I've reviewed the tattoo issue again in light of Biblical principles, and historic evidence; asking myself, is there a relation between the ritual tattoos that Yahweh Elohim forbade in ancient times and the "body art" tattoos of today? What biblical principles apply to deciding whether or not a Christian should get a tattoo?

My Answer:
As you know, tattooing has been around for centuries and  in recent years, this practice has enjoyed a popular resurgence, especially among young people. The reasons vary. Some get tattoos to show independence and rejection of parental values. Others get them because of peer pressure or because they believe they are stylish—a type of body adornment and beautification.
Growing up, in my Fathers house hold, I was an aspiring artist; and I still view myself as a artist at heart. I took Commercial Art as a vocation in High school. I was surrounded by all kinds of budding talented artist including those that aspired to be apart of tattooing; even planning to open their own tattoo art business shop.
I remember thinking tattoos seemed kind of cool and about what kinds I would get for myself, for a brief moment I even considered the prospect of being a tattoo artist.
At that time when I was at the top of my artistic skill I think I would have been good at it; but I knew the teaching of our church was against it.
Even today in my own heart as a artist who appreciates other skilled artist, I can admire the well done art work of some tattooist; critiquing them from purely an artist perspective. However, from a spiritual perspective, just as in Highschool, I today pay homage to the Great Artist of all existence by striving to practice His  2 Corinthians 10:5 principle of... 
"Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of Elohim, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Messiah;"
Having an artist heart that knew and reverenced Father Yahweh the first and last Greatest Artist of and for all Eternity, I wanted to be careful to yield to His authoritative heart and thoughts found in His Word on the matter of tattoos as body art or adornment.  
As long as I could remember, our church doctrine was that Father Yahweh had a prohibition regarding tattoos period. Unlike many who acknowledge the instruction as only concerning ancient tattoos done for pagan purposes of mourning the dead, our church is not convinced that Bible principles don't address all tattooing including the modern day practice categorized as body art...
Modification – As Christians (spiritual Israel), we know our bodies are not our own, but rather Yahweh Elohim’s temple (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). The Bible has a high view of the human body as Yahweh’s handiwork, which is not to be disfigured. Historically, non-Israelites did not hold this view. Today, some have permanently modified their bodies to look more like animals or aliens than humans, who alone are created in Elohim's image. We must Yahweh's Word, asking and seeking for His instruction about how far if at all we should modify our bodies to suit our own desires or inclinations; disfiguring the beauty of the human form away from Elohim's originally design for it?  . 
Looking at Leviticus 19:28
 which says, "You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am Yahweh," 
Many Christians who are pro tattoo will read this single verse and assume an interpretation acknowledged by some scholars that states that these practices were all related to mourning for the dead. Unlike a good many other scholars, including other believers like myself, they don't see Biblical reason that not all are related to mourning the dead; and this prohibition would also apply to tattoos whose focus is not on the dead; but simply not allowed for being a custom whose origin is pagan in nature.
This last interpretation would mean all tattoos whether related to the dead or not are prohibited by Yahweh our Elohim. Like in many issues concerning church doctrines, this conflict seems to have risen from a difference of scripture interpretation.
Both interpretations cannot be right; so since this prohibition from Yahweh Elohim's law was given to our spiritual forefathers ancient Israel, I looked for a reference about the practice of tattooing among them that was unrelated to the mourning for the dead. I found it interesting that among Israelites religious teachings, Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary's article on tattoos says,..
 "Any kind of self-laceration or marking of the body was prohibited among the Hebrew people. Such cuttings were associated with pagan cults that tattooed their followers while they mourned the dead" (1986).
The fact that historically, our spiritual ancestors, Yahweh's ancient chosen people Israel who received His Holy Law instruction, abstained from getting any kind of tattoo, should hold some weight at least in helping to guide even modern day believers who claim to be grafted in as Spiritual Israel on whether or not they should get tattoos.
Still it's obvious from the fact that I'm presenting this teaching on tattoos, that there are those professed Christian people who not only desire tattoos but are getting them.
Despite our church teachings, some of these are within the church I'm pastor of. They are who prompted me to prayerfully and studiously Look at this issue again. Does scripture show clear evidence to overturn this interpretation that Yahweh Elohim prohibits all tattooing?
Looking at the scripture, I see some important points that professed Christians who are pro tattoo need to consider.

