Short, sweet and to the point: Leviticus 19:28 says, "Don't cut gashes in your flesh when someone dies or tattoo yourselves; I am ADONAI."

GOD said not to do it; therefore, we shouldn't. The body is not ours to deface; it is the Temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16). There is nothing in the Bible tells us to decorate our bodies with permanent paint placed under the skin!

The origin of the tattoo is associated with paganism, demonism, Baal worship, shamanism, mysticism, heathenism, cannibalism and many other pagan beliefs. Tattoing has never been connected with believers in YHWH (Yahweh) or Messiah Yeshua. The biggest thing we see men of old doing to their bodies was to place rings in the noses and ears of women (Genesis 24, Ezekiel 16) and of their servants (Exodus 21:16). We see not one instance in the Bible where man drew or carved imagines into his skin!

The theme of most tatooes is death and darkness – skulls, snakes, demons, weird and rebellious things. Even those who have crosses tattoed on themselves don't realize the cross is a pagan symbol - an instrument of torture and death used by the pagan Greeks and Romans of old. And let's not forget about the fact that tattooing is risky because you can acquire any number of deadly diseases, including Hepatitis C and AIDS.

Before you insist, “But that's in the OLD Testament!" please remember that, as a believer, YOU are a part of Israel who is to do exactly as the Hebrews did, since you proclaim to believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob:

Numbers 15: 13 "'Everyone who is native-born must do these things in this way when he brings an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the LORD. 14 For the generations to come, whenever an alien or anyone else living among you presents an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the LORD, he must do exactly as you do. 15 The community is to have the same rules for you and for the alien living among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the alien shall be the same before the LORD: 16 The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the alien living among you.'"

YHWH did not make separate rules for His natural and adopted children!

Lev. 19:28 indicates that we are to not print any marks on us, and Leviticus 19:26-28 is a condemnation of assorted pagan, witchcraft and heathen practices, of which tattooing is clearly a part because tattooing comes from pagan origins.

If you are still unconvinced that any of the above applies to you, then consider this: Tattooing, in addition to being disobedient, is idolatrous because it displays a permanent image on your body. Even if you “tattoo for Jesus” you are marking yourself with an image - an image of what you or the tattoo artist THINK He might look like! Since we do NOT know what God looks like, we cannot realistically carve an image of Him into our bodies! God told us very clearly and explicitly that we are to have no other gods before Him, and that it is He and He alone who is supreme Ex. 20:3; Is. 45:5).

The Bible expressly commands believers to remain unspotted from the world (James 1:27), to abstain from the appearance of evil (1Thess. 5:22); it says that friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4:4). We are instructed to come out from among them and be separate from the world (2Cor. 6:17). We therefore have the responsibility to obey God's commands and abstain from worldly associations, pastimes, or habits; not just out of duty but because we love God and have a living relationship with Him (John 14:15).