Wedding Bible Verse Tattoos

A reader contributed a page on my site about wedding Bible verse tattoos. This page has caused more controversy than any other on my site.

I have received countless emails, some stating that tattoos are a sin and a one-way ticket to Hell. Others have criticized me for quoting Leviticus 19:28, which says, "Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD." (KJV)

It all started innocently enough with a simple comment, asking if I had any ideas...

The contributor, Matt, simply wrote:

My wife and I are giving each other tattoos professing our love for Christmas. She has chosen Song of Solomon 8:6, amazing verse but doesn't really fit for a guy as it is a letter from a woman. Wondering if you had any suggestions for the male counter part of that verse...most of what Solomon comments about is her body which is too shallow for ink. Thank you.

At first, I responded that a portion of I Corinthians 13 might be nice for wedding Bible verse tattoos. Some readers liked it and others told me I was dead wrong.

At that point, I never dreamed I would be bombarded by so many anonymous people telling me how wrong I was, no matter what my stand! Seems I cannot please anyone with this topic!

The worst email of them all made me rethink my answer on wedding Bible verse tattoos... I received a very lengthy email from a man claiming to be a pastor, letting me know that anyone who gets a wedding Bible verse tattoo will burn in the fires of hell. He also told me that because I allowed this on my website, I was going there, too. Never mind about the blood of Jesus cleansing us from our sins...we were all on our way to Hell!

I did not print that letter because I think he is full of baloney. But he did reference Leviticus 19:28, which I did not realize was there, even though I had read through the first five books of the Bible many times.

So I put this up:

"Keep in mind that the Bible is the Word of God. In the Old Testament, God condemns the tattoo.

'Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.'
...Leviticus 19:28

There are a lot of Christians who have tattoos. Many had them prior to coming to know Christ. We can ask forgiveness and we know he will forgive us, but I urge you to strongly consider what God said in the Bible before you get a tattoo."

After doing some research, I found that my full-of-baloney reader was wrong and so was I.

Since then, I have had countless emails saying that tattoos are fine and that I should not be uptight about them. Quite honestly, I am not uptight about them.

Let's look more closely at this Bible verse. The New International Version, which I prefer, says, "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD." (NIV) Some of the commentaries state that people back in Moses' time were putting marks on themselves to worship idols.

Matthew Henry, a famous Bible commentator wrote on Leviticus 19:28, "They must not make cuts or prints in their flesh for the dead; for the heathen did so to pacify the infernal deities they dreamt of, and to render them propitious to their deceased friends. Christ by his sufferings has altered the property of death, and made it a true friend to every true Israelite; and now, as there needs nothing to make death propitious to us (for, if God be so, death is so of course), so we sorrow not as those that have no hope. Those whom the God of Israel had set apart for himself must not receive the image and superscription of these dunghill deities."

I know a lot of people who have tattoos. Some are born-again believers, some are not. Some are family members, co-workers, fellow church members. What they do with their bodies is not any of my business.

The other night, I received an ugly email from a reader telling me that tattoos are approved by God and that I needed to pull my head out of my A** and go get a tattoo and enjoy life. Wow. She said that Leviticus 19:28 did not say that we should not get tattoos. She said that verse had nothing at all to do with getting a tattoo. She also told me not to take Scripture literally.

This made me decide to pull all of the section down so I did.

After further thought, I got to wondering why I should have to pull down a whole section just because it makes some people upset. So I am putting it back up here, all on one page, along with the story behind it all.

First of all, my head is not anywhere it should not be.

Second, this is my website and I will put up whatever I want to, as long as I think it is okay with God. I know a lot of Christians who have and continue to get tattoos. That is between them and God.

Third, if God did not want us to take Scripture literally, I am pretty sure he would not have wasted his time giving his words to men to write down.

Fourth, I do not have any tattoos because paying to get cut and enduring pain to have ink on me is not my idea of a good time.

I asked my pastor husband what he thinks. He said you have to take things written in the Bible in context and as long as the tattoos are not hateful or idolizing Satan or evil, they are okay.

Some people like tattoos, just like some people like to smoke and/or drink, and others like to dance. I have been in churches where it is taught that all of these behaviors are wrong. I have been in other churches where it is taught that we are free to do whatever we want in Christ as long as we do not feel it is sin. I do not particularly agree with this, but sometimes Christians focus on one thing and disregard everything else. I don't believe that a wedding Bible verse tattoo is going to put a born-again Christian in the fires of Hell.

The Bible states that all who accept Christ as their Savior will go to Heaven. It does not state "but only if you don't have any tattoos."

If you want to get a wedding Bible verse tattoo and you believe that it is okay with God to do so, then that is between you and God. Likewise, if you do not want to get a tattoo, either because you feel it is wrong or because you don't like the idea of being permanently marked with ink, that is fine.

Please feel free to contribute your wedding Bible verse ideas below. I welcome your comments but I do reserve the right not to print the ones that go overboard either way.

This page exists to give brides and grooms positive ideas for wedding Bible verse tattoos. Whether my page is here or not, a lot of couples want to get Bible verse tattoos.

So now let's get back to the original question...

One of the most popular wedding Bible verse tattoos is Song of Solomon 2:16 which reads, "I am my beloved's and he is mine." This is not too long so it can be read quickly and does not take up too much room. The Song of Solomon is a love story between King Solomon and one of his wives and this verse wraps up the whole book.

Wedding Tattoo Suggestion
by: Anonymous

I have a great wedding tattoo suggestion:
My husband had Proverbs 31:10 tattooed on him for our wedding.

Tattoos
by: Anonymous

According to the NIB, it states, "28 "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD."

It does not condemn all tattoos.