POINT 1
Out of the list of prohibited things found in Leviticus 19 not everything had to do with the pagan practice of mourning the dead...
While death is always a sad time, Yahweh's people are not to "sorrow as others who have no hope" ( 1 Thessalonians 4:13).
So unless you beieve the law is done away with, or it's just for the Jews, many Christians today agree with an interpretation seen from Leviticus 19 that says tattoos done in mourning for the dead are prohibited.
Yet despite these scriptural principles, many professed Christians today still get tattoos to mourn or remember their dead loved ones. I can only assume they are ignorant of the scripture or believe that part of Yahweh's law is done away with. What I want to address in this study is those professed Christians who have bothered to read Leviticus 19:28, and consent to seeing a Biblical principle in not doing so, but argue that they see no biblical prohibition for getting tattoos for other purposes.
Along these lines, some attempt to argue the same scripture points I use myself against me. One such repetitive argument I've run into is exampled when the opposition will use Leviticus 19:27, to set a verbal trap for me to justify the Christian getting a tattoo is not a sin...
Leviticus 19:27,"You must not cut off the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard."
The common set up question hurled at me goes something like this, "Hey, do you get a haircut or trim your beard? Yahweh condemned getting a haircut or trimming your beard in the verse before forbidding the tattoo.
This is when they wait for me to bring the desired response or rebuttal. In response, I usually say something like,"The condemnation found in verse 27 of "rounding the corners of your head" or "mar the corners of thy beard" was the specific forbidding of a common pagan practice that cut the hair a certain way as a specific form of worship and honor of the hosts of heaven. Then I might give a few scholarly references...
Here’s how  Matthew Henry’s and  Coffman’s Commentaries reflect on the "forbidden haircut" of Leviticus 19:27:
"Those that worshipped the hosts of heaven, in honour of them,  cut their hair so as that their heads might resemble the celestial globe; but, as the custom was foolish itself, so, being done with respect to their false gods, it was idolatrous." (Matthew Henry,Commentary on the Whole Bible, Leviticus 19:27.)
The word for 'shave' or ''cut' is tah-kih-fu (Hebrew) and means,

• 'to surround, compass' 'to go or come round, of time'.
• 'To make or let go around' 'with men 'taking turns' at hosting banquets. In the sense of surround or encircle'.
• 'Hunting nets are cast, drawn around (Job 19:6) and Israelites are forbidden to shave or trim around the head (leaving a tuft of hair on top, emulating pagan cultists - Lev. 19:27)'.

