Jesus Loves Me and My Tattoos

Before anyone starts a debate about tattoos and their place in Christianity according to Leviticus, let me start out by saying that nothing you say is going to change anyone's mind. Sure, you can teach you kids what you want to and all that, but frankly tattoos are just one of those things everyone has an opinion on, they've made up their mind and no amount of internet-arguing is going to change it.
What I DO want to write about is a specific tattoo that I think has a really interesting history in the world of Christianity, specifically in a place close to my heart.

For as long as I can remember I have always been fascinated with Egypt. Although Ancient Egyptian history and mythology are my main areas of interest, the history of Christianity in the Land of the Nile is incredibly fascinating and powerful.

Islam outlaws the art of tattooing completely. As far as I know, there are no frivolous arguments among them, it's just accepted as that. So Coptic Christians (read:Egyptian Christians) used a Coptic cross tattoo to identify each other.
But the Coptic cross tattoo is so much more than that.
It often appears on the persons forehead.
No matter what it is, a face tattoo really tells you something about  person.
The way I see tattoos: a person has found something that is so deeply a part of themselves that they want it to be literally a part of their body.
This is even more true of visible tattoos, and especially of face tattoos. Generally a persons face is the first thing you look at. If you ever see someone with a tattoo on their face... Pay attention to what it means.
With the Coptic cross, this was/is a very visible showing of Christ as part of one's identity, so much so that it should be the first thing other people notice about you. Even if a person with this tattoo was forced to convert and the tattoo was cut off, there would be a large and very visible scar. Even without the tattoo itself, everyone seeing this would know this person belonged to Christ.
Another common place for this tattoo to be placed is on the inside of the wrist. The reason for this being that if the tattoo was cut out the person would bleed to death. Giving a very literal meaning to Paul's words, "For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." The Coptic Christians literally could not live without Christ as a part of their very essence.

Although I did not find this in any of my research, one of the things that I personally find wonderful about this tattoo is that it's not just a cross on a chain around your neck, or a ring on your finger. It is not only permanently etched into your body, but it is painful! I feel that someone receiving this tattoo could only think of Christ's pain on the cross. What little pain we go through for a cross that represents our love for Christ is so minimal compared to the pain he went through on a cross that represents Christ's love for us.

I'm not saying everyone needs to go out and get a huge cross tattoo on their face or wrist (but I'm also not going to stop you), but I do wonder how often we, as Christians, really make Christ a part of our very being in such a way that it's the first thing people notice, that we would die without Him, and is in defiance to the ideals of the main culture.

This is just a random add on to the bottom of this post because it sort of ties in, yet doesn't at all.

No matter what your views on tattoos are, I encourage you to ask inked people about theirs... And really listen. You can learn so much about a person and their story. Like I said earlier in this post, tattoos are something that is already so much a part of someone that the logical thing for them to do is to display it on their body. I have never met someone with tats that is not ready and happy to talk about them... That's why we have them (although if you plan to do this, I encourage you to look up prison and gang tats so you don't accidentally end up asking a question you don't want to know the answer to.) Although I do believe that the Coptic cross tattoo is one of the most powerful because of the multifaceted representation (and, let's face it, I'm a total history nerd), each tattoo has a special significance to its bearer (because you also gotta know I'm a major ink buff). So the next time you see a white girl with an arrow on her arm, ask her why.

This add on ended up being about as long as the original post. I apologize.