Tattoo or calfskin Bible?
Okay, this is a weird post. But, for my birthday my wife has said I can either get a tattoo or a calfskin Bible. Honestly, I am really confused about what I want. I have wanted a tattoo for about two years now. I know everyone has a tattoo now. I don't want a barbed wire tattoo to show off my massive arms (joke) or a dolphin on my ankle. I thought about getting a Trinitarian symbol or a Celtic cross. Both symbols represent my union with Christ. But, I am afraid I will get sick of it and want to laser it off in two years. On the other hand, a calfskin bible is the Cadillac of all bibles. I won't have to buy another bible again. I have this bonded leather bible I bought in November and it is falling a part. It was all I could afford. So, I am asking for your opinion. What do you think?
posted by Jeff and Jodie @ 12:55 PM
12 comments
12 Comments:
I've been wanting to get a tattoo for awhile now too. I'm just trying to decide what I want (and save up money). My husband has a couple tattoos. For him, its been about a part of his story or a part of who he is that he never wants to forget - actually what he's prone to forget but what is important for him to remember. And their meaning and significance grow and deepen the longer he has them. Well, whichever way you choose, if you get a tattoo you'll probably still want at some point to get a calfskin bible. So what do you want more right now? Is there something about where you're at right now in life or who you are right now that you're wanting to commemorate through a tattoo? You've wanted it for the last 2 years so sounds like that won't go away any time soon. Cool choices for your 30th birthday!
Thanks Jenna. I think I would want a tattoo more then a Bible. I don't mean to be hokey, but in a way, it identifies me with Jesus. The trintarian symbol in particular explains I belong to God, I am in fellowship with the Godhead. I am not trying to overspiritualize, but that is the conclusion I am coming too.
"I think I would want a tattoo more then a Bible. I don't mean to be hokey, but in a way, it identifies me with Jesus."
Good thinking, Jeff; as we all know, a Bible doesn't identify you with Jesus nearly as well as Celtic art does. You little PoMo, you. ;)
(Of course, I'm only saying that because needles scare me...)
Travis,
You rascal. You know me too well, give me something flashy, sexy and pre-packaged and I am like, "The Bible what? I got this tattoo thing ain't that good enough?"
Tat or Bible...sounds so cool. Since you will eventually have a chip inserted into a part of your body that will allow you to access the entire bible without having to carry a book. Some cool system like casting an image over your retna, and you will be able to access it all with your only mind...(ordination exams will be much easier then)...a calf skin Bible is so old school. Go with the tat, but let me recommend perhaps Bugs Bunny slam dunking a basketball (Space Jam style), or butterflies seem terribly popular.
Okay getting a tat is great, problem once you get one you will want more. Mine was such a special experience I haven't gotten it finished, and when I get it finished I will get a second one. They will last you your whole life (and keep you out of heaven right??) you have a bible. So needless to say the decision is clear.
I would say Bible.....
have a tattoo of a calf skinned Bible.
Everybody wins!
As someone in the same life-stage as you are, here's my two cents:
I've gotten three Bibles in the past three years, all very nice, and each one received with the determination that "I'm going to keep this one nice for a long time".
Bible #1: Currently without a cover and the bottom half of each page in Genesis...also parts of the end of Revelation are missing or have been "illustrated" by my daughters.
Bible #2: One afternoon during nap time we discovered that the girls had sneaked out of their beds to "read the Bible"...again, this Bible is now minus a few pages..interestingly from the end of the OT.
Bible #3: Has lasted three months so far, but today I found it dangling by that little bookmark string from the hand of our friends' toddler.
All that to say: Get the tat - your kids can't damage it. Buy a paperback Bible every year for the next ten, then get the calfskin once they're old enough to know that God's word, while sweetness to the heart, is not meant to be eaten in a literal sense.
There's clearly only ONE answer: get both!
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Get the tattoo, then you can brag to everyone how much it hurts.
But if you get the tattoo, you won't be able to donate blood for at least 2 months due to risk of Hepatitis C. So I'd go with the Bible.
Opinion of a total stranger - get the Calfskin Bible.
It's just me but tattoo's seem, well not all that great.
Jenna,
Don't get either. Receive both.
I think you'll find an important part of these things is that they will just be things if they aren't received. There's no more value in getting a calf-skin bible than a lightweight paperback NIV, if it doesn't either acrue meaning, or come with it via the giver or the events around the "purchase".
I "received" this tattoo, when my brother (in christ) Nate and I got similar crosses together as a symbol of our unity in Christ. We both had to endure the pain, and both had to take care of each other's tats afterward. There's a story in it, probably not unlike Jeff's stories?
Certainly don't NOT get a tattoo for fear of "defiling the temple", unless you plan on making sure you never eat meat well done again, according to the surgeon general it is now thought to cause cancer...
Either way, have fun.
Matthew
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