https://www.grunge.com/141698/the-real-reason-monks-had-that-haircut/
In his exhaustive work "The Two Babylons”, Alexander Hislop writes of the Tonsure (Shaved Head) as it relates to the Papal System.
These celibate priests have all a certain 'mark' set upon them at their ordination; and that is the clerical tonsure.
The tonsure is the first part of the ceremony of ordination; and it is held to be a most important element in connection with the orders of the Romish clergy. ....the acceptance of this tonsure as the tonsure of St. Peter on the part of the clergy was the visible symbol of that submission.
"It was the mark," says Merle D'Aubigne, "that Popes stamped not on the forehead, but on the crown.”
Now, as Rome set so much importance on this tonsure, let it be asked, what was the meaning of it? It was the visible inauguration of those who submitted to it as the priests of Bacchus.
Centuries before the Christian era, thus spoke Herodotus of the Babylonian tonsure: "The Arabians acknowledge no other gods than Bacchus and Urania [i.e., the Queen of Heaven], and they say that their hair was cut in the same manner as Bacchus' is cut; now, they cut it in a circular form, shaving it around the temples." What, then, could have led to this tonsure of Bacchus?
Everything in his history was mystically or hieroglyphically represented, and that in such a way as none but the initiated could understand. One of the things that occupied the most important place in the Mysteries was the mutilation to which he was subjected when he was put to death.
In memory of that, he was lamented with bitter weeping every year, as "Rosh-Gheza," "the mutilated Prince." But "Rosh-Gheza" also signified the "clipped or shaved head."
Therefore he was himself represented either with the one or the other form of tonsure; and his priests, for the same reason, at their ordination had their heads either clipped or shaven. Over all the world, where the traces of the Chaldean system are found, this tonsure or shaving of the head is always found along with it...
The high antiquity of this tonsure may be seen from the enactment in the Mosaic Law against it. The Jewish priests were expressly forbidden to make any baldness upon their heads (Lev 21:5), which sufficiently shows that, even so early as the time of Moses, the "shaved-head" had been already introduced.
The Pope, as the grand representative of the false Messiah, received the circular tonsure himself, so all his priests to identify them with the same system are required to submit to the same circular tonsure, to mark them in their measure and their own sphere as representatives of that same false Messiah." (Page 221,The Two Babylons, Alexander Hislop)
Among the ancients the hair was often used in divination. The worshippers of the stars and planets cut their hair evenly around, trimming the extremities. According to Herodotus the Arabs were accustomed to shave the hair around the head, and let a tuft stand up on the crown in honour of Bacchus.
He says that same thing concerning the Macians, a people of Northern Africa. This custom is at present common in India and China. The Chinese let the tuft grow until it is long enough to be plaited into a tail.'
Freeman goes on to say that cutting the hair at death was an ancient pagan practice for the dead:
'It was also an ancient superstitious custom to cut off the hair at the death of friends and throw it into the sepulchre on the corpse. It was sometimes laid on the face and breast of the deceased as an offering to the infernal gods.'
‍Wikipedia explains that in Hinduism, the underlying concept is that hair is a symbolic offering to the gods, representing a real sacrifice of beauty, and in return, the offerers are given blessings in proportion to their sacrifice.

In some traditions, the head is shaved completely, while in others a small tuft of hair called sikha is left. In some South Indian temples such as Tirumala, Palani and Tiruttani, it is customary for pilgrims to shave their heads in or near the temple of the god they are visiting.
There has been an Indian custom to perform on widows after their husbands' deaths. It is not uncommon to tonsure the head of a child after the death of a parent (usually the father).
It is also usual for male relatives, especially the first-born son of the dead father, to have his head shaved in mourning. The corpse, too, often receives the tonsure after death.
 
