The Holy Spirit wears Prada
“Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.” Mark 5:15
There’s a discussion about tatts and piercings going on at dougwils.com
Like Jello on a Plate and Unleashing Your Inner Fundamentalist
Here’s my 2 cents:
The comment about attire being communication is the heart of the matter. In our culture, tatts and studs communicate rebellion, at least for now.
Sometimes we are compelled to rebel. For Rees Howells, not wearing a hat for a time was appropriate, though culturally an embarrassment. For Ezekiel, nakedness and eating poo were temporarily appropriate.
But unlike these men we are not faced with nominal religion, the cult of respectability.
We are faced with a pagan fist in the face of God. Imitating the wannabe wiccas and the Vandals of Skin-Deep is not a communication from the Spirit. He is extremely discerning when it comes to fashion. When appropriate, the Holy Spirit might even prescribe Prada. And when He does, we should not be caught eating poo.
More PO-MOtivator posters here.
P.S. The title of this post was to communicate something. Any Christian knows when the Holy Spirit is grieved, and our attire is something He does speak to us about if we are grieving Him.
August 7th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
It’s been an interesting discussion. On one hand, the Bible treats clothing/adornment as significant, so we should, too. Our clothing conveys something about us, even we insist it doesn’t or shouldn’t.
On the other hand, some of the discussion has used “avoiding causing someone to stumble” arguments, but assumes that causing a brother to stumble is the same as causing a brother to turn up his nose. They aren’t the same. Causing someone to stumble means tempting them to sin. And while we should submit to one another and not cause offense unnecessarily, if we made all our decisions based on whether someone might sniff disapproval over it, we’d pretty much be paralyzed. And that would probably offend someone, too.
But going in another direction re tattoos….I think it would be interesting to explore the difference between external adornment (clothing, jewelry, etc.) and direct-flesh adornment (ie. cutting/ tattoos, cosmetic surgery). Are there any scriptural precepts/examples/whatever that would allow one and not the other? Perhaps in the second case we are trying to “play God,” who will one day give us new bodies? I don’t know. Of course, there are some adornments that cross the line between the two (pierced ears, for example).
August 8th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Hi Angie
Thanks for your comment.
I agree. I think the Holy Spirit has perfect taste, judging by the beauty of the world. Adornment should be just that, beautiful. Of course this varies from culture to culture, but of course the extremes are demonic, which is where western culture is heading.
It is the context that decides for us most often. If a certain piercing in our culture communicates rebellion, we don’t do it. Same goes for clothing. The best-dressed people are modest but regal. It doesn’t say “Look at me,” but it does illustrate respect for themselves and for those around them.