The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Evangelizing Through Tattoos

Episode Date: July 20, 2018

You're listening to the Jeff Kaven Show, Episode 73, Evangelizing Through Tattoos. Hey, I'm Jeff Kavans. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven show. Hey, welcome to the show this week. We're going to talk about tattoos. We're going to talk about tattoos. You know, a number of weeks ago, I was over in Israel, and I just got back from Europe about a week and a half or so ago.

And more than ever, I have been drawn to the fact that a lot of people have tattoos. And they have political statements, they have dates, they have names, they have events, they have, you know, all kinds of things on their arm, their leg, their calf, the back of their neck, on their back, you name it. They've, their fingers, they've got all kinds of messages that they're putting out there in the world. And I started thinking about, you know, throughout the years, all the opportunities that I've had to talk to people about the tattoos that they were wearing and how it led to an opportunity

to evangelize or to share Christ with people. Because I found that many times people were putting on their bodies the most important. thing, at least at that point, in their life. But have you ever thought of getting a tattoo? I mean, seriously thought about getting it. And if you thought about it, did you discuss it with someone as to what you would have put on your arm or your back or, you know, your leg, your feet, whatever? Have you ever thought about what you would put on and why? Do you have one? Do you have a tattoo on you right now? A simple question. Why? You know, that's not a negative question. It's just why? Why do you have a tattoo? Do you like it?

That's another great question, right? Do you like it? Another one is, do you regret it? And I've run into people who they love their tattoo and others who say, man, I just regret doing that. You know, do you ask people about, or do people ask you, rather, about that tattoo that you're wearing? Well, any time that you meet someone who's wearing a tattoo, you have some kind of reaction. It's either positive or you might be negative. But I really do believe with all of my heart, and this is what I want to talk about today on the show, I do believe that the Holy Spirit can assist in my discussions with people. And I have found that, and I'm going to give you some examples, I have found often that if I ask people about their tattoo. It opens up a whole conversation. And many times I have discovered that the

tattoo represents a very critical time in their life, a very painful time in their life, or an amazingly joyful and, you know, a great experience in their life. So do you have a tattoo? Do people ask you about the tattoo? Do you ask other people about the tattoo? Do you ask other people about the tattoo? tattoo. Now, I really do believe that what is deep within a person is oftentimes brought to the surface and displayed, and people have a way of talking about it, and sometimes people don't talk about it, but what they will do is they will write about it, or they'll put color, you know, on their bodies. At least to a degree, what is inside now is going to become broadcast to the world via a tattoo. And I really do believe that asking a question is reasonable, you know, and it's taking

an interest in people. They're the ones that stuck it on their arm. I didn't. They're the ones that put it out there, you know, for everyone to see, whether they consider it art or a political statement or a religious statement or a living memorial of something on their body. But I do find that it's interesting to talk to people, and I think that people are fascinating. And most of the time, well, let me think for a minute. I'd have to say all the time, I have always had positive conversations with people. I've never had anybody, not once in all these years, say to me, that's none of your business, or, you know, don't ask me about that. I don't want to talk about, I've never actually had that happened. To the contrary,

I have had many people who took the time to explain to me why they tattooed their body. And in many instances, it actually led to an opportunity to tell them about Jesus Christ and what he means in my life. And of course, the basic message that we have as Christians when we're talking to people is called the carigma. And you've heard me talk about the corigma before. The corigma is that basic proclamation of the gospel. You can go back in the shows. It's show 40. and that talks about a cup of curigma, and that is that God loves you, and God has an amazing plan for your life. Sin has really gotten in the way of this relationship, and the good news is Jesus died for us, and we need to reorient our lives, aka repent, and give our lives

to God, be baptized and become a member of his family. Now, that sounds like, you know, part one, two, three, four, five, six. And I'm not advocating that we stand on a street corner and do that, but there are ways of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with people who are advertising a message and we're engaging them in that message. I really do believe that. And so one of the questions that I ask people, and I'll give you some examples in a minute here, but one of the questions that I ask people oftentimes is, why did you choose that tattoo? Why did you choose that tattoo? Or would you do it again if you had the opportunity? Would you put that same tattoo on you? Is there a tattoo you still want to have put on your body? But the main thing that I have

found is ask, engage. Let me give you the story of a woman that I met in an airport in Detroit, Michigan. I was standing outside of the security gate, and I was just standing there in line, waiting to get through the line. And right in front of me was a lady, and on her left arm, there were two dates. And I don't remember what those dates were. We'll say it was like 11-1-67 and December 9th. you know, of 67. So there were two dates that were relatively close to each other. And I thought, huh, she doesn't have any other tattoos. She just has these two dates on her arm. And that naturally got me curious. And I think that one of the things that we need to cultivate when it comes to

