Rong, Was perusing a blog in which the questions of permissibility of tattoos came up. These questions were asked: "What crowd does a tattoo identify you with? And for the "elder" members of the board who have a tattoo…any of you care to testify to these younglings about why you have a tattoo and what you think about it now?" I was wondering how you'd answer them. If you have a second.

Thanks, TUM hr The reason the Unfettered One is asking me this is because I have a few tattoos. Nothing that I have is controversial in nature; no skulls, knives, naked women, etc. I have the head of a Tiger on my right forearm, a full tiger on my right bicep and a rose on my left bicep. That's it and probably that's all there ever will be or at least so my wife has informed me.

I got my first tattoo in 1982 while stationed at Lowry AFB in Colorado. Back then the only people who had tattoos were bikers, military personnel and side-show freaks. Tattoos were definitely not seen as an acceptable form of self expression, not even by the most liberal of standards. Which is why it's amazing that only 30 years later everybody and their Grand Mother is getting inked. So what happened to change the social criticisms regarding tattoos and those who wear them?

I'm not a sociologist, never studied the field and I don't play one on TV but I don't think you need to be a scholar to recognize the change in social morays that were once mainly constrained by religious underpinnings. As the idea of "self" as opposed to community became more and more acceptable (and by this I mean the idea of individualism becoming not only more acceptable but lauded) then so also the outward forms of self expression became more acceptable. What could have once been considered as rude and disrespectful is now simply seen as a form of self expression. The old adage, "Don't judge a book by it's cover." is recognized as one of the few truths that everyone can be agreed upon. So the kid wearing all black with mascaraed eyes and long stringy hair is…. currently working on his masters degree and has a 4.0 grade average. So what do I make of tattoos? Isn't it just another form of self expression?

The Old Testament is pretty adamant about not tattooing ones self – Leviticus 19:28 You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the LORD. And while some will blithely point out that they are not getting tattoos or piercings as way of worshiping the dead I believe there is a bit more to it than that. You may not have a tattoo as a way to worship your deceased Grand Father but why do you have a tattoo? The important question and the one a self professing Christian should really be asking them self is what does/will this tattoo represent to me? And of equal importance, what do I want it to mean to those who see it on me?

At 20 the Tiger represented power and strength. The tattoo in and by itself represented a radical departure from the social norms of my day, i.e. this guy is different, possibly dangerous and not someone to be taken lightly.  Or at least that's what I wanted others to think. Hey, it was cool and I was cool for having done it. So where does Christ fit into any of this? Well he didn't, at least not for me at the time as I wasn't a Christian. But what about now? What do I do with my two college age kids who both have more tattoos than I do? What do I think about seemingly every kid over the age of 18 who now has some tattoo painted somewhere on their body? It has seriously become almost a right of passage for young adults.