So we see this practice of cutting you hair in the specific tonsure style wasn't necessarily about mourning the dead, but was most regularly done as a form of worship in honor of a false god. We know from other places in scripture that unless you have a special circumstance like Sampson's Nazarite vow, the  simple cutting of your hair is not a prohibition. The very fact that Yahweh has to tell men who were under the Nazarite's vow not to let a razer touch their heads is proof in itself that under normal circumstances Yahweh Elohim allowed the cutting of hair. The fact that the apostle Paul says... 
1 Corinthians 11:14 " Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?"
Shows that Yahweh Elohim probably approved from the beginning the promotion of men whose hair grows too long get it cut. Nowhere in the Torah are the sons of Israel ever told that they must never cut their hair or trim their beards. What the sons of Israel are told to do is to refrain from participating in the ritual mourning practices of the pagans.
These practices of cutting the flesh and cutting the hair on the head for the dead or in honor of false gods are always prohibited for Yahweh's people, whether priests or ordinary people. 
It was a specific style of hair cut whose design was originated and inspired by Satanic forces among the pagan nations that was forbidden and not hair cutting itself which was originally accepted by Yahweh. 
I can already hear and see the tattoo proponents saying with a grin on their face, all this stuff your presenting is making our argument. The tattoo is the same as getting a haircut."It's not tattooing that Yahweh forbids but only specific forms of tattoo whose designs are meant for spiritual semblance to other gods or remembering the dead.
With this interpretation, they think they have a opened and shut case; but my response to this argument is that may sound all good except for the fact that in the context of Leviticus 19, comparing getting haircuts and tattoos is like comparing apples and tomatoes.
Both the apple and tomato may be a fruit, and both the tonsure haircut and tattooing may be prohibited, but they are different and have different features and characteristics that can apply differently from one to another. In order to understand better what I mean by this statement we must look at and contrast the different items listed in this chapter from a couple different angles or perspectives. 
First of all since the opposition wants to go one back to verse 27 where the hair cutting is mentioned and compare it with the tattooing mention in the next verse 28, why don't we go even further and contrast with an open mind the whole list of items mentioned in Leviticus 19: 26-31?
Lets look at the following perspective, that says I see hair cutting and tattooing as different as apples and tomatoes; because when I read  Leviticus Chapter 19:26-31,  I don't see everything mentioned there , including tattooing,  as necessarily related to remembering the dead. For example...
26  ‘You shall not eat anything with the blood(not related to remembering dead people, dietary prohibition), nor (a separation made)practice divination or soothsaying.  (not necessarily related to mourning the dead) 
27  You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads (not related to mourning the dead, but was worship of the hosts of heaven, in honour of them) nor (a separation made)harm the edges of your beard.  (not related to mourning the dead people) 
28  ‘You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead (here it says what its related too...)nor  (a separation made)make any tattoo marks on yourselves (not necessarily related to mourning the dead) : I am Yahweh.  29  ‘Do not profane your daughter by making her a harlot, so that the land will not fall to harlotry and the land become full of lewdness. (not related to mourning the dead)   
30 ‘You shall keep My sabbaths and revere My sanctuary; I am Yahweh. (not  related to mourning the dead)   31 ‘Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am Yahweh your Elohim(can be related to the dead)."
Again, looking at this perspective, you can make the argument that the word nor found also in v. 26, 27, and v.28, can be a separator of different prohibited pagan things that don't necesarily have the same applications.
In v. 28, the subject of cutting the body which is obviously related to mourning the dead is separated by nor from the next introduced practice of tattoos, which is another completely different activity that Elohim also happens to forbid can be compared to the nor in v. 26; where a dietary restriction from Yahweh's law for His people, is separated from "divination or soothsaying." a different application or practice of paganism.
Just like Yahweh goes from forbidding one separate pagan activity to another in v. 28 he forbids the very next separate activity of using your daughter as a prostitute; which has nothing to do with remembering or mourning the dead. From this perspective, tattoos can also have nothing to do with remembering the dead.  So what does this mean?
If this is true, it means that tattooing  doesn't have to have anything to do with the pagan practice of remembering the dead to be forbidden by Yahweh Elohim. On its own merits, It's simply forbidden as a pagan practice. Further enforcing of this point is due to the fact that...

POINT 2
"The background to this law concerning cutting for the dead and the separate tattooing (imprinting) was that Israel, after being rescued from slavery, was between Egypt and Canaan. Recent archeology indicates that, while Egypt did tattoo, it was limited to women.
Evidence suggests that tattooing the body parts of women associated with fertility (breasts, thighs and abdomen) was believed to be a good luck charm to protect the birthing process. Women also frequently had imprints of the fertility goddess, Bes, which seems to support this theory.
In Canaan, evidence indicates that instead of marking the body with ink, more extreme scarification measures, like branding, slashing or gashing the skin were used.
Archeology, backed by biblical texts, indicates the Canaanites would customarily slash their bodies for ritualistic purposes (1 Kings 18:28), especially to mourn their dead and honor their gods. 
Leviticus 19:28 seems to imply this when it says, “you will not make cuttings in your flesh, for the dead, nor print marks on you.” (Tattoos The Ancient and Mysterious History By Cate Lineberry SMITHSONIAN.COM)

