Tattoo's, Piercings, Body Modifications

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May not be the correct area to post, but…

Who else out there has a problem with people who take these things to excess, and then vehemently b*tch about “not being accepted for who I am” publicly?

I know several people who have a few tattoos. Quite honestly they are truly artworks… they are beautiful.
I also know several woman (non-culturally) who wear a nose-stud, or men (myself included) that wear/worn earrings.

What sparked this post is recently I was flying back from Houston. I was seated next to a young man who was:

Totally GREEN - from the top of his shaved head, to as far down his collar as I could see - tattoo’d… face, eyelids, ears, EVERYTHING! There was a black “gridwork” pattern on his head.
He wore earrings that I could only equate to empty sewing thread spools… about 3/4" in diameter.
His eyebrows were shaved, but in place of hair… over each eye were what I’d call 6 marbles… implanted under the skin!.. just 6 distinct lumps under the skin.
I could hardly understand him when he spoke, because the stud through his tongue was nearly as large as the things through his ears!

The guy looked like a human lizard.

While we were taxiing out to the runway I had to suffer through his complaints about being “singled out by security, just because how I look”… “I hate being hassled by the man”… etc.

I just sat there thinking “I should write a reality show”.
 
As a woman who has both a nose stud and a few tattoos, I can understand where you are coming from. Society has all kinds of criteria it uses to judge eachother. Appearance is a HUGE one. Is it fair? No! But it’s reality.
So, while my tattoos are tasteful and well placed (i.e. NOT green from the top of my head down and looking like a lizard, lol) I fully expect some people to judge me based on them if they are visible. I don’t get mad at them. I made the choice to modify my appearance and I will accept the consequences.
I think most people who are that angry do not have God in their life. I speak from former experience. It’s also a maturity thing. When I was younger and did not know God, I needed someone and something to be angry at and somewhere to put the blame for all of the evil in the world. The person who had the nerve to judge ME based on my appearance was as good of a target as any.
Try to love people like “lizard-man” as if he were your younger brother. Realize that he is a misguided and empty soul who is searching for Love. Pray for him to find what he is seeking in God rather than crude body modifications.
Malia
 
I agree that a tatoo or a piercing are not too bad in moderation, but some people just seem to want to take it to extremes. You would think that it is for attention, so that is pretty much why I don’t bat an eye at it. So, when the kid with double snake bites, a pierced tongue, pierced septum, ridiculously huge gages and bright orange hair comes in my class and asks for a glue stick so he can do his hair, I don’t blink. Funny thing too, the kid is terribly offended if someone says “nice pants” to him. Well, okay, I do tease him about his emo song lyrics and tell him it sounds like he needs to drink some tea with honey when he has me listen to his latest screamer punk song he just recorded. Sorry, I graduated from high school in 1985. They can’t shock me, or at least that is what I make them think.
 
Some people just go overboard. I had a nose ring but very small but it irritated me so much that it fell out 2 weeks ago and I never bothered to put it back. And I also have 2 tatoos but not in places where it is so obvious.

But people are very judgemental these days. They judge you by the way you look on the outside not on what is inside or what you are worth. A friend of mine recommended me for a job at her company and I went there for an interview about 2 weeks ago. She later told my friend that how could I come there with a nose ring. She judged me by how I look not considering the kind of resume I have or the experience I have. And the lady who comes from a culture whereby they wear nose rings judged me based on that. That is so unfair. The nose ring was so small that you at to really look to see it.

We are not the judge and jury God is what right do we have to judge anybody. That person with all their piercings and tattoo’s could actually be a wonderful,educated, loving person but people judge them by their outer looks instead of what is inside. And unfortunately that is what we do. Ever ready to judge a person. If we see somebody wearing a very short mini skirt there is something to say not that she looks nice or looks good always negative things. Or if somebody has lost weight and is really looking good the first thing that is said “She or he must be sick, they must have the HIV visus”.

But we should be the ones setting the example. Stop juding people no matter what the situation or circumstances are. No matter how a person looks on the outside never judge them.

I went to a prayer meeting on Wednesday and this lady was talking about a similar situation about how we judge people. Whereby we see a hobo or somebody that is down on their luck. Instead of looking at them and giving them be it money or food we turn away. How would we feel if every time we did something wrong or whatever that God turned his back on us how would we feel. So the next time we see a person be it with body piecing, tattoos all over their bodies, hobo or person down on their luck don’t judge them instead pray for them.
 
Sounds like you met Lizard Man. Do a google search and you will find pictures. This guy travels around the country putting on some kind of show in the larger cities.
 
Yeah, I’ve seen a show about that guy on Discovery. It seems like he’s really trying to fill a void in his life. Hmmm. I wonder what that void could be… :cool:

I think tattoos are ok in moderation. I was going to post a pic of mine but photobucket isn’t cooperating.
 
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

Here’s mine.
 
Jay2 said:
May not be the correct area to post, but…

Who else out there has a problem with people who take these things to excess, and then vehemently b*tch about “not being accepted for who I am” publicly?

I know several people who have a few tattoos. Quite honestly they are truly artworks… they are beautiful.
I also know several woman (non-culturally) who wear a nose-stud, or men (myself included) that wear/worn earrings.

