Comments on: Do you regret your tattoo?

By: Lolita

Lolita — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 03:23:25 +0000

From what I see, the question asked in this thread was “do you regret your tattoo?” and/or “is your tattoo still awesome?”

So for those of you who don’t have tattoos, your opinion on this is irrelevant, was not asked for and is unnecessary. I don’t care if it’s a free country – it’s still annoying and obnoxious.

By: A.G.

A.G. — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 07:18:26 +0000

I’m reading these responses and I see that a few people regret their tattoo. It makes me feel tense and like I’d regret mine, but as soon as I look down at my wrist and take a look at it… regret is the last emotion I have toward it.

I just got it two weeks ago, and I’m 19, but I feel it’s beautiful and it cheers me up. It makes me feel so much better about myself and my situation.

If a tattoo can help you do that, then by all means- get one. But if it’s just to ‘look cool’ and a momentary thing then don’t do it. If you’re asking others if YOU should get one, then don’t do it. I have a friend who did it on whim and regrets it now.

You should be certain in your choice and it doesn’t seem like you are. My advice: wait a few years.

By: jmd

jmd — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 09:26:44 +0000

Hoping not to come off judgemental, but I will give my stance. I really do not agree with tattoing at all. I can’t understand a Christian who would do that, especially under the pretext of it being a way to “witness” ?? This philosophy can lead to all sorts of other practices if embraced and followed.
The truth is, that tattoing is a worldly, vain, flesh-glorifying practice…I’ll be glad to hear any arguments that can prove otherwise. As followers of Christ, I understand we are meant to honor our bodies as best we can, as temples of the Spirit of Christ, not deface it with piercings, carvings, graffiti, even supposed “God-honoring” graffiti. You wouldn’t go and spraypaint whatever you thought was “cool” or God-honoring on your church walls, would you?
We should look to Christ as a model, he never tattoed himself, he was able to converse with people without the aid of flesh-carving, etc.
Sorry again if this sounds judgemental, this is my honest conviction. I can understand born-again Christians with tattoos from their old life as sinners, but I’ll admit, it’s hard for me to understand Bible believing, born-again Christians who accept and justify and embrace this practice. and encourage others to do it!!

By: Esther

Esther — Sat, 09 May 2009 03:55:23 +0000

I echo Robin’s response. Got mine at 18, does not reflect who I am today, but represents a different time in my life and how much God has grown and blessed me since then.

By: Robin

Robin — Fri, 08 May 2009 02:15:41 +0000

I don’t think my tattoo is awesome and I do regret getting it as I was 18 at the time and at that point it represented my pagan belief system. However, God used it for good…it now serves as a reminder of God’s grace and mercy toward me.

By: Deron

Deron — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:03:01 +0000

Not a fan and glad my wife and I don’t have them…however am working on developing a more grace-full attitude towards those who do.

Someone questioned what the Bible said about it, and I don’t recall anything specific about this.

Probably the most relevant passage to this matter is 1 Co 10:23-33.

Another might be 1 Co 6:19.

I think it would fall into the borderline category like smoking, drinking, gambling (maybe), R movies, body piercing, etc.

You have to weigh the benefits (e.g. does it glorify Jesus in the people group you’ve been called to minister to?) vs the drawbacks (e.g. does it portray Jesus in a bad way?).

By: lance

lance — Thu, 07 May 2009 23:02:16 +0000

I absolutely love mine. Debated long and hard about getting one, but I am really glad that I did. I was part of a military parachute team and it became a tradition over the past couple of decades to get the team patch on the right hip. Not everyone did it, but a lot did. So I am #268 in this line of skydivers and the rolls are up #400 now, I think.

I was in college, so I asked my parents. They both told me I should. I asked my then girlfriend and now wife before I got it too. She loves it.

By: CP

CP — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:13:06 +0000

Hard question, one I’ve wrestled with since getting my tattoo. The answer is Yes and No.

I regret the size of my tattoo, it’s too big and I think I was too nervous to ask the artist to make it smaller (stupid, I know!). I got my tattoo 6 mo. after becoming a believer to celebrate the incredible change God did (and continues to do) in my life. I hoped it would be an opening for witnessing as well but I have found that there is a stigma that comes along with having a tattoo.

I am getting married in August and trying to find a way to cover it for that day. Overall, I know that God has a purpose for my tattoo and my motivation behind it was to glorify His name!

Matthew 10:29- as a celebration of His sovereignty.

By: Shannon Archer

Shannon Archer — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:58:18 +0000

I was raised in the kind of church that believed wearing jeans to worship or having a tattoo were tickets straight to hell…I wear jeans to church now but haven’t braved a tattoo yet:)

By: Patrick Mitchell

Patrick Mitchell — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:17:49 +0000

my tattoo is doulos on upper right arm and has opened up conversations in the gym, so it’s been cool to see that used.

By: Cara

Cara — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:14:19 +0000

Revelation 19:16 “On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of Lords.”

Is Jesus going to have a tat when he comes back?

By: Westy | P H O T O N O M Y

Westy | P H O T O N O M Y — Thu, 07 May 2009 10:51:39 +0000

What does the bible say about having a tatoo.. ??

