READ PART 1

"How is that again?" I asked. "The collateral considerations and the —"

"No, the collateral matters and the associated considerations," she insisted.

"Let him tell it his way, Julie." Zack turned to me. "You can alliterate all you want to, Professor."

Eyes glittering with glee and expectation, she said, "All right. But no more stalling."

I sighed. "All right. Julie, you accused Zack of cherry-picking. He'd picked out the Old Testament rule about tattoos, but disregarded the ones about — what? — fields and meats and things."

"Right. If those rules don't mean anything for us Christians, this one shouldn't either."

"Don't you think 'don't mean anything' is a little strong? God had reasons for those Old Testament ritual and ceremonial regulations, even the ones that no longer bind us."

"I suppose so," she said, "but I sure can't see what they were. At least for most of them. The prohibition on harvesting your field right up to the borders, that I get."

"Do you?"

"Sure. It made sure that something was left over for the poor to glean. But take the rule that says you can't mix wool and linen threads. What could be the reason for something like that?"

"Actually several reasons have been suggested. I don't think the issue was wool and linen per se. I think the rule was a symbolic reminder that there are certain natural boundaries that shouldn't be transgressed."

"Prof, if a boundary is natural, then I don't see how it even could be transgressed."

"Are you so sure of that? Did you know that several biotech companies have attempted to cross human beings with pigs, by inserting the nuclei of cells from human fetuses into egg cells of sows from which the nuclei had been removed?"

"Oh, no! Why would anyone do such a thing?"

"They'd ask why they shouldn't do it, Julie. They simply don't believe in natural boundaries."

While Julie took that in, Zack asked, "What about the other two regulations we mentioned, the ones about beards and about eating meat with blood in it?"

"Well, there are several theories about that too. I don't know which one is right. Perhaps it was to set Israelites apart from others; you can see why that would be important. At least there's no mystery as to the rule about not consuming blood."

"I guess not," he said. "Those Old Testament dietary regulations must have been for health."

"You surprise me. Didn't you say that you'd read that chapter in Leviticus?"

"I did read it. So?"

I replied, "You're forgetting what it actually says. It doesn't leave us guessing. It explicitly lays out the reason for the rule, and health isn't it."

"I remember," said Julie. "Something about blood being the principle of life. And how you need it for sacrifice."

"Of course," I answered. "God says, 'For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it for you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls.'"¹

"God said He gave the blood?" asked Zack. "What a strange way to put it. I thought the priests took animals and — wait a second. That language points forward to Jesus, doesn't it?"

"Of course it does," I answered. "Christ is our high priest, and He gives His blood for us. Read the sixth chapter of the gospel of John, and take it in. Especially where He says, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.'"²

"So Christ commands us to — to consume Him."

"That's right. If it hadn't been for His atoning sacrifice, I suppose the prohibition on consuming blood would still be valid."

After a few seconds, Julie spoke in. "OK, I see that I was brushing off some deep stuff," she said. "I don't mean to bring us back down — but we were talking about tattoos."

I smiled. "What was the Old Testament rule again?"

She read from her slip of paper again. "You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh on account of the dead or tattoo any marks upon you: I am the LORD."

"What do you think God's reason for such a rule might have been?"

"I'm just guessing," she answered, "but do you think maybe it was to discourage the Hebrews from copying the customs of the pagan nations that surrounded them?"

"No doubt that was one of the reasons. But it couldn't have been the whole reason, could it?"

"Why not?"

"The Israelites were only forbidden to practice some of the customs of the surrounding pagan nations, not all of them. For example, they weren't told, 'Because pagans marry, for you marriage is out.'"

She said, "But tattooing was different. It was part of pagan religious rituals, wasn't it?"

"Wasn't marriage too? Didn't the pagans invoke their gods when they took wives? For fertility and so forth?"

"I suppose."

"So customs weren't necessarily banned just because the pagans tangled them up with their religious rituals."

She mulled it over. "You're saying that the issue wasn't pagan customs in general, or even pagan customs tangled with religious rituals, but this pagan custom."

"Yes."

"So maybe there was something problematic about tattooing in itself."

"Yes again."

"But what?"

"You're asking me personally?"

"C'mon, Professor T. I'm sure you don't think I'm asking you anonymously."

"No. All right, I see it like this. First of all, what we do with our bodies means something. They aren't just containers or coverings for our real selves; they're part of our real selves. They're also the only way we have to make themselves known to other selves."

"Sure. That's what I like about tattooing."

I laughed. "Let me finish. You're overlooking the fact that our bodies are also creations of God. Just as it defaces an artist's painting to spray graffiti onto it, so it defaces the Creator's 'painting' to carve tattoos onto it."

