In response to Jesus getting a tattoo, I would like to point out the following:

Jesus was and is Jewish.

Jewish Law Forbids tattoos.

The bible forbids tattoos.

Jesus never sinned by breaking the commands of the bible.

Again, not trying to tell people what to do, tattoo or not to tattoo, just thought I’d throw that into the discussion.

I stumbled upon your blog after Googling “traditional tattoo.” The image of your Kami tattoo came up, and I decided to backtrack to your first tattoo post before reading the others.

I LOVE this post. I’m a seminary graduate and pastor-to-be with 7 tattoos–so far. I often have people question the compatibility between being a Christian and being tattooed. I agree with your response to that one commenter that in our society tells us Christians are supposed to be more clean cut, more put-together, etc. Honestly I find myself being able to open people up to considering God and Christ more because of my tattoos. Between them and my call, a conversation starts about what being a Christian really means.

My last two tats were done by an artist named…Christian. And particularly during this last one, we had a great talk about theology and how because of his “non-traditional” appearance (Latino, longer hair, lots of tattoos) he felt unwelcome in the churches he’s visited. I never want anyone who’s looking for a relationship with God to feel like that.

Anyway, sorry for the long-winded comment, but thanks for the great post, and I look forward to reading the stories behind your tats. This may even inspire me to do my own blog series on mine!

The gist of the story is a little boy with a church organist for a father. This organist is very radical and is heavily into tattooing himself. The mother is a tattoo artist. The father “abandons” the little boy and his mother, although we find this to not be wholly true in the end. The mother is a character with a closet full of psychological problems of her own. The mother tattoo artist works her way tattooing through Europe, little boy in tow, looking for said wayward father. Do they meet in the end? Read the book to find out.