At one point I had briefly thought about a tattoo in my twenties. I was kind of a "go big or go home" guy, so I thought about something like an oak tree across the back. But I could never really decide or commit to something, anything, I wanted on my body for the rest of my life. My tastes and interests change too much and too frequently, and I have also been known to have a regret or two. In fact, I know grace is real because there is no way I could have sustained 20+ years of religious practice and devotion if it weren't for God's grace in it, the reason for my belief in the first place. It never would have sustained itself beyond a passing fad without it. I'm simply too fickle, or maybe just am interested in too many things.
Again, another observation: many of the pious people I know do not have tattoos. Not that a pious person can't have them, but in many cases the tattoos came before a major conversion and so are a fleshly reminder of a past life. I don't know too many people who have come to Christ in a major way and end up getting tatted after the fact. Not to say it can't happen, I just haven't seen it.
I don't know if there are arguments against tattooing from a Christian point of view. I see it is as kind of neutral. I know Leviticus states you shall not put tattoo marks on your body (19:28). Matt Fradd at Catholic Answers writes a little bit and seems to share my view here. I'm not here to write about the morality of tattoos.
What I did want to write about it why, despite that an outsider would call me "pretty religious," I would not consider getting any kind of religious tattoo as a reflection of that faith or piety. This is me speaking personally, not making blanket statements. And as I have been reflecting on it, I think it ties into Romans 7, where Paul speaks about the law and sin:
"What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good." (Rom 7:7-12)
On Ash Wednesday, we Christians are "marked" more of less with the conspicuous sign of the cross in black ash on our foreheads, but for a day. But then we wash it off and get down to business: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. We do this in a way that does not let the right hand know what the left hand is doing.
Here's my fear in getting something like a tattoo of our Lord and Savior on the cross, or Jesus wearing a crown of thorns, or our Blessed Mother, tattooed on my arm or back or wherever--that when I would do that, like the law, sin would seize the opportunity afforded by this kind of bodily "oath" to produce in me every kind of impiety. When our Lord says, "Let your yes be yes and your no be no; everything else is from the evil one" (Mt 5:37), for myself I apply this reasoning to any kind of religious tattoo. A tattoo is a kind of oath--its something you commit to having on your body and displaying until you are lying in your coffin. It speaks about you to others, whether you want it to or not, particular to whatever the image is that is being reflected from your skin. People typically get things tattooed on their bodies that are meaningful or important to them--it may be their children's names or images; a loved one; a particular verse of poetry; or a meaningful flower. Whatever it is, unless you have it removed by laser, it is with you for life.
I think about women I have had relations with in my past via fornication--women I tattooed and more or less bound my spirit to--that I am not (obviously) with today. I was so sure I was in love. I was so sure it was ok because we were committed. Of course the Church's prohibitions did not apply to me given these feelings? And yet I live with the tattoos of regret for having sinned against the Lord and made an oath with my body that was obviously broken. The Lord has forgiven my sin and I have done penance--he has used the laser of his precious blood blot out my offense. But knowing what I know about myself, a tattoo is reminiscent of these kinds of poor decisions and rationalizations of a kind of permanence that I cannot commit to.
I have seen some beautiful artwork of our Savior and our Lady in ink. But, personally, I think these are best served on canvas, or paper, or icons, than on bodies. When we sin, when these living icons of holy images are fused onto our skin, and we become visible apostates to the Holy Face. Does a religious tattoos--no matter how committed we are to our faith--make us more holy, more pious? I would have my doubts. And if not, then would be willing to question why it is we would consider making our skin this kind of canvas, were it not to aid in piety or devotion? If you are robbing a liquor store or fornicating with an image of our Lord on your shoulder or arm, are you not bringing shame and scandal to the faith and the holy images of the One who died to forgive the very sins you are committing?
Again, this is not to make judgments. But I know for myself, were I to get such a holy image tattooed on my body, I would feel sin would be right there as the day in which the law was birthed (Rom 7). I would rather have a blank canvas of a body, let my yes mean yes and my no mean no, do charity unnoticed, mortify the senses in secret, and venerate images in churches and private chapels, then be a walking billboard of hypocrisy, given my great sins which bring tears to the Savior's cheeks.
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