Here I’ve been thinking of getting a nice tattoo (something discreet and subtle, like an octopus someplace you‘ll never see it), and then I learn that for the sake of my health, I better not. After all, some good Christian doctor might refuse to help me when I’m sick. Dr Gary Merrill, who proudly proclaims his Christian faith, turned away a little girl with an ear infection because her mother had a tattoo.
…Dr. Gary Merrill wouldn’t treat her daughter for an ear infection because Tasha, the mother, has tattoos.
The writing is on the wall—literally: “This is a private office. Appearance and behavior standards apply.”
For Dr. Gary Merrill of Christian Medical Services, that means no tattoos, body piercings, and a host of other requirements—all standards Merrill has set based upon his Christian faith.
Way to represent your faith, doc! He ought to read the Gospel of Luke—there’s an obscure story in there about some guy beaten up and left to die by the road, and a priest and a Levite, the people Dr Merrill must model his life after, walk by and leave him there to die. He can stop reading right there, though…there’s some other bit that follows with a fellow from Samaria that isn’t all that important.
Hey, I just had a liberating thought—I think I’d rather die than ask for help from some sanctimonious jerkwad who calls his clinic “Christian Medical Services,” so maybe I can go ahead and get that tat after all! Maybe I can get a little more flamboyant, too—how about keeping most of it under the shirt, but with one tentacle reaching up and wrapping around the neck?