My wife recently made waves by adding “temporary tattoos” to the plans for an upcoming youth activity. There was already a face painting booth planned and she added temporary tattoos to that booth to increase the variety. Predictably, someone objected to having temporary tattoos as part of a church sponsored event. Not the sort of thing I would get my panties in a bunch about, but nonetheless something that I understand.

In response, my wife had offered a link to temporary tattoos available at BYU Bookstore. I thought she should instead simply rename it to “rub-on facepainting” pictures. Who can object to rub-on facepainting pictures at a facepainting booth.

This got me to thinking about tattoos, a topic which comes up frequently in my institute class. The attitudes of 20-somethings about tattoos is definitely different than those in the generation before them. But that doesn’t interest me at the moment. I have never wanted to get a tattoo for the one reason that I can’t possibly choose something that I would want to live with forever. If someone would invent a kind of ink that could be broken down in special light (or whatever, work with me on this) so that I could get a permanent tattoo which could be easily/painlessly/fully removed at any time, I would be in for a tattoo.

That said, there is one scenario where a tattoo appeals to me, and that is when it is a group situation of everyone getting a tattoo as part of a bonding/brotherhood/sisterhood kind of thing. I don’t know if any of the special forces have a tattoo everyone gets as part of initiation, but I hope they do because that would be awesome. My brother has always toyed with the idea of designing a family tattoo which all the kids would get at a certain age. This is the only time I get excited about the idea of a tattoo, but I don’t belong to any groups which offer such a noble tradition.

Which got me to thinking, wouldn’t it be great if there was a church tattoo. Like the Stay Puft marshmallow man, something harmless. Something we all loved from our childhoods. Something that could never ever possibly destroy us. Obviously a CTR shield is the ideal candidate. In addition to getting a CTR ring, all the eight-year-olds in primary should have the opportunity to get a small and discreet CTR shield tattoo. New converts could choose to enter into the culture by getting the tattoo as well. The camaraderie associated with this tattoo would be off the charts. It could also come in handy when contacting less-active members and they are trying to tell you they have never heard of the church. “Oh really? Because I see your CTR tattoo peaking out right there, maybe you want to change your story…”

I’m still unsure about the ideal placement for this tattoo. I’m sure at this point everyone is on board with this in theory (the idea sells itself), but please help me flesh out the details. Where should this tattoo go?