POINT 3
There are some well known scholars that not only share this belief but take it a step further. They say Elohim forbids this practice not because it''s pagan; but simply because he doesn't llike this unatural mutilation of the body. When they look at  Leviticus 19:28  ...
" Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am Yahweh."
They say, notice also, the phrase "for the dead" is ONLY referencing the "cuttings in your flesh". The condemnation of "nor print ANY marks upon you" is not qualified by the phrase "for the dead". Also, if you’ll notice the verse clearly says "ANY marks" period.
Merrill F. Unger's, very popular and authoritative, Unger's Bible Dictionary under the definition for "Mark" includes the following reference for Leviticus 19:28:
"In Lev. 19:28 we find two prohibitions of an unnatural disfigurement of the body: 'Ye shall not make any cutting in your flesh for the dead, nor any print any  marks upon you.' The latter (Heb.  qa aqa,  incision) refers to tattooing,  and has no reference to idolatrous usages, but was intended to inculcate upon the Israelietes a proper reverence for God's creation."
(Merrill F. Unger,  Unger's Bible Dictionary, 1974 ed., p. 696)
Notice that Unger teaches that tattoos were  forbidden without any reference to pagan, heathen, or idolatrous usages. In other words, the tattoo itself, regardless the reason, was forbidden by Yahweh.
Wycliffe’s Bible Encyclopedia under the definition for  TATTOOING distinctly says:
"While ‘cuttings in the flesh’ have reference here to mourning customs [for the dead] , the tattooing does not appear to pertain to such practice."
( Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia, 1975 ed., p. 1664)
The New American Commentary on Leviticus 19:28 writes the condemnation was for, "cutting the body either for the dead  or with tattoo marks." (Mark F. Rooker , The New American Commentary on Leviticus, 2000 ed., p. 262) Explicitly recognizing the tattoo was not "for the dead."
 I don't quite go as far as what Unger's Bible Dictionary says about tattooing, "its forbidden without any reference to pagan, heathen, or idolatrous usages." I'm 100% positive that the tattooing mentioned here is forbidden by Yahweh because it absolutely originates from pagan ways or customs that go against His righteous law of holiness.
The thing that defines it as absolutely pagan is these people not only cut themselves as a human blood letting sacrifice for their pagan gods of the dead on behalf of their dead ancestors; but the whole tattoo concept or process of imprinting their bodies, originated from pagan superstitions, myths and customs. 
Adam Clarke in his commentary is helpful, when he explains the relationship between verses 27 and 28.
27 Any cuttings in your flesh for the dead - That the ancients were very violent in their grief, tearing the hair and face, beating the breast, etc., is well known. Virgil represents the sister of Dido "tearing her face with her nails, and beating her breast with her fists.
Unguibus ora soror foedans, et pectora pugnis. Aen., l. iv., ver. 672.
28 Nor print any marks upon you - It was a very ancient and a very general custom to carry marks on the body in honour of the object of their worship.
All the castes of the Hindoos bear on their foreheads or elsewhere what are called the sectarian marks, which distinguish them, not only in a civil but also in a religious point of view, from each other.
Most of the barbarous nations lately discovered have their faces, arms, breasts, etc., curiously carved or tattooed, probably for superstitious purposes. Ancient writers abound with accounts of marks made on the face, arms, etc., in honour of different idols.

