Mormon Tattoos
Sometimes I see members with body markings, tattoos and body piercings. What should be the status of such members? By status I mean should they bless the sacrament after just getting a new tattoo put on their hand or other exposed body part? Suppose it is not exposed, does that make a difference? What are your thoughts about it? Is a nose ring for example so 'evil' that one cannot serve as a Relief Society President? How about entering the temple? Keep in mind that this thread is about those who have done these things AFTER baptism, not before.
Good question JB. Well, the First Presidency says that a person who has a tattoo can enter to the Temple, I think the piercing and stuff would include that too. I know the reason for the tatoo thing, because some people may have tatoo their bodies before joining the Church but what about those who did it after? I mean, will be someone at the Temple door asking when they made the tatoos? : no, of course not. It's a very delicate issue. I think that any member in good standing and who understand the principles of the Gospel should not wear a tatoo or piercing their bodies in any way. Those who does it, or they don't understand the importance of their bodies or they're just rebels who want to look 'cool' having one foot in the Church and the other foot outside the Church.
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...but you can not be judged forever because of on mistake |
As a member with a pre-baptism tattoo, I have been asked this question many times...
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General Authorities of the Church have also advised against tattoos. Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote, "The practice is a desecration of the human body and should not be permitted. "¦ Latter-day Saint servicemen in particular are counseled to avoid the pitfalls of tattooing. Persons who are tattooed are not, however, denied the ordinances and blessings of the temples" (Mormon Doctrine, p. 775). |
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Fads and fashions come and go. Recently, practices like tattooing and body piercing have become popular. The trends of tattooing and body piercing, as with other worldly fashions, are not long lasting, although the marks or scars they leave on the body are often permanent. These worldly fads are practices that members of the Church should choose to avoid because they don't complement an attitude of respect toward our earthly bodies as the scriptures and prophets teach. Of course, those who have had tattoos prior to joining the Church have no need to feel embarrassed. - Janet Thomas, "More Than Skin Deep," New Era, Feb. 2001, 44 |
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President Gordon B. Hinckley addressed the fads of tattooing and piercing in a general conference: "Now comes the craze of tattooing one's body. I cannot understand why any young man-or young woman, for that matter-would wish to undergo the painful process of disfiguring the skin with various multicolored representations of people, animals, and various symbols. With tattoos, the process is permanent, unless there is another painful and costly undertaking to remove it. "¦ A tattoo is graffiti on the temple of the body. "Likewise the piercing of the body for multiple rings in the ears, in the nose, even in the tongue. Can they possibly think that is beautiful? It is a passing fancy, but its effects can be permanent. Some have gone to such extremes that the ring had to be removed by surgery. The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve have declared that we discourage tattoos and also 'the piercing of the body for other than medical purposes." We do not, however, take any position "on the minimal piercing of the ears by women for one pair of earrings" " (Ensign, Nov. 2000, 52). |
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Thanks for your input and quotes Wanlorn, maybe you can tell us how you feel having a tattoo and knowing now how God feels about it and if you ever thought about removing it. |