Matt has twenty-three (23) tattoos and he offered up this simple trio of letters:
The CTR represents the expression "Choose the Right," a common thread in the ideology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly referred to as the Mormon church.
In essence, Matt explained, it means "follow the right path". Its akin to a mantra eschewing sinful activities frowned upon by the church like drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, doing drugs, and, yup, you guessed it: getting tattooed.
Matt finds great power in this tattoo because it represents an oxymoron: the letters CTR stand for a way of life that is contradicted by the fact that they have been tattooed on flesh. It would be like a Jewish person having the phrase, in Hebrew, "You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or imprint markings upon you: I am the Lord" tattooed on them. As a tattooed Mormon, this is Matt's way of addressing,and coming to terms with, the disparity between faith and his love of tattoos.
This was tattooed by a friend of his in Ogden, Utah.
Thanks to Matt for sharing his ink with us here on Tattoosday!
About that "You shall not make gashes" tattoo. You can see one just such tattoo here:
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It probably happened unintentionally, though, unlike Matt's tattoo.
If you travel to El paso,TX or up to alamogordo- las cruches, NM dont flash that tattoo the crypts around here have CTR tattooed on thier necks and chest weird i know- peace out from a NM Mormon working on full sleeves laters-sean
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