankfully)


as many of you know the most powerful and damaging scripture that most christians would use in the argument against tattoos is leviticus 19:28, but what i would urge you to consider is this: We are not under the subjegatation of the letter of levitical law. Here is why, Jesus' New Covenant is what we are subject to, and while we must understand and respect the old covenant's because we wouldn't be here without them. All too often we forget that Jesus changed the law in two ways when he (RE)issued two commandments (Matt 22: 37-40.) Jesus' two commandments condense and reform the ten Commandments given to Moses on mount sinai in Exodus, (which are the basis for the levitical law. Also, Leviticus is the book written for the tribe of levi, the people who were designated to maintain the priesthood of all the Jews after the Covenatnt with Moses was broken) in Jesus' reformation of the ten commanments into two he restablishes the way in which we ought to behave with God and with each other. He Clearly divides the two into separate areas, or (if you will grant me a very small jump for the sake of time), he divides the spritual from the material;Divinity and Humanity. In re-issuing new commandments Christ also changes the law. He does this by making it so that we are no longer subject to the letter of the law (mosaic or lavitical) but rather the spirit(Christian) of those laws. what I mean is quite simply this, A Christian would say if you keep the letter of the law but are wicked in your heart, you are still wicked in the eyes of God. would it not then be also true to say if you break the Letter of Law but are truly just in your heart, would you not then be just in the eyes of the Lord? what I am getting at is this; we are spritual as well as material beings and as such we require spirtual as well as physical experiences. I think anyone who is inked can attest to the fact that a trip to the tattoo parlor is just that. As long as your capable of drawing the distintion that your tattoo is not a part of God or somehow manipulates God, or some other flawed belief, and you are not doing it with an un-just or wicked motive (because then you are certianly in violation of the law) then a tattoo recieved under the correct disposition of heart is a sign (while i am deffinately stealing some catholic ideas of sacrament to make this argument,I am not saying it is a sacrament) that points you or others to Him, or it somehow connects your physical-self to him, I would say if your spirit most deffinately remains just, and you are not in violation of any of God's Laws and remain just the eyes of the Lord.
Nov/8/2006, 7:00 am Link to this post Send Email to Juggernaut73   Send PM to Juggernaut73
 
warchild33 Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Registered user

Registered: 08-2006
Posts: 218
Reply | Quote
Re: GOD & TATTOOS...the neverending battle (thankfully)


I know I got a little wordy when explaining some of these things but it was early in the morning and my mind was set....once the website is up and going I think I am going to rewrite it (a little mroe clearly) and repost it there.

I truly thank each of you for your response. Since taking over as President of the CTA I have wanted more and more to interact, learn and pray with and for my brothers and sisters in the CTA, I am hoping once the site is up to be able to better communicate the "Ministry" of the CTA a little better and more clearly.

IN 2007....outreach is our goal.

We cannot do it with out each of you....so thanks for contributing your input...every litttle bit truly is helpful both to me personally and to the CTA staff and leadership.

Have a blessed and wonderful Xmas!!!

Jayme "warchild" Whitaker
Dec/16/2006, 3:15 am Link to this post Send Email to warchild33   Send PM to warchild33
 
mcmillantat Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Registered user

Registered: 01-2007
Posts: 1
Reply | Quote
Wanting to write


As a new-bee to CTA I'm looking to find stories from anyone who's willing about times they've witnessed to other people through their tattoo's. I hope to be able to publish a book with these stories, or about tattoos within christianity. So many people just see anyone with tattoos as, well words and things I can't write. I want to possibly open eyes for them and even parents possibly of God dedicated teens who want to get a tattoo to witness to others.
   What's even more interesting is stories of people who have been born again in christ and their stories of changing old tats into new God honoring tats.
   Can you help me get the word out that I'm looking for stories?

     In Christ
Jan/8/2007, 12:06 pm Link to this post Send Email to mcmillantat   Send PM to mcmillantat
 
ta2dtj Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Registered user

Registered: 01-2007
Posts: 1
Reply | Quote
Re: GOD & TATTOOS...the neverending battle (thankfully)


I feel like I just came home. I am the organist/pianist in my souther, traditional Methodist Church. I also just finished (this week) an elbow to wrist collection of tatts. Although I have been a Christian for as long as I can remember, I just got into tatt's a couple of years ago. I guess I'm naive. When I Googled Christians with Tattoos this week and found all those sites quoting Old Testament I was pretty upset. I never even thought that God would stop loving me when I started "inking". Well, I'm glad I kept searching and found CTA. Thank you for listening to His voice, so early in the morning. God Bless!
Jan/18/2007, 5:30 pm Link to this post Send Email to ta2dtj   Send PM to ta2dtj
 
warchild33 Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Registered user

Registered: 08-2006
Posts: 218
Reply | Quote
Re: GOD & TATTOOS...the neverending battle (thankfully)


Mcmillantat....

The CTA would be very interested in helping you reach out through a book. If you want to contact me directly you can do so @

[email protected]

We have many irons in the fire but a Tattoo?Faith book is one on our prority list.

We look forward to helping you reach out as God has called you....which is what we are called to do!!

God bless!!

Jayme
Jan/19/2007, 9:54 pm Link to this post Send Email to warchild33   Send PM to warchild33
 
warchild33 Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Registered user

Registered: 08-2006
Posts: 218
Reply | Quote
Re: GOD & TATTOOS...the neverending battle (thankfully)


Thank you brother ta2dti.....

in our hearts we long to seek out those who feel condemned and betrayed....where they are, as they are.....with no judgement.

Welcome....you truly are!

Your bro...

Jayme
Jan/19/2007, 9:56 pm Link to this post Send Email to warchild33   Send PM to warchild33
 
MrsMcCoy Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Registered user

Registered: 02-2007
Posts: 23
Reply | Quote
Re: GOD & TATTOOS...the neverending battle (thankfully)


Jayme, I think that word is definitely from God.

As Sojourner wrote, If you know that your tattoos offend someone you're close to, then it's better to keep them covered so that it will not offend them. One day, they may see things different.

When Paul was in his travels, as he went around, he did as the people he was around did. When he was with those under the Law, he lived as under the Law, so that they would not be put off by his actions. [1 Corinthians 9:20: To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.]

Now, I'm not saying not to go get inked. I love tattoos. I myself am soon to be getting one. BUT --- if you know there's someone around you that they offend, then don't "show off". This will just tend to push them further away. It's just like if you knew someone was a vegetarian, but you wanted to get closer to them, and be their friend, you would not make a show of eating meat in front of them. Instead, you may want to eat a salad or something. This would not hurt you, and it would help them.

Like I said, you may just win them over. But there are plenty of times, as well, when it is quite appropriate to show your tattoo. And it can be used as a witnessing tool. They can be used to show how we are NOT under the law any longer, and how 'There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.' (Romans 8:1)

I hope no one misunderstands what I'm trying to say. Put simply, don't be a stumbling block. emoticon But don't let people trample over you and run your life for you. You are not here to please man, but to please God. But sometimes, pleasing God includes pleasing man, for the Greater good!!!
Feb/7/2007, 5:41 pm Link to this post Send Email to MrsMcCoy   Send PM to MrsMcCoy
 


Add a reply

Page:  1  2  3 





You are not logged in (login)