 ‍Arms of a Hindu Woman
As already quoted about Egyptian women around the time of Moses...
"Evidence suggests that tattooing the body parts of women associated with fertility (breasts, thighs and abdomen) was believed to be a good luck charm to protect the birthing process.
Women also frequently had imprints of the fertility goddess, Bes, which seems to support this theory."(Tattoos The Ancient and Mysterious History By Cate Lineberry SMITHSONIAN.COM)
As already mentioned, unlike hair cutting which has an origin outside of pagan practices which scripture implies as pre-approved by Elohim through nature, both scripture and history show the beginnings or origins of tattoos as something created straight from satanically inspired men.  
POINT 4
The Bible shows that there are practices that came straight from Yahweh Elohim; and Satan inspires men to take what is Yahweh's and incorporate it with pagan idolatry.
The Bible shows there are practices that came straight from the devils; and Satan inspires men to take what belongs to him and incorporate it into the worship of Yahweh Elohim...
 1 Timothy 4:1   ESV / " Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, "
Colossians 2:8   ESV / "See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Messiah.
2 Corinthians 11:14   ESV / " And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light " 
Just as scripture implies that the whole idea or notion of the possibility of other gods besides Yahweh is satanic in origin, so its from evil spirits where customs such as the birth of the idea of tattooing originated from....
Gen 3:5 "For Elohim doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."
Jeremiah 10:2,"Thus says Yahweh: “Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them,"
1 Cor.10:20,28  "The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to Elohim : and I would not that ye should have fellowship with demons...if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake..." .
So idols and demons are effectively the same. Notice how Paul says they sacrificed "to demons (idols) and not to Elohim " - the demons are pretending to be God s ,  but they are false gods. So all the false gods of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Vikings, Babylonians or any other are really demons in disguise. There is only one God, so  it follows that the whole idea or concept created among human of the existence of other gods came straight from  demonic or Satanic influence; and not from Yahweh Elohim. The same can be said of tattoos.  

POINT 5
Origin is important to Yahweh. They go on to argue that the tattoo of today is much different than it was for those ancient people of Yahweh who originally received the Pentateuch.
Today's tattoo is a decorative means of self expression and personal decoration. In our current culture people modify their appearance for beauty that is in the eye of the beholder.
This is viewed in many ways such as clothing choice, makeup, plastic surgery, haircutting and coloring, weight loss, body-building, and ear piercing.
Some of these practices have a history or origin based in ancient ritual and false religion, but in our present cultural context man has changed these practices that Yahweh denotes as originating from evil or idolatry; in the same way to how popular Christianity views Christmas and Easter.
Tattoos today are no longer considered to link the wearer to cultic worship practices and is not generally practiced for ancient religious purposes. Just as the evergreen tree, holly, misteltoe, Easter eggs and bunny's of Christmas and Easter despite their pagan origins, have been changed in peoples minds to be a form of worship to Messiah or fun commercialism; despite the origin of their roots, tattoos today are considered as artistic ornamentation.
Yahweh's contextual message within Leviticus:The whole pagan tattoo concept or process of imprinting their bodies, originated or evolved into today's so called artistic expression.
What we should be asking is, does this perspective change anything as far as Yahweh Elohim's view of tattooing found among people today?  

POINT 6
This leads us to the real context of Leviticus chapter 19. Above the issue of pagans cutting themselves to remember the dead, or imprinting their bodies for superstitious blessings from false gods, the main context in Leviticus, is Yahweh was talking to His people; telling them not to do many things (including tattooing) as a way of separating them from the larger pagan culture of the world surrounding them. The entire chapter is filled with both moral and ceremonial law prohibitions.
Everything from shaving around your head in the way the pagans did to honor their gods, to how to honor both Elohim and men is mentioned in that list of being set apart as holy like Yahweh. Separated from the larger pagan culture surrounding his holy set apart unto him people. The theme is to live a lifestyle of holiness that honors Yahweh Elohim.
Even if we choose as many do to just narrow the focus down to believing that cutting yourself and the separately mentioned tattoos must absolutely be involved as markings for the dead or pagan burial that is unlawful; the focus of Yahweh Elohim is much bigger than that.

Continue to Part 2