Tattooed Jesus on Texas Billboard Causing Much Controversy

A controversial new billboard featuring an image of a tattooed Jesus Christ is getting the religious freaks of West Texas all worked up.

Some residents of West Lubbock say that’s because the advertisement, which depicts Jesus tattooed with words like “Outcast,” “Addicted” and “Jealous,” is blasphemous, derogatory and offensive. Others say it is a clever way of spreading a positive message.

The billboard campaign is associated with the website Jesustattoo.org, which leads to a video (shown below) with Jesus playing the role of a tattoo artist. The video shows a series of people branded with various “tattooed” sins, which ultimately end up on the body of Jesus.

“I thought that it was cleverly done because, basically, it’s a visual of Jesus taking the sins of people and covering them and taking them from an outcast or something and giving them a new start, which is what the gospel is about,” said David Wilson, a senior pastor at Southcrest Baptist Church.

The progressive billboard message has attracted a lot of attention – both bad and good, which is surely what the organization responsible for the campaign had hoped for.