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Most of my friends have tattoos; most of them came from LDS families but left when they were children and just never had interest in going back. With many of them, their tattoos are part of who they are to me, because they have had them for as long as I’ve known them. I’m actually designing a new tattoo for one of them per her request, so I suppose you could say my objection to tattoos is very lax. I myself would never get one, though; I know how I am, and I know that my tastes change yearly to the point that doing something permanent at all would be a pretty big mistake on my end. From an artist’s perspective, there are many tattoos I’ve seen that I just can’t stand because of the color, the design, the anatomy of the things being illustrated, etc. On the other hand, I’ve seen many that are just breathtaking to my personal tastes. Then there are the ones with misspellings…honestly, if people want to get tattoos, they’re going to get them regardless of what the Church says. I wish it would be more a focus to counsel people to be careful and have safe-use resources accessible somewhere, so some people don’t end up with something they’ll end up regretting when they turn 21 or something.
On another note, there was that viral news story a while back about a woman who was using her tattoo skills to cover up scars on women’s bodies that resulted from abuse or violence. I’m all for supporting that.
On the other hand you could get one as a testimony of your faith and commitment. http://s122.photobucket.com/user/JinxiBoo/media/ItsExplosiveBlog/Content/Mormontattoos.jpg.html?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1241572274897 When I was growing up in the 70’s I had a bell bottom leisure suit. I got many a compliment on its stylish appearance. By the time I got home from my mission people looked at me like a fool if I wore it. Fads come and go so who wants to be stuck in a leisure suit all their life
GBSmith wrote:On the other hand you could get one as a testimony of your faith and commitment.
http://s122.photobucket.com/user/JinxiBoo/media/ItsExplosiveBlog/Content/Mormontattoos.jpg.html?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1241572274897
Now THAT should be something that they prophet tells people to do over the conference center pulpit. Eww.I’ve never wanted a permanent tattoo, but I’ve had painted on ones that lasted a week. A Maori or Celtic design would be my thing.
Here’s a cool Buzzfeed showing some very tasteful tiny tats: http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/tiny-adorable-tattoos#.humzlGxwb One other link from a blog post I did a while back that I think many here will really enjoy, I really believe that the scripture about our body being a temple refers to the “body of Christ” aka the community of believers, meaning it’s more akin to the comparison of the foot saying it has no need of the head, etc. The “body” (group of people) being a “temple” also is reminiscent of the scripture that says when 2 or 3 are gathered, there will I be in their midst – which is what the temple is supposed to be!
http://www.wheatandtares.org/12533/body-as-temple/ I’m not into tats, for the reasons others have mentioned – but every time I hear the temple analogy I can’t help but look around at all the overweight people in our pews (including myself) and think, Quote:Really?!
I did get a tattoo just after I graduated and I had some extra ear piercings. The president Hinkley talk came out shortly afterwards and I have to admit, I was really upset. I loved my earrings, much to my mothers’ disgust. I came home and took out my earrings cause my family had taught me that if I couldn’t obey this, I wouldn’t be able to obey anything. I also was in a home where it wouldn’t have been tolerated to do anything other than take them out. I cringe now at the times I have taught this example to youth as a way to encourage them to be obedient. I was also one to see a person with a piercing and think, well, I know how committed they are to the prophet. Yikes!! I think it breeds judgement. It causes us to “look on the outward appearance” and not as the Lord does “on the heart”. That was always my favourite scripture mastery as a kid and I think the white shirt stuff, the earrings and tattoos, the dress our best, mentality is a breeding ground for exactly what the lord doesn’t teach.
I think it should be left to us to choose and live with our own consequences if we decide to get some nasty tattoo or a beautiful one. Because really, that’s just personal taste. Haha
Quote:The “body” (group of people) being a “temple” also is reminiscent of the scripture that says when 2 or 3 are gathered, there will I be in their midst – which is what the temple is supposed to be!
Hawkgrrl, Stop reading the scriptures it gets in the way of the message.
🙄 I’m torn. Last Sunday we had our ward conference and the subject came up. The SP had the floor and he asked everyone a question that I no longer remember but I remember it creating a disturbance in the force (DJ
Personally I don’t care one way or the other what someone else does with their body so I don’t get the fuss. I’m not terribly interested in getting a tattoo myself because I recognize that I’ll likely change my mind at some point and tattoos are hard to change.
I say I’m torn because on the one hand I don’t care but on the other… someone in my family got some tattoos and I rolled my internal eyes. I didn’t vocalize my misgivings. I’m not to proud of that reaction and it directly contradicts the other side of me that wants to defend people with tattoos when they come under assault. I’ve got my theories. Family is closer than a stranger. Maybe I subconsciously look at the stranger that way but it only bubbles to the surface when it’s immediate family.
Some jobs dont allow visible tatoos (some financial institutions and customer facing jobs) while some jobs probably encourage tatoos. One might want to consider consequences to professional life not only religious consequences. nibbler wrote:Last Sunday we had our ward conference and the subject came up. The SP had the floor and he asked everyone a question that I no longer remember but I remember it creating a disturbance in the force (DJ
You mean something like this?
Quote:If you’ve ever expressed a different opinion about something in a church meeting, you’ve probably seen it yourself. Everyone sits up straight as their haunches tighten. Lips flatten as a smooth pitying look masques, “Holy s#%&@! A wolf!”
(From Robert Kirby, Salt Lake Tribune, March 13, 2015)I don’t like them. I agree with the permanence problem. Johhny Depp was reported to have Winona (Winona Ryder) tatooed on his body, and after they broke up, changed it to Wino (don’t know if it’s true, but a good story about how it’s hard to get rid of tattoos, particularly when life changes). Also, as your body changes over the years, I wonder what that does to the tattoo. If you were fat when you got the tattoo, and then you lose all the weight, does it become a gnarly, unrecognizeable hanging mass? I also think certain kinds of tattoos mark a person as belonging to a certain class of people, even though I am not a proponent of class structure and initial, snap judgments. Those blue and red arms length tattoos really look like the sort of things nefarious people wear.
If I was to have a tattoo, it would be somewhere invisible to most of the world.
I think it will be interesting to interview some of the tattoo proponents when they are in their 70’s and ask them what they think of it then!
As a gospel thing — I don’t think we should attach it to any kind of salvation or worthiness thing, but as a cultural value, I don’t mind it — but would never criticize people for having one.
I can particularly get behind tattoos to remember a deceased loved one (especially a child). I would recommend waiting a year after the death to be sure that you understand what you are doing and the long term consequences … but I can fully understand wanting to do something permanent to remember the loved one. Isn’t that the same concept behind headstones and temple ordinances?
I think it’s interesting there hasn’t been one doctrinal/church support.. just practical. Interesting to me how we are all on such a similar page. I think there are a lot of valid concerns- permanence being the major and consistent issue. I think we have an issue with things being “permanent”, especially after a lot of the changes we’ve had in our lives. I’ve toyed with the idea and, the permanence is the only thing that stops me, tastes changing, etc. It just doesn’t seem worth it. I wish there was a way to have longer term “temporary” ones.
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