evangelization is a supernatural curiosity about people and take an interest in people. And that got my interest. It really did. And so I thought, well, I want to ask her. What? those dates mean. But is that any of my business? Am I going to be, you know, crossing lines? Is she going to think that I'm nosy? And will I have enough time to get into a discussion here? You know, all these things kind of run, you know, run through your brain. And I thought, well, I'm curious. So I said, excuse me. And she looked at me. And I said, my name's Jeff. And I don't recall if she told me her name or not at the time. And I said, I'm just curious. Those two dates on your arm, what's the meaning of those two dates? Now, that's all I did. You know, yay, big evangelizer, right?

That's all I did is they said, what are those two dates mean? And her eyes instantly filled with tears and she looked at me and she said those are the dates of my son he was born on the first date and he died of um in the in the crib uh on the other date he was i think was less than a month less than a month old and i said oh oh i'm i'm really i'm really sorry to hear that now at that point it could have said, oh, okay, well, have a good day. But here, in the midst of a security line in Detroit to get into the airport, a stranger asked another person, you know, out of the blue about the tattoo on her arm, and she totally opened her heart in the next 30 seconds.

that's what happens when we start asking people questions. I truly believe the Holy Spirit confirms the message, and the Holy Spirit opens doors of opportunity for us if we will walk through them. And I said to that lady, I said, I'm so sorry to hear that. And then I was able to talk to her about, how are you doing now? And this was a little while ago, you know, these dates. and I said, how are you doing? How have you been doing since then? Now, this didn't take any brilliance or didn't take a degree or any apologetic class or anything like that. It was just simply

one human being that follows Christ, talking to another human being who follows, you know, whatever at that point in her life, and asking, how are you doing since then? And she said, well, I struggle. And I said, have you ever known anything about Jesus? She goes, yeah, I'm actually, you know, I'm a Christian, and she started telling me about that. Well, the basic conversation ended with me encouraging her. As we're shuffling up through the line, I'm encouraging her and telling her, you know, that God has a purpose for her life, and those children, that child will always mean something, and that child was a gift from God, and that good can come out of this.

And it was just really a nice conversation with that lady in the line at the Detroit airport, but you just never know who you're going to be talking to, you know. I remember several, a woman whose mother died. She had a beautiful parrot on her arm. I mean, really a piece of art, you know, and I said, I came over to her and I said, that is an amazing parrot on your arm. I said, tell me, and this is all the words you've got to learn. Tell me, what does that mean? or what is what's the what is that referring to you know the parrot and it was her mother had a favorite pet and it was a parrot and her mother died and that was her way of memorializing her mother now i could get into a talk on wow you think you should have you know tattooed your arm and this

and this and that not the issue the issue is she really you know she had a great relationship with her mother and and her mother was was special in her life and we were able to talk about that at that moment. I remember talking to a guy, the name of a father was on a young man's arm. His father's name was on his arm, and I got to ask him, you know, a little bit about that name, and he told me it was his dad, and his dad was shot in a gang fight, and he told me about his dad, and we were able to talk. And so a tattoo brought this suburban dude together with this inner city young man to talk about the most important man in his life. And this all happened relatively quick. And, you know, very quick. And I remember talking to him, you know, a little bit

about the Lord. A concert, I remember talking to a couple. They both had the same tattoo, and it was like a code word for a concert, the Lollapaloo. I don't know what it was, but I was talking to them about it, and they said, yeah, that was the concert back in 1978 or whatever they met, and they fell in love, and they ended up getting married. I remember also another date on someone's arm, and it was the loss of a brother on a motorcycle trip, on a vacation. And the minute you bring it up, they start to become, you know, almost emotional at that point when they remember and just gives you an opportunity to talk. I remember another guy,

U.S. flag over a map of Iraq. I know of a lot of people who have sports teams and a man who used to love Christ, but now is broken emotionally. I was able to talk to a gentleman who said, he had a cross on his arm and I asked him what it meant to him. And he said that he had, you know, when he was younger, he used to really follow Jesus. And when he said he used to, that was my key, you know, that was my clue. And we were able to talk and to carry in that conversation a little bit, a little bit further. But I had this last year a really unusual opportunity where I felt the Holy Spirit really opened up a conversation. And I'm going to share this with you because I think it's an example of how the Holy Spirit can use us in conversations

that we open up, even about tattoos, and we might not even be aware that the Holy Spirit is using us. We don't have any certain fuzzy feeling or the earth isn't shaking, you know, and we're not hearing voices out there, anything like that. It's just in the course of a conversation the Holy Spirit can move. I was in Israel, and I was with a whole bunch of really, really cool young people. Many of them were focused missionaries, and we just had a great time. And one evening, there was a young man who had asked me a question. He said, you know, on this trip, can I talk to you? And I said, sure. I said, you know, do you want to talk? Just talk now. And he asked a really, really good question. He wasn't having any trouble or anything like that.

