My intent is not to bring everyone over to my way of thinking, but merely to take issue with some of the reasoning against tattoos. Not liking tattoos is perfectly fine, as long as your reasoning is sound and not built on irrational preconceptions.

Of the following two statements, which one is more likely to have happened: That good men have been corrupted by tattoos. Or that corrupted men have given tattoos a bad reputation (guilt by association so to speak).

Item 1. Tattoos aren't allowed in the Bible: This may be true however the passage often used as evidence requires some assumptions be made. To paraphrase: "Do not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print or tattoo any marks upon you." Here, tattooing and disfiguring one's body is disallowed, but the statement is in reference to mourning for the dead (Leviticus 19:28). The problem here is that it doesn't say whether or not you can do those things when not mourning. For instance, surgery is a non-mourning cutting of the flesh, and I think the use of cosmetics would count as a "print." Thus the intent can't fully be known. And making asumptions is just as slippery a slope as taking all things literally. Had the disallowment been for cleanliness, that would be logical. But to disallow something because it was the act of "Pagans" is odd (today), considering that the observation of Christmas was placed on December 25th, to compete with Saturnalia, a Pagan holiday. And also easing the conversion to Christianity since any former-Pagans wouldn't have to give up their big holiday.

Item 2. 'Our bodies are a temple' (still Bible related): The idea that we shouldn't make any changes to our bodies, because they're already the way God wanted them, is not valid. Why? Well it's contradictory because later in His covenant with Abram (later changed to Abraham), part of the covenant was to circumcise the foreskin. 'Though to be fair, that's not a loophole though which to get a tattoo, just the end of one objection. And as my brother-in-law points out, the body modification was commanded (and thus allowed) by God.

Item 3. Tattooing is a health risk: Anytime there is the exposure and handling of blood, there is risk. Just as much risk as Dentistry, Surgery, Flu Shots, Childbirth, etc. Statistically you're more at risk of injury or death driving a car than getting a tattoo, but don't chance it and get a tattoo while driving. And according to the statistics most of the tattoo related infections of such things as Hepatitis B have occured either in prisons or in Third World Counties, with all of them being caused by improper sterilization, or lack thereof. Thus research is a nessesary step, normally people don't just thumb through the yellow pages for a Plastic Surgeon.

There are several good reasons for getting a tattoo (e.g. wishing to permatize an impassioned subject, or perhaps to better understand your own, or another, culture which included tattooing in its past), but there are even more bad reasons. Peer pressure: Bad. Following a trend: Bad. Saw it on TV: Bad. Wanting to impress people: Bad. And so on and so forth.

Should you get a tattoo? If you're asking that question then the answer is no. People who are unsure about what they want, aren't people who should get tattoos and, usually are the ones who end up regretting it, with a few of them going on to be the poster children for why nobody should get a tattoo.

I'll finish with an old adage: "Good tattoos aren't cheap, and cheap tattoos aren't good."