Each week in On the Other Hand, Ben Bartlett defies the common wisdom and identifies the other side of the story of cultural hot-topic issues.

One of the most popular posts we’ve had here at CAPC was regarding my friend David’s tattoos.  The topic draws a lot of attention from Christians, both good and bad, because of how difficult it is to interpret biblical mandates like the command to regard one’s body as a temple.

One might think that both sides can agree, then, that the rising business of tattoo removal would be appreciated, even celebrated, by Christians.  After all, it’s essentially a cleansing of the temple.  Correct the wrongs of the past!  Heal the wounds and memories of sin!

I’m not against tattoo removal if you don’t like the tattoo anymore.  Still, in some ways it saddens me a bit.  A tattoo is a moment in time, a long term reminder of who you were and  how you felt at a specific location in your life.  Though I hope that would make people more cautious, somehow I also don’t want to see so many people attempting to forget who they were at specific moments in their lives.

Anyone who has seen Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind knows what it is to wrestle with memory. To feel pain is difficult, but it is also a constructive force in our lives and an important part of who we become.  Each step we take contributes somehow to our current condition, and each memory is a piece of the emergence of our character and personality and selfhood.

What do you think?  Is the rise of tattoo removal an encouraging rise in appreciation for the unsullied human temple?  Is it an indicator of people with no appreciation for memory?  Or is it merely a pragmatic function of people trying to avoid labeling so they can more easily market themselves?

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Ben Bartlett

Ben Bartlett is a business consultant, living and working in Louisville, Kentucky. He and his wife Samantha have three terrific kids. He loves reading, theology, politics, analysis, Ultimate Frisbee, and hiking. He also loves serving as an elder and teacher in his local church.

1 Comment

  1. It’s a complicated issue, I think. Of all the options, the simplest is for someone to remove a tattoo because they just don’t like how it looks anymore, or perhaps removing that awkward matching tattoo someone got with their ex-girlfriend.

    Philosophically, I would say that the issue you raise is putting a finger on why tatoo’s are probably a bad idea. Experiences are things we have, in part, to grow us into the people we will be. If you get a tattoo to make you feel strong or sexy, in five years you may have a better understanding of what those things really are, and you’re old way of thinking will be hopelessly wrong or immature. So, the tattoo will no longer mean what you originally set out for it to accomplish, and so you might want to get rid of it.

    Personally, I think that the argument against tattooing b/c the body is a temple is a bit of a shallow argument, that verse has nothing to do with tattooing; it has to do with sexual immorality (1 Cor. 6:15-20). If that is the only proof text someone has against getting a tattoo, its rather shallow.

    I’m more concerned about someone’s motivation to get a tattoo. Do they think it will improve their physical beauty in some way? Does it help mark a momentous event? Either way, I’m not sure that trying to ‘mark down’ an event through a tattoo is very wise. The events of our lives are still unfolding, beauty really is more than skin deep, and what we think is momentous now may not be so momentous later. Finally, the things that really mark us mark us on our heart, not on our flesh, and these memories and feelings are finally understood only by ourselves and no one else (Prov. 14:10). Such events do not need recording on our skin to stay real or remembered.

    So there you go. Just a few random thoughts to get the ball rolling. ;)

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