During the month of October, a billboard in West Lubbock, Texas created quite a stir. It featured a tattooed Jesus; there was also an accompanying video on the website of Jesustattoo.org.
When we saw a picture of the billboard on the Internet, we quickly learned why some Christians might be disconcerted. At first blush, the sight of a Jesus-figure, standing with his arms outstretched, covered with tattoos, is jarring; on his body are such words as “Outcast” and “Addicted.” But the video offers a much more complete, and satisfying, picture of the intended message.
In the video, a woman is shown with a tattoo on her body that reads, “Self Righteous”; Jesus changes the inscription to “Humbled.” Similarly, a young disabled boy’s tattoo is changed from “Outcast” to “Accepted.” This theme is consistently stated throughout the presentation.
The video shows how Jesus forgives and transforms the life of sinners. It also shows how Jesus loves those who have been rejected by society, offering them hope. Indeed, the six-minute video shows how the promise of salvation awaits those who follow Jesus. As such, it is a positive and quite moving statement. We applaud this novel effort to showcase the power and glory of Jesus Christ.
The media reaction was interesting. Most stories concentrated exclusively on the billboard, not the video. Why? Because the billboard was controversial and the video was not. We would be remiss if we did not add that the media also has no real interest in promoting a positive view of Christianity.
In our October 10, 2013 news release, we provided a link to the video.