By: Bonts

Bonts — Thu, 07 May 2009 08:40:25 +0000

Joana, i think its o.k to get one in a developing country, you must just make sure they use a new, clean niddle out of a sealed pack. :-) Got mine when i was 16 with my mom there! Cool mom. I got saved when i was 18 and i’m 22 now, i dont regret it. I dont think its totally awesome, i want more but have struggled with what Levitical law says about tats though. Is God really glorified?

By: Marny

Marny — Thu, 07 May 2009 05:59:53 +0000

Although its not AWESOME anymore, I still love it and can’t help but want more. There’s something slightly addictive to it, like pringles, once you pop, you can’t stop.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 07 May 2009 05:34:06 +0000

No regrets! I decided on what I wanted and then waited a year to make sure it was something I would like. I’m thinking about possibly getting another one at some point.

Now how my parents found out that I had a tattoo….THAT I regret. It was in front of about 50 people and my mom made a scene. (She’s fine now.)

By: Matthew from Alaska

Matthew from Alaska — Thu, 07 May 2009 04:31:26 +0000

Another quick comment on this. I decided even before I got my tattoo that if I came to regret it, that was okay because I would rather look back and regret it than look back and regret not knowing. Not that I think this philosophy works for everything! But I figure, once I’m 60+ how much can I possibly care about how some ink in my skin looks?

By: Matthew from Alaska

Matthew from Alaska — Thu, 07 May 2009 04:26:17 +0000

Great question and some great answers. I wanted a tattoo since I was a kid. I had a design picked out and waited, no joke, six years. My wife was shocked when I actually did it.

I don’t still think my tattoo is awesome, but I do still like it. When I even notice it’s there. I got it almost 14 years ago. It was supposed to be the first in a sequence representing earth, air, fire and water. It is an abstract tribal mermaid. However, becoming a father a couple of years later convinced me I didn’t want to be “that dad”.

I also wasn’t a Christian at the time and sometimes at men’s retreats etc I have a little regret over it when I notice others looking at it. I also sometime regret it when I hear my daughters talking about how cool they think it is and their plans for tattoos.

All that being said, at pushing forty I do fantasize occasionally about getting at least one more of some Christian symbol like a celtic cross of my design on my other arm. You know, for balance. :)

And if money and what other people thought were NO consideration I’d get my wife and three daughters names tattooed beneath representations of them from the DC comic animated universe. My wife would be Wonder Woman of course.

By: JR

JR — Thu, 07 May 2009 02:54:25 +0000

i don’t regret mine (it’s the trinity), but i do regret the circumstances. i did it knowing that my mother would be VERY angry. it’s like having a continual reminder of the once sinful attitude i had towards respecting my parents.

however, i’ve come to believe it’s good to have a reminder of my sin…what i was saved from…where my heart once was, and how the Holy Spirit has been at work in my life.

By: Debby

Debby — Thu, 07 May 2009 01:54:17 +0000

I like my hubby’s (hmmm, hope he doesn’t mind me saying so…it’s on his arm. I just feel like I need to say that).

It was cool when we were 19 and it still is. I reckon I like it most of all because it’s attached to him.

It also is a great distraction for the kids when necessary.

By: Kaylene

Kaylene — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:24:18 +0000

I’ll admit that I’m feeling a little facetious, but I think the next question should be “SHOULD you regret your tattoo?” :-P

By: Joanna

Joanna — Wed, 06 May 2009 23:00:59 +0000

Trenton B
My advice is that if you are 18 and in Thailand without your parents, get all of your inking done in English as opposed to a language you nor the Thais know nothing about, i.e. Gaelic.
Firstly i would say to that probably best not to get tattoos done in a developing country. The hygine standards will likely not be as high as those back home. Quite nasty stuff can be caught from unhygienic tattoos.

Secondly, before you get a foreign language tattoo done get the design checked by an expert in the language (not just someone who speaks a little bit of it or the tattooists design book) Particularly in Chinese and Japanese many people get tattoos that ether say something completely different to what they intended or roughly translate but have very different connotations in the other language.

By: kendra

kendra — Wed, 06 May 2009 22:29:26 +0000

i still love it. i made a rule that i could not get it until i was set on the same idea for over a year.
and now i want more.

By: Christopher

Christopher — Wed, 06 May 2009 22:05:30 +0000

As an artist, I’d much rather tattoo someone than have one for myself.

I’m also in the boat of “Really? Are you going to like that in 40 years?”

By: nathan

nathan — Wed, 06 May 2009 21:56:39 +0000

I have the Desiring God logo on one wrist and the phrase “for the fame of His name” starting on the other wrist and working up toward the middle of my arm. The sweet atheist lesbian tattooist did a phenomenal job, and I couldn’t be happier.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Wed, 06 May 2009 21:53:40 +0000

I got mine just under a year ago. It’s an apple. It’s the symbolism of the fruit of temptation and putting it behind you (before anyone begins, yes I’m a college student, and yes I fully know that the fruit Eve would have eaten would not have been a fruit, but you try getting an orange on your back and explaining that…)

I don’t show it rarely ever. But when I do see it, it’s an instant reminder that I don’t have to live a life in bondage to sin. It reminds me that God always provides a way out, and it reminds me of Psalm 17:8.

I love it. It’s tiny, simple, and powerful.