So just managing and looking at our time, hallelujah, we got some time, not a lot of time. Let's try to exercise brevity and go right into our Hebrew apologetics of the week. I promised you last week we were going to talk about the Bible.
about tattoos how many of you have tattoos okay you got tattoos okay and the question on the floor for Hebrew apologetic of the week is is getting a tattoo a sin Minus Maura Denise. Is getting a tattoo a sin? We talked a little bit about it last week.
How many of you ever felt guilty or this guilt-ridden disposition because some... You got a tattoo? That's right. Leviticus chapter 19 said, don't you get a tattoo. you breaking the law statutes commandments are the most high that's right give me another precept don't you mark up your body so how many you say by the raise of hands how many you say tattoos is the most definitely outside of the wheel of torah one person i'll have to is not a sin Or let's define sin.
Sin is transgressing against Torah. How many of you say that's not, it's not a sin? Okay, we don't have four participation. Participatory paralysis. How many of you just don't know?
you don't know all right let's look at this here let's look at this really quick let's get to Leviticus chapter 19 verse 28 Leviticus 19 verse 28 you shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves I am yah so on immediate surface it says do not get a tattoo is that correct all right now we got to look at the current situation because under the current situation what if I told you getting a tattoo and a real sense is not a sin now in order to be with that argument we have to look at the surround context in order to do that now it's only you are not to get a tattoo under special circumstances okay so we got to begin to look at what are those specific circumstances that are required and we have to look at it very carefully let's do some careful examination of the text right because contextualization is king contextualization is king So what you do not want to do is find somebody from the grand old apostolic church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Or find somebody who is a camper. Who give you precepts, but they don't read the context of the scripture. I can't tell you the dozens of people that I help inspire to see the scriptures very differently. Through a different lens by just reading the context.
no one struggles more than that than our people our people take one soundbite one particular scripture and we build a whole theology around one particular scripture we tend to isolate and soundbite scripture when we don't understand the context so you walk into this room and um i i mentioned Yoel, you should have not done that. You don't know the context in which I'm talking about. But you automatically assume that he did something wrong. Because I said, why you should not have done that. But when you read the context, if you understood our full conversation, he gave me a nice brand new 2020, 2022 BMW.
And I just said, man, you should. you have not done that. You see how the context is different when you have understand the context in which I say it, when I say it to him. So Contextualization is king.
We have to read the circumference of the text itself. Now, I want you to look at the immediate context. I want us to get just to one verse ahead, one verse above.
Let's get one verse above. Let's go to Leviticus 19 and 27. ye shall not round the corners of your heads neither shall thou mar the corners of thy beard now when you look at contextualization in leviticus chapter 19 we're talking about a pagan culture that the Israelites were surrounded by a pagan culture and the pagan culture culture whatever homie died not only did they do libations pulled it out for the homies but they cut their beer they shaved themselves they even you remember where young kids used to mark and cut their their wrists they were cutting their wrists they were marking their bodies and they were shaving their heads now what do verse 28 not getting a tattoo the Most High said don't you do that for the dead don't you get a tattoo don't you mark your body with dead What does that have to do with verse 27, where it says, you should not round your beards and you should not cut your hair. Because some Hebrew going to tell you, you cut your beard.
Don't you cut your beard. Let's get a precept on that. Leviticus chapter 19, verse 27. Read.
That's right. you don't cut your own off your beard if i can get camps to understand context their whole theology i cringe because they're good at precepts but they are lousy at context so they'll take a scripture in leviticus 27 and try to relate it to Revelation chapter 2, it's like those two words have nothing to do with each other. That's what we call the English-only fallacy or the overload fallacy.
They use the over or the root word fallacy. what they use a lot so root word but they will be used to overload in the root word and sometimes the English only fallacy and that's a fallacy which means that what it means now is what it meant of all time they won't go into the Hebrew they won't go into the Greek they won't do any word study they won't look at the historical cultural context what they're going to do is they're going to isolate and see that's right read Revelation chapter 2 now go on over to Leviticus chapter 27 see this is what it means me it's like shut i'm sorry um and we have been we all have been influenced by this this one west doctrine all right so what do getting your hair shaven off have anything to do with getting tattoos Because the context is pagans worship in terms of they did sun worship or we call it now Mithra or so evict I out of the night that covers me blackest appear from pole to pole. I think whatever God might be so was sun worshiper. son worshipers what they did when homie died when mama died right when uh when somebody close to us died what they did is they went mad now i understand that because I used to years ago in seminary before when I was working on my third masters before my doctorate I did something called clinical pastoral education clinical pastoral education which is intense which basically I was a chaplain in the hospital.
