I don't get tattoos

 This title does not mean that I don't have tattoos put on my body. It means I don't understand them. 

I said this to two Christian students yesterday at a weekly lunch meting we are having this summer. Both young men love Jesus. I could tell they thought my viewpoint was odd and a little judgmental or at least old school. I modified and owned the view as mine, not universal. "I just can't see putting all those permanent marks on yourself. Ten years later you're still stuck with them, unless you want to have a painful process done." They agreed that people take it to an extreme and that's a problem. 

So be it. It's a personal decision between a person and God, and there are reasons people do it that are deeply idiosyncratic. A family member did it in solidarity with another family member who had helped her through cancer. Individuals want a mark that reminds them of their faith commitment. (I can think of cheaper, less painful, and removable ways.) It's not entirely forbidden in Scripture (i.e., Old Testament) and there it's more a matter of what is etched in your epidermis than the fact that it is. 

A friend said yesterday people get addicted to them because they are painful and the end of the pain creates endorphins. I'm just too cheap to pay for one and again, don't want anything permanent. For the same reason I wouldn't get plastic surgery. I'm a hypocrite, though, because I've had corrective surgery o other types. 

Again, my opinion doesn't matter and it's all personal. I just don't get it.