Kat Von D talks about her Christian faith with Theo Von

Reflection

Tattoo artist Kat Von D, known for her gothic look from the TV show LA Ink, joined Theo Von to talk about returning to the Christian faith she was raised in, and about the reactions her appearance draws. She was baptised in October 2023 at a small Baptist church in Indiana, and since then people have struggled to pair her heavily tattooed, black-clad aesthetic with their picture of what a Christian looks like. Her answer is disarmingly simple: there is no dress code for faith, and a relationship with God is not something anyone else gets to grade from the outside. Her point lands on something Jesus himself modelled. He was criticised for eating with tax collectors and sinners, for touching lepers and for talking with the people religious society kept at a distance. The issue was never whether someone looked the part, it was the state of the heart. Samuel was told that people look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7), and Jesus warned against judging by appearances (John 7:24). A person's past, their look or their story is not a barrier to God. For anyone who has ever felt they would not be welcome in a church because of how they look, where they have been or what they have done, this conversation is a reminder that the door is open. Faith in Christ has never required fitting a mould. It requires honesty about our need and a willingness to come as we are.

Questions to sit with

• Have you ever judged someone's faith, or your own, by appearance rather than the heart?
• Why do you think people expect Christians to look or dress a certain way?
• Is there anything about yourself you believe makes you unfit for faith, and does that hold up against how Jesus treated people?

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