Expert: Carl Fuglein - 3/15/2010

Question
QUESTION: I'm 15 years old and i play the drums for my church worship and i was wondering if having tattooers are bad? and why are they? Also i just started to listen to new music that i thought i would never listen to like heavy rock like scremo, well just one band Underoath and i heard they where Christian but my parents don't think that scremo is right even if it is dedicated to God so i was wondering is that type of music bad and Why? Thank you

ANSWER: Hi Joshua,

Some people think that tatooes are bad on the premise that your body is a temple of Christ and should not be marked.  There is a Biblical precedent for tatooes in Isaih 44:5 :

5  Some will proudly claim, 'I belong to the LORD.' Others will say, 'I am a descendant of Jacob.' Some will write the Lord's name on their hands and will take the honored name of Israel as their own.

Writing the Lords name on their hands, eh?  Sounds like a tatoo to me.


My personal opinion is that I think tatooes are not inherently bad unless the tatoo itself is something distinctly not God-like, e.g. a demon or picture of Satan.  As long as the tatoo does not embarass you or doesn't glorify God, i'm okay with it.  I want to get one but cannot due to health issues.  I do not see them as bad.

heavy metal Christian music.  Sounds like an oxymoron.  Your parents will argue that it's not right, but my opinion is that if they are attempting to glorify God in their own way, who am I to say it's bad.  I don't like that type of music, but a Christian band is a Christian band.  The Bible says to praise God with cymbals, harps, etc, so I thin ikts okay.

hope this helps,

carl


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Okay now i have anther question. Last year in my freshmen year i meet this girl who amazing i liked her and she liked me but we didn't go out because she just had a difficult relationship but now in my sophomore year she has a new boyfriend since August [my birthday, nice timing huh.] but they just barely broke up and now everyone is telling me to go after her because we really liked each other last year but i belive i gotten stronger with God and a youth pastor told me i shouldn't go out with anyone till i sure its Gods will and because our first kiss and first everything should be with that person we know that God sended us and im trying to stick to it but its hard because i really want to and i really liked her but i asked my self does she because she got anther boyfriend so quickly so what do you think i should do? Go for it or wait for the right one. Sorry it's so long

Answer
I say go for it.  You'll find out soon enough if she's right for you.

As for your youth minister - it is an admirable goal to not date and wait until you're married for that first kiss, but I don't think it's realistic.  I think you should date a lot of people, and maybe not just one, to get to know not only your friends, but yourself as well.  Ask that girl out, and see what happens.

just my humble advice.

See I kissed Dating Goodbye:  http://www.amazon.com/Kissed-Dating-Goodbye-Joshua-Harris/dp/1590521358

blessings