Cherry Picking Hypocrisy

Tattoos, they're not for me.  I feel very strongly that I should never put a mark on my body.  This is partly because of Leviticus, a little of Revelation. 

Sometimes, I hear the argument, "You do all these other things you're not to do.  You eat shell fish and pork and work on the Sabbath.  You can't just pick and choose what rules you follow you know.  You're being a little hypocritical."  But, isn't that like saying that if you break one rule, you should break them all?

Truth is, most of the rules I break, I also think I shouldn't be doing.  The difference?  Sometimes I can't help myself and I'm too weak to do the right thing.  With tattoos, I can do the right thing; I have no desire to get one.  Not wanting one, and believing it is wrong, I'd be pretty stupid to go out and get one anyway.

Are you going to Hell if you get a tattoo on your body?  No, probably not.  Besides the fact that you can always repent, you can always take advantage of the fact that we are freed from the law, according to St. Paul.  Why would we choose to re-submit to the law?  The law gives sin it's power over us and finds us guilty.  But, if I can resist something that I feel is wrong and have no desire to do it, why would I do it just to spite God? 

I also won't force my views on others.  Aside from my 11th Commandment--thou shalt leave thy neighbour the fuck alone--addition, I'm not their master or judge; I have no idea of the workings of the relationship between them and The Master.

Libertarian leanings aside, I think one of the greatest evils of history is mankind's uncanny drive to subjugate our fellow humans to our way of thought.  We're so good at forcing people to live the way that we think they should.

So, tattoo if you want to.  I choose not to do so.  If you have no problem eating meat, go ahead and eat it.