with meditations
by my mother, Poetess Gertrude Sanborn
March 4
Deuteronomy
12:30–Deuteronomy 16:12
TATTOOING & CUTTING FORBIDDEN
Deuteronomy 14:1-2
"Ye are the
children of the LORD your GOD: ye shall not cut
yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for
the dead."
In this day and age,
it is becoming more difficult to find a person who has
not had a tattoo of some kind on his person. Sometimes
one can observe a man covered with colored pictures of
all stripes on his body. It is not unusual for a woman
to have many tattoos wherever she feels they should be
gazed upon. Years ago, the only people who wore such
markings were sailors. And when a sailor got saved, he
apologized for the markings that marred his body. Now
the biker world is known for such tattoos–some with
demonic pictures covering their arms and hands.
Now days it is
becoming more the "norm" for Christians to be tattooed
and think nothing of it. Piercing and cutting were
common in heathen countries, but now they are seen
wherever one might walk. There is no country immune from
such cuttings.
When we were in West
Africa, we saw some young Christian men with cuttings on
their faces. They were tribal markings. They always
apologized to me that those markings were put on their
face when they were children before they were Christian.
O that the Christians
in this country would be as sensitive to the heathenism
that fosters such markings! Instead many Christian are
proud of their tattoos. They are proud of the long
dangling ear rings hanging from their ears. Many mothers
pierce their babies’ ear lobes before the child can
voice any opinion pro or con.
People want to be in
style. Christians who claim the name of Christ have
forgotten that their bodies are the Temple of the Living
God (2 Corinthians 6:16)! "What agreement hath the
temple of God with idols?" For years the children of
Israel lived in Egypt, probably becoming like the
heathen around then, and wore their "gods" dangling from
their ears.
The LORD God did not
want His people to become like the Canaanites. He
forbade the heathen cutting and godless practices that
had been practiced in that land all those years. It
repelled Him. Why? Because all that cutting, tattooing,
and piercing, as well as a certain kind of unnatural
baldness, represented false gods and false ways. God
said in this passage: "Ye are the children of the
LORD....an holy people ...the LORD hath chosen thee to
be peculiar people unto himself." The children of
Israel were to a "one of a kind nation," committed to
the True God and His commandments.
How are you doing in
your separation from such worldliness? Do you look just
like the world? Are you considering getting a tattoo?
Are you thinking about cuttings or Piercing? If so,
reconsider! DARE TO BE DIFFERENT! (ysw)
"STRENGTH & HONOR"
"Strength and
honor are her clothing"
As Christian
women, we should strive always to be what and where God
wants us to be.
This takes are
of our attitude and action.
Why should it be
difficult to find a *virtuous woman among us? (GGS)
* "virtuous
means courageous"
Under God's Care,
Yvonne S. Waite
I Am A Stranger Here
Bible For Today Baptist Church
Collingswood, NJ 08108
Phone: 856-854-4747