What sparked this post is recently I was flying back from Houston. I was seated next to a young man who was:

Totally GREEN - from the top of his shaved head, to as far down his collar as I could see - tattoo’d… face, eyelids, ears, EVERYTHING! There was a black “gridwork” pattern on his head.
He wore earrings that I could only equate to empty sewing thread spools… about 3/4" in diameter.
His eyebrows were shaved, but in place of hair… over each eye were what I’d call 6 marbles… implanted under the skin!.. just 6 distinct lumps under the skin.
I could hardly understand him when he spoke, because the stud through his tongue was nearly as large as the things through his ears!

The guy looked like a human lizard.

While we were taxiing out to the runway I had to suffer through his complaints about being “singled out by security, just because how I look”… “I hate being hassled by the man”… etc.

I just sat there thinking “I should write a reality show”.
Click to expand...
correct me if i’m wrong but isnt the church against tattoos?
 
Potential harm to health should be a deterrent from having such modifications performed. Similarly, “uglification” wouldn’t really be oh so very spiritually right, I think. I don’t mind rings all over the ear on a girl or even a stud in the nose, but I dislike nose rings for those people who have no cultural link with such practices in a natural environment. Similarly, eyebrow piercings unnerve me. I have a problem with people who, let’s say, go for all-modern-hippie-green-new-age-whatever-stuff and then complain about being associated with it. That the association is true doesn’t concern or bother them, their problem is that the association is made at all, or derived from the looks. That’s a bit like expecting other people to be hypocrites and pretend they are blind. 😉

It’s not really my problem anyway, unless it’s really overdone or someone’s attention-seeking or expecting me to pretend something.
 
Sounds like you met Lizard Man. Do a google search and you will find pictures. This guy travels around the country putting on some kind of show in the larger cities.
Click to expand...
That’s the guy! I was curious about why he was decked out in full black Jagermeister logo clothing… on his website it says he’s the the “Official Host of the Jagermeister Music Tour”.

My mistake on the tongue stud thing, I assumed it was a stud… I didn’t really see inside his mouth… glad I didn’t either, he’s had his tongue surgically split/forked.
thelizardman.com/

Call me judgemental, but I really wasn’t comfortable seated near someone who’d modify themselves to this extreme.

(I can’t help but think about an archeologist about 1000 years from now digging this guy up… and then adding a new sub-species/missing link to homosapiens 😃 “Distinct reptile-like qualities, and a strange discoloration of the skin” 😛 )

The other thing that gets me is being served my lunch/dinner by someone who’s got more hardware punched through their face than aisle 7 at Home Depot…
 
Michael038 said:
correct me if i’m wrong but isnt the church against tattoos?
Click to expand...
I think “frowns upon” is probably more accurate. As far as I know there’s no teaching against it – except, of course, the teaching that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. If you want to tattoo your temple with graffiti or hang hardware off it, that’s your lookout. I smoke so I’m in no position to criticise.

I just finished reading Leviticus which does specifically prohibit both tattoos and piercings – I suspect because both were practiced by pagan peoples at the time.
 
It reminds me of paganism and tribalism like in the “Lord of the Flies” when the boys were stranded on the island. They left the civilized rules and went back to tribalism.

I know it is unfair to judge but when I see tattoos on young girls, I think sexually active. Someone just did a report that said if girls smoke they are more likely to be sexually active. When I hear girls talk, they love this stuff on men. They find it appealing.

It is a part of being in the “in crowd” and belonging to a group so it is here to stay.
 
didymus said:
I think “frowns upon” is probably more accurate. As far as I know there’s no teaching against it – except, of course, the teaching that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. If you want to tattoo your temple with graffiti or hang hardware off it, that’s your lookout. I smoke so I’m in no position to criticise.

I just finished reading Leviticus which does specifically prohibit both tattoos and piercings – I suspect because both were practiced by pagan peoples at the time.
Click to expand...
The Church does not frown upon tattoos and piercings. It has NO OFFICIAL position. Individual clergy etc are free to hold their own opinions, but the Church as a whole does not comment. From reading the CCC, it seems that when considering a tattoo or peircing one must consider the impact (finacial, health, social etc) and make a prudent judgement. Also, nothing that would cause scandal (like “I love satan” etc)
There are many priests and other Religious who have tattoos. I’ve seen priests weaing an earring…
**Tattoos and piercings are an individual choice and one must use prudence, as in all things. Anything to excess or done for the wrong reasons could be sinful. **
If you read Leviticus in it’s entirety then you would have to refrain from many things that fall under the “old law” that we are not required to follow.
Malia
 
I smoke too didymus. Bad habit, I need to quit. I also have a tattoo, and I’m getting another. I have a Celtic symbol for brotherhood tattooed on my back, while I’m not a boy, I really loved what the symbolism was about. Loyalty, trust, and friendship. Which are things I truly value. I plan on getting another one soon, I think a claddagh or a celtic cross. I don’t think having tattoos makes you a bad person, or makes you sexually active, a trollop/ tart/ hussy, member of a prison gang, or a sailor.

It’s a personal expression. I’ve also had my tongue pierced, eyebrow, and I have more holes in my ears than in a brick of swiss cheese.

I don’t think I’m a horrible God hating person because I’ve chosen to do it.
 
I do have a tattoo (in an area that really isn’t visible), but I agree, if you’re going to extremely modify your body, you should expect people to notice. I was watching a program once about a man who modified his body so that he would look like a cat…he had whiskers and used a battery-operated tail. Well, he spent part of the show complaining that people stare whenever he goes out…I’m sorry, but most people when they see someone who looks like a cat are going to stare. I know that if I happen to have my tattoo uncovered (which isn’t likely since it’s really high on my leg and it’s been cold out here!!!) people may very well stare.
 
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