As a librarian, a lot of material comes across my attention. One that I had to look at more closely was a title on extreme tattooing. I quickly learned that the tattoo artists and those who are receiving the tattoos view the human body as a canvas or a sort of diary, where their personal history is etched into their skin forever. What is even more amazing is the vast number of people who are covered by the feet so to speak in tattoos. One girl was quoted as saying she didn't understand those who did not tattoo their skin, "it's so blank, what's the point?" Clearly, the human body is seen as something that is their own personal and private property. You might at first not think that odd.
However, scripture reveals that even our own selves do not belong to us. Our bodies are consecrated to God as temples of His Holy Spirit. Our bodies are not for us to do with as we please.... Even worse, people have historically thought of other people (wives, children, slaves) as well as their own selves as part of their personal property existing for their pleasure. What a horrible worldview. Maybe this thought is new for some of my readers, but our bodies, our children, our wives do not belong to us. Everything that breathes belong to God. We are care-keepers only. Our bodies are not canvases, not diaries, not art at all. This topic is very much related to the Christian Aesthetic. Our bodies are part of the Beautiful, but not part of Art. Art is a term to be limited to those objects worthy of reflection and worthy of delight that are exclusively man-made. Our bodies, the earth, and its creation clearly do not fall into man's scope for idle and abusive pleasure.
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