Tattoos

Tattoos are a fleshly and worldly effort of self-atonement. They are an implicit admission of one’s own guilt and shame, and are a way of trying to deal with them. Tattoos are an attempt at covering oneself, at hiding, at putting one’s nakedness away from the view of others, of providing oneself with a new righteousness in the light of one’s lost innocence. They are a reflection of one’s conscience above anything else.

“And Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long robe that she wore. And she laid her hand on her head and went away, crying aloud as she went.” The shame is not always as a result of that person’s actions. The defilement might not come from that person’s choice. “She used to be so happy and good natured, but then everything changed. She became angry and depressed, and started arguing back all time. She started wearing all black clothes and black makeup. And then we found out she was secretly cutting herself.” Every parent that’s been through it recognizes it.

Tattoos, the multiplication of piercings, self-cutting - they’re all on the same continuum with each other. 

A nation covered in tattoos is a nation covered in shame, a nation that has refused the only real way of dealing with that shame.

God’s way of dealing with shame is through the washing of baptism and being clothed in the righteousness of Christ. The bathing of ourselves and the wearing of clothes reflect that physically, and point to our eternal purification and the white robes of Christ’s righteousness. Tattoos are poor substitutes. They are fig leaves.