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Why did I get this tattoo of Jonah

My Bible: reasons to believe in the power of the Bible

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‘Why did I get this tattoo of Jonah and the whale? In Jonah, you see that holiness is about blessing. If you receive blessing, you should in turn bless others. Jonah preaches to the Ninevites.

They repent, and God forgives them. So, Jonah goes and sulks. But God says to him, “You don’t have any right to be upset. Ninevah has 120,000 people who don’t know their right arm from their left, and also many animals”.

If I had to quote one verse from the Bible, it would be that: “and also many animals”. That shows that God isn’t just involved with 120,000 people who are, if you like, on the wrong side of the fence, but the whole of creation.

That impacts how we interact with the environment, livestock and wild animals. All human kind is blessed by God. God is there in the moments of death and doubt. People’s reactions to my tattoo have been largely positive. It’s stuck there now.

There’s no point in telling me I was a bit stupid having it done. It does trigger conversations. Some are about pain thresholds, as it was done in one six-hour sitting. But it was well worth the pain. It means I get to express ideas, which crystallises them. It means talking about God to people who have no experience of that narrative.'

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