he just had a good question, and the question was, you know, how do you lose a fear over talking to people in evangelizing and, you know, bringing up Christ to people? How do you do that, you know? And so we engaged in a conversation. We're sitting there in the lobby of the hotel. And I said to him, I said, you know, one of the things you might want to do is notice tattoos. And I think he kind of looked, you know, like, what? And I said, yeah, I mean, you know, one of the things I do is I look for tattoos because that is a message from the person, and oftentimes it's from their heart. And it's an open door for me to engage in a conversation. So I touched his arm, his right arm, and I said, let's say, for example, so-and-so that you had a tattoo. And I touched his right arm, and I said, for example, what if you had 12-793 right there on your arm? And his jaw dropped. and he looked at me and he said, how did you come up with that number? And I said, I don't know. I just looked at you and the date came to mind. And he almost looked freaked out. I got to tell you, he almost looked freaked out. He said, no, how did you come up with that number? And I said, I just thought of it. You know, when I looked at you, I just 12-793. Why? And he said, that's my birthday. I said, really? I mean, 12, 7, 9, he said, yeah, that's the day I was born. But how did you come up with that? And I said, you know what, I'll be honest with you. I wanted to tell him,

the earth shook. I heard voices and sounded like Moses on Mount Sinai. No, I said, I just looked at you. And that date came to mind in the course of a regular conversation. And I said, maybe the Holy Spirit, is using that in some way to communicate to you. So I thought it was really interesting that here we're talking about tattoos in Jerusalem, and I just throw out an example, and out of all the dates, 365 days a year, of all the years, the Holy Spirit nailed it, his date, his day, his month, his year. I really do believe that the Holy Spirit can use us if we will walk through open doors. I'm going to take a break, and when I come back, I want to talk about Paul for a moment and tattoos.

And then I want to conclude by talking just real briefly about what does a church teach about this? If you're thinking about getting a tattoo, you're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. The Bible is such an important part of our Catholic faith, but it's not always easy to understand. There are 73 separate books and so many names, places, and events that sometimes we just stop trying to figure out how it all fits together. The good news is, the Great Adventure Bible studies make it easy for you to understand the Bible. By focusing on the story that ties all of Scripture together, the Great Adventure Bible studies give you the big picture of the Bible. And once you see the big picture of salvation history, the Mass will make more sense, the Catholic faith will make more sense, and you will see how God has a loving plan for your life.

The Great Adventure Bible Studies have helped hundreds of thousands of people to understand the Bible and grow closer to Christ. There's no other Catholic Bible study series like it, and you can get started on the Great Adventure today by creating your free account at ascensionpress.com. And welcome back. We're talking about tattoos today. Do you have a tattoo? If you do, why did you get it? What does it mean? Do you regret it? Have you ever been able to use it to draw someone closer to the Lord? In fact, I'd love to hear from you. If you want to get in touch with me, the email is very simple. It's The Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com. The Jeffcaven Show at ascensionpress.com. or you can go to Facebook. It's Jeff Kavens. Twitter, same thing. I've always used the same name.

So that's the way to get in touch with me. Love to hear from you. We're talking about tattoos and evangelization and how I use these as an opportunity, these being tattoos, as an opportunity to strike up a conversation with people and to see if maybe the Lord is opening a door, you know, to share good news with people. I started thinking about the Apostle Paul, and there are many times where Paul talks about things that are related to his body, that are signs of his relationship with Christ. And he seems to wear these, these marks, as he calls them, you know, on his body. For example, in Galatians chapter 6 in verse 17, yes, I'll put it in the show notes, because he might be driving, so I'll put these in the show notes, but he says to the Galatians, henceforth, let no man trouble me, for I bear on my body

the marks of Jesus. Now, is that a tattoo? No, probably not a tattoo. But he talks about it as being the marks of Jesus. Now, Paul, in a number of instances, gives very interesting clues. about what is happening to his body and the persecution that he's going through. And what's really interesting is that there is a corresponding relationship between what's happening to his body and what happened to Jesus. So, for example, he talks about to the Corinthians how he has this thorn in the flesh. He has this thorn in the flesh, and it's something that is really bothering him, and he keeps in, you know, going to the Lord, and the Lord says, my grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness. And he says, I went three times asking, and the Lord said, no, you know, that he was given this thorn in the flesh. And in Jesus, in the same way, thorn in the flesh, with the crown of thorns on the cross. Paul goes on. he says, he talks about the scars on his back from being beaten for the gospel. So he's carrying in his