"But I wouldn't deface God's 'painting.' My tattoo would glorify Him. I was just going to get a fish tattoo, an ichthus. You know, the early Christian symbol — 'Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.'"

"I know what it is. The bumper sticker fish."

"It might even help spread the gospel. I'd think you and Zack would be for that."

"Go back to my analogy, Julie. Would it make a difference if the motive of the person spraying graffiti on a painting were to get a conversation going about how wonderful the artist was?"

"Well — no. That would sort of defeat the purpose."

"It's no better if the motive of the person carving his flesh is to get a conversation going about how good the Creator is. You see, the intention says one thing, but the act itself says another."

"But this is different. In your analogy, the painting doesn't belong to me. My body does. No, wait —"

"Hold that 'No, wait.' Our bodies don't belong to us either. They belong to God."

"All right," Julie said, "but if it's wrong just to decorate our bodies, then I shouldn't even be wearing this dress! We should all go naked! You're not going to get me to do that."

"No," I said, "but you're confusing decoration with defacement. A painting is decorated when you put a frame around it. Your body could be decorated — 'framed,' so to speak — by modest clothing or jewelry. Defacement is a different thing altogether. Don't you see the difference?"

Julie's earrings swung wildly as she shook her head. While she was still trying to think of a rebuttal, Zack jumped back in.

"I never thought of that, Prof. My big argument was that if she got a tattoo now, she might regret it later on."

"There, Zack," I said with a raised eyebrow, "I'm on her side."

Julie stopped gyrating her earrings. Zack stared. "What?"

"I don't think many people are dissuaded from getting a tattoo by the warning that they might change their minds some day. And I'm not sure why they should be."

Zack was stammering. Julie was beaming.

"The fact that you might change your mind some day is part of the attraction, isn't it? Getting a tattoo is something like an expression of commitment. It's a deliberate throwing away of the option of changing one's mind. In a day when no one believes in commitment, there's something almost admirable about that."

By now, Zack was too stunned even to stammer. Julie, however, wasn't beaming quite as brightly as she had been. "What do you mean almost admirable and something like an expression of commitment? Isn't that just what it is?"

"If it is," I said, "it's a cheap one, don't you think? People are terrified of expensive commitment, of life-changing commitment, of giving themselves up for something. Yet uncommitted, locked in themselves, their lives have no meaning. A tattoo is a compensation, a substitute for commitment. Its great appeal is that it feels something like it, and looks something like it, but at the same time it's so much easier than the real thing. You've thrown away the option of changing your mind about the tattoo, but everything else is the same as it was before!"

"So what are you saying? That instead of getting a tattoo, I should make what you call a 'real' commitment? Take a monastic vow or something?"

"My dear," I said, smiling at her, "if you had been called to a monastic life, then I would say that. But you've been called to something else, haven't you? In fact, haven't you already made a real commitment, a life-changing commitment, and don't you already have a physical sign of it?" I pointed to the golden band on her left ring finger. "You already have a 'tattoo.' It's right there."

She and Zack gave each other startled looks. I pressed on. "Besides that 'tattoo,' you both have a second one, and if you hang on, some day you'll both have a third."

"What do you mean?" asked Zack.

"In ancient times, soldiers were commissioned by receiving a 'seal' or tattoo on their bodies. It showed that they belonged to their commander."

"So?"

"You've received your commander's seal too," I replied, "but invisibly, on your souls. That's what Paul is talking about when he says, 'But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has commissioned us; he has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.'"³

"I never thought of it that way," Zack said.

Julie asked slowly, "If the second tattoo is our commissioning mark, then what's the third one all about?"

"The third one is the ultimate tattoo," I answered. "You get that one when the war is over. John puts it best when he says 'they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads.'⁴ Do you understand what John is saying?"

"Partly. It's symbolic. The forehead is the most conspicuous part of us."

"Yes, it's the boldest, noblest part of a human being — the place where a soldier wears his helmet, the place where a king wears his crown, the seat of wisdom."

"What about 'the name of God'?"

"In Scripture, 'the name of God' always means God Himself, in person. Like in the Psalms: 'I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.'"⁵

Julie's eyes were like moons. "So if the name of God is written on their foreheads, God isn't marking them with something that stands for Himself. He's marking them —"

Her voice dropped to a whisper.

"— with Himself."

For a little while no one had anything to say.

Finally Julie said, "My ideas about tattoos look pretty small next to that."

But Zack had the last word. "I'm glad that's over with. What about that dessert?"

* * *

1. See Leviticus 17:11-14.
2. John 6:53-54 (RSV). See also Matthew 26:27-28 and Hebrews 9:12.
3. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 (RSV).
4. Revelation 22:4b (RSV). See also Revelation 3:11-12 (RSV): "I am coming soon; hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God; never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name."
5. Psalm 69:30 (RSV).