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As
in anything, before you begin a project you must lay the groundwork
and come to some agreement on layout. So the first thing
we should discuss is image and come to some agreement on the
importance of image to people. So let me ask a question.
Is image important?
Since we are not
talking face to face I will answer the above question with
a series of "If" questions that will be self-evident. These
simple questions will lay the groundwork even before we get
to what the Bible says.
If image is not
important to whom you really are, then why do bikers dress
the way they do and refuse to change their appearance?
If image is of no real value in determining who you really
are, then how come policemen dress the way they do?
If image is of no real value as to who you really are, then
how come bankers dress only in their gray, dark blue or black
suits, and wear their stick in the mud ties and so forth?
If image is not a give away as to what and who you really
are why do prostitutes wear what they wear when they are selling
their wares? If image is not important in signaling
who you are then why do we expect our preachers to dress the
way they do?
The answer is in
your own thoughts right now. Everyone has a way of dress
and appearance so that they can signal to everyone else who
and what they are. Astronauts, dress the way they do
so you know them for who they are. Firemen dress the
way they do so that when they arrive at the fire you know
them for who they are. Gangs have certain colors and
dress that tell you who they are. What would happen
if you were in trouble and you needed a policeman to help
you and a police car arrived and a man wearing hobnailed boots,
a ripped T-shirt, blue jeans, long hair and a beard got out
of the car? Would you feel help had arrived or would
you start to think that perhaps trouble had arrived? What
if you called your pastor for help and he arrived on a Harley
Davidson motorcycle, looking like the guy I described above,
and he was smoking a cigarette was un-bathed and pierced all
over? Would you feel that help had arrived or would
you feel like you need to call another preacher?
Now I will grant
you, before the argument even arises, that substance over
image is always more important. However, I have to get
over the image before I can ever look at you or into you for
the substance of who you are. I will also grant you
that even if you dress like a banker or preacher and your
substance is that of a crook that will become known. If
you dress like a biker and your substance is that of a real
preacher that too will become known. However, most people
will not get past the image. That is why con men dress
like bankers and give the image of preachers. They know
that the image will draw you in. No con man starts out
looking and talking like a crook, because you won't be drawn
in. Is that shallow? Perhaps, but welcome to the
real world. Here I must point out that Satan uses the
guise of the con man and has given con men everywhere their
first lesson in the con. II Corinthians 11:14,
"And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel
of light." There is your second lesson in the art of
the con, straight from the original con. That is the
way we are, have been and always will be as human beings.
We are drawn to form (image) over substance, at least
in the beginning or until the snake bites you.
At this point I
think that we can come to the agreement that like it or not
image has a great impact on everything that we do. It
would be pretty hard to argue with that.
So what does the
Bible say about image? What does the Bible say about
"long hair, tattoos, body piercing and the way you dress?
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