body the message of the gospel, not necessarily in a tattoo, but in a real marking in his body. So he talks about the scars on his back from beating. And Jesus, of course, at the whipping post, one of the mysteries of the rosary. And if you've seen the passion of the Christ, the Mel Gibson put out, you know in Jim Caviesel the tremendous beating that Jesus took. Paul talks about, you know, also the the serpents biting or the piercing of his hand when a snake bit him, but he lived. And we know about the serpents, really the serpent's piercing of Jesus and going after him in the Garden of Gatsimony. And like Jesus' last wound was the pouring out of the water and the blood. and remember that in John 1934, Paul wrote, I am poured out like a drink offering in Philippians

217 and 2 Timothy 4,6. And then, of course, the last thing Jesus cried out, the last of his sufferings, it is finished, John 1930. And so Paul said what? In 2 Timothy 470, he said, I have finished my course. And so everything that happened to Jesus, Paul, it seems to happen to him. And it's like Paul is bearing in his body the marks of Jesus as a sign to people of the suffering of Christ and his identity with Christ. And that leads me to really kind of some final thoughts, you know, about this. What about tattoos? You know? I know of a lot of good Christians who have wonderful markings on their body that point to the gospel, and they are just thrilled with it, and they use it all the time, you know, to tell people about Jesus.

But is there any church teaching about this, about putting color on your skin? And the answer is, not really. You know, not really, but there are certainly guidelines like in every area of our life. I know that from the time that we are young, we put colors on our body, we put makeup on our body, we put decals or whatever on our body and all kinds of things growing up. There's nothing inherently wrong with it. You can always go back to Leviticus and talk about how we shouldn't put things on our body, but that's not a part of the new law in the kingdom.

but you have to ask yourself as far as guidelines, is this a message, is this message that you are going to put on your body, a permanent message in your life? Is this something that you know that you're going to want to proclaim not only now at 19 or 24 years old, but when you're 67 or 73 years old? You have to also be very careful about relationships when you put a tattoo on your body. You have to be careful about relationships, particularly names and dates, because names and dates have meaning. And you need to ask yourself, particularly if you're young, will your future spouse appreciate the meaning of that date? Will your future spouse appreciate the name on your arm or the place that you were at? Well, you have to get the tattoo removed as you go through the pearly gates?

good question. Theological, philosophic question. We can discuss that some other time. I really don't know what the answer to that is. And then ask yourself, what does the tattoo really say about you? And I always recommend when people ask me, is it okay to get a tattoo? And I think, you know, there's really nothing prohibiting you from getting a tattoo. But what I would do is find out what do you want on your body and then give it a rest. Think about it for a while. You know, it's kind of like going out to a mall and buying people want to want to deal with this this habit they have of of binge buying or you know suddenly getting an idea and going out and buying it give it a month think about it if it's still there maybe you want to go back and and do that but I've always told people just give it some

time make sure that it's morally right make sure that it's something that you want on you forever that you're going to be proud of your family's going to be proud of and it's not something you're going to have to hide. In being a true witness of Jesus Christ, we don't want parts of our lives hidden. We don't want to have to hide our lives all the time. We want to be able to proudly display who we are in Jesus Christ. And so that's just a little bit about tattoos this week. I want to encourage you as we conclude, when you're out there in public and you see a tattoo, ask the question, what's that about? What does that mean to you? and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit in how you discuss that with people.

It just might be an opportunity to bring someone to Christ, bring someone back to Christ, bring about a healing in somebody's life, or to remind them of what Christ has done in the past. You know what? It makes evangelizing a lot of fun, and we need to be, you know, really attentive to the people that we meet and the message that they're trying to get out there to us. Well, let me close in prayer, and I would really like to hear from you, especially about the tattoos. Do you have one? Have you ever been able to use it, to draw someone to Christ?

Have you been able to talk to somebody else? My email, the Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com. Let's close in prayer in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Lord, I thank you today for giving us the opportunity to speak to people and to interact with people that are not a part of our inner group. And Lord, I thank you for giving us eyes that are observant that look for the fruitful moment and give us courage, Lord, to open up conversations with people and to find out where they're at and to rely on the Holy Spirit to communicate the good things of the kingdom to them. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen. The name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, you have a great week.