And I was a chaplain at what we call here in Detroit, it is affectionately known as Baby Saigon. Y'all now from Detroit, all right. Baby Saigon is Sinai Grace. So baby Saigon, so every five minutes on clockwork, there was a GSW, gunshot wound, or NVC, motor vehicle crash, or burning, or whatever the case may be. And so as a chaplain, I worked midnights.
I've saw more death than some of you all will ever see in your entire life. But one of the things that culturally, I'm in there while they're operating. I'm in there because I have to not only be there for the family, but also for the staff, the medical staff.
And there would be many a times when a doctor tell them that. Listen, dear loved one didn't make it. He leave, I'm there and I have to stay there.
But there is no one, black people grieve and they grieve hard, right? More so than all ethnicities except one ethnicity. This is folks, it's not something I read in a book. This is something that I have lived. No one grieves, no one, not even African-Americans or so-called African-Americans, Hebrews.
Nobody grieved like Chaldeans. No one. Chaldeans, you ever see a shrill? You ever hear a shrill? Their cry is like a shrill.
They peel and paint off the walls, climbing chandeliers. They can't, they cry like nobody else's people, right? And what they, so they do some things. Now, because their mourning experience, this was much like the pagans back in the day. They grieved.
hard and guess what they did that we do now rip our IP to my homie mama's mama gone but not forgotten mama That was paganism. And so they would shave their heads and they would mark their bodies up. Now, let me give you some precepts on that, all right? Now that I give you the context.
Nothing is wrong with precepts. until first you give understand what is the context all right so let's get Isaiah chapter 15 verse 2 he is gone up to bayit and to the bond to the high places to weep Moab shall howl over Nebo and over Medeba on all their heads shall be baldness so they weep and they have baldness of their head and they what do they do and every beard cut off every beard cut off why over Nebo Nebo was another god this is what the pagans did all right and unfortunately we have more paganism we got a way to go folks you talking about y'all just too christian like we got we got more pagan then we get Christianity in us by a long shot. All right. And the most high said, listen, I don't want you associated with that because that's what they did to other gods.
All right. So even when they, anybody ever heard of, well, cannibalism, obviously is in the Tanakh. We also see monologous he know theism, which means I, I, although I acknowledge one God, or I worship one God, I do not deny the existence of multiple gods. We see that as well. But then we also see Molech.
Anybody know what Molech? Moloch or Molech? What is Moloch or Molech? Child sacrifice.
In fact, that's why Stephen was martyred because he spoke out against what? Molech, child sacrifice. In the New Testament, they were still sacrificing children.
Your ancestors, that's why the Most High is adamant. Don't you go and... After the other nations.
Don't you take on the ways of the other nations. Because they will ensnare you. Jeremiah chapter 3. Jeremiah chapter 10. They will ensnare you.
Don't go out. And that's why King Solomon. That's partially why we.
We are in the position we are in where the kingdom was split because he built altars and he built temples to Molech. That's right. Your boy Solomon, the son of Dawid, offered child.
sacrifices. And so the most high said, I don't want you to take on the ways of the heathens. Alright?
Let's get another one on Jeremiah 47. Verse 4. Because of the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that remains. For Yah is destroying the Philistines, the remnants of the coastland of Kaptur. baldness has come upon Gaza baldness this is the part of their rituals continue Ashkelon has perished oh remnants of their valley how long will you gash yourselves how long would you do what Gash yourself.
Why? Because they did it. These making these gashes in these cuts, much like the heathens do.
Right. Jeremiah 48, 37 through 38. For every head is shaved and every beard cut off on all the hands are gashes and around the waist. So notice the hands are shaved, beards and all the hands are what? Gashes. Let's continue.
and around the waist is sackcloth on all the housetops of moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentations for i have broken moab like a vessel for which no one cares declares yahuwah so shaving your head rounding your beard and getting tattoos aren't different they are related in this context because it is a continuation the same way and what we isolate just like Christians do, just like anyone else who is not versed in scripture interpretation. What we do is we isolate and we make, we single out one particular verse when the immediate context says that not only did they get tattoos, but they also shaved their heads. So there is a correlation between the two.
