Valley Christian Church, Artesia, NM

This blog post from Beliefnet News will get you thinking for sure and it is especially relevant to our teaching this week from Galatians 2.

The Bridge, an offbeat church in a Flint, Michigan shopping center, is offering tattoos to its members. It also offers occasional classes in cage fighting, poetry slams and auto repair.

“A Michigan pastor who says he’s doing everything he can to reach out to people who don’t feel comfortable at a traditional house of worship has opened a tattoo parlor inside his church,” reports Businessweek magazine.

But tattoos? What’s next, mixed martial arts? Professional wrestling exhibitions? Actually, the Bridge church has already offered both. It seems the Rev. Steve Bentley says his ministry is built on his conviction that mainstream Christian evangelism has become ineffective and irrelevant to most folks.

But what about Leviticus 19:28, which plainly says, “You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves.” That would seem pretty straightforward.

Yeah, counters Bentley, but what about Isaiah 44:5, which proclaims in part: “This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s’ and … another will write on his hand, ‘Belonging to the Lord.’ And will name Israel’s name with honor.”

Bentley says the context of the Leviticus prohibition is a list of pagan practices the ancient Israelites were to shun. Godly tattoos praising the Lord are allowed.

Bentley teaches Christians are free to tattoo their bodies since he believes New Testament believers are not bound by the Old Testament laws to gain a right relationship with God. The Bridge actually teaches that if Christians obey laws of the Old Testament, they must also be bound by Jewish rules restrict eating shellfish or pork, trimming one’s beard, or grilling cheeseburgers. Indeed, the Apostle Paul writes that the Old Testament Law was designed by God was to lead people toward Jesus.

“Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor” (Galatians 3:24-25).