So you should not cut off. yourself or we should not cut ourselves we should not rip out our beards we should not get tattoos out of the act of violence now in order for you to understand that you have to understand johnism and dharmic religions dharmic religions have something called a quanavot and uh a quanavod and ahimsa and a quanavod so a quanavod ahimsa says it is about peace in fact we get this swastika from that the swastika loan before Nazism in Germany we had Johnism using the swaps aka which represents it is the most peaceful sign in the world because John's don't even kill a bug because of their position on reincarnation they don't kill so I don't want you to kill that fly this week because it is a part of their reincarnation belief system but they call something called a quantum odd a quantum odd means I'm going to punish my myself. So what many of the John priests do is these are called, um, sky clads.
Um, what many of them do, they pull out their beard and they, I mean, they pull it up. They don't know beat. no scissors, no device, no tools, just pull it out and they afflict pain. In fact, do anybody want to openly demonstrate that?
Because you get a chair up here. Anybody, can I pull out your hair? Kamari said, no, don't do, don't volunteer cap. All right. but pulling out your hair because that's what even today that's what johns do in india and johnism and this is much of what they did the pagans and the most i said see you have become amalgamated with their culture don't you round your beers don't you pork out your book and so now today and i asked super hebrews that's right don't cut your beard don't cut you i said i said let's go to acts chapter 21 x chapter 24. part of of the Nazarite vow was to cut your hair.
Paul shaved his hair. You must shave your beard. You must shave your head because you are Nazarite.
It's like we don't use critical thinking within the Hebrew community. And that's why a lot of urban apologists look at y'all like, context. Context is very important, right? Context is very important.
So we should not do that because that's what they did practice in terms of the sun gods. So you show Do not make any cuts on your body or tattoo yourselves for the dead like pagans do. That's how it should read. Don't you make any cuts on your body or tattoos or shave your head unto the dead much like the pagans do.
Now, so, do that mean that we can get a tattoo? Huh? Okay, so we can get a tattoo as long as it's not represented for I miss mama.
So we can get one as loud if it ain't to the homie. I don't even see, I'm dating myself. I don't even know what, if they call them homies.
They call them homies anymore? My homie, my dog. Right?
I can't get a tattoo. Now, there is a part of this, getting tattoos that no one seemed to look. Number one, it is a sign of this counter-cultural rebellion. So they got tattoos biblically out of rebellion to the Most High. So keep that in mind.
So although it's not... explicitly against torah it is a weight so we must lay aside every sin and weight that so easily what do what but set us so what people do not talk about is it does affect our human lymphatic system and our circulatory systems no one questions what's in the ink the same way we don't question what's in the vaccine And the most high is he's so fastidious and meticulous. That's why he tells you, don't you take these two fabrics and put it together.
Because now we find out it augments arthritis. So he's not just telling us, don't do it for a certain reason. There is a method to his message. There is a, what we call, ontological.
There is a meta message as to everything why the Most High told you not to do it. Why don't eat pork? He tells you because pork is full of parasites.
So it's not like he could tell us to do it. What people don't understand that there is a human anatomy benefit as when you follow the law, statutes, and commandments of the Most High. And you don't know when you mark up your body, you cut off your circulatory system.
You damage your lymphatic aspects of your body. Every time you mark your body. but don't worry you're much smarter than the Most High Isaiah chapter 65 you are holier than thou what is this Isaiah 65 and 5 you are holier than thou you are holier than the Most High you know what's best for your body go on and keep on eating that good old shrimp go on and eat that good old lobster cuz you know your body more than the Most High know your body you gone with your bad self boy nobody like you the Most High can't match you boy you are a cream on the crop you know your human anatomy more than the most high go on and give yourself a high five pat yourself on the back because you are holier than the most high that sounds idiotic doesn't it and that's how we sound that's how we that's the same thing when we disregard the law statutes and commandments of the most high because it's tempting you still don't know No, that good bacon, it's just the taste of it.
I can smell it a mile away. My BLT. And I'm not making light of that. But you say you love the most high.
The proof of your desire is in your pursuit. Hallelujah. Somebody have their hand up as it relates to tattoos.
Yeah. You related to Renita, your mother, we've been praying for you. Give it up for him, everybody. Praise y'all.
yeah so you're right so it's in context as long as it's not for the dead right so if you get a tattoo are you in sin i don't know real soon as long as it's not for the dead if you just get a tattoo It's one of those things of... He's not dead. It's one of those things, in context, it doesn't go against Torah, which is the definition of sin, but it's probably not the wisest thing to do. either because your body is the temple of the ruach hakedesh right yeah oh okay praise y'all hallelujah all right so that gives it up or that concludes our hebrew apologetic of the week hallelujah