"I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some."
This verse has been floating through my mind quite a bit lately.
Selfishly, I want our church to have a fabulous youth program. Who doesn't, right? Especially parents who have youths whose spiritual growth matters to them.
So, selfishly, I've been reminding Isaac of all the ways he can contribute to a good, strong youth program.
The one that I feel the antsiest about: "Isaac, just remember--when a handsome, confident, outgoing kid like you asks other kids to come to church, they're more likely to accept than if I do."
This is the absolute truth, of course. Adolescents are fairly shallow, more likely to be persuaded by attractive, popular, trendy, and successful folk than by homely, unnoticed, stable (boring!), or struggling folk. And they are almost pathologically ready to be influenced by other shallow adolescents. A kid like Isaac has sway with his peers, and if he uses that leverage to get kids into the church, all the better for everyone.
Maybe.
It's the absolute truth, but is it the gospel truth?
Is this what Paul is talking about? To the Jews I became like a Jew, to those not having the law I became like one not having the law, to the weak I became weak, to the pathologically shallow I became shallow too?
I
think Paul is saying that he'll use whatever leverage he has to share the gospel, yes. So, if a bunch of teens who don't know anything are more willing to learn something from someone who is attractive and confident and smart and fun . . . well, then they'll be willing to learn something. And that's good.
Are there some forms of leverage that make it impossible to share the gospel? Yes, absolutely. Coercion and violence are so incompatible with the gospel that whenever they are yoked to it they destroy it.
Is shallowness in the same category?
I hope not. But I fear it might be.
I do think the Adam Hamiltons of the church are a blessing to the church. I do think attractive, winning, strong, outgoing folk have gifts that can be used in service of the gospel. I'm glad to have people listen to folk that are both faithful and popular.
But the Marva Dawns of the church are pretty darn worth listening to, too. (I hope she wouldn't mind the comparison.) It takes more of an effort to remember to listen to the frail, the frumpy, the old, the weak, the stuttering, the self-effacing, the smelly, the struggling. (Not that Marva Dawn is all, or any, of those things. Her personal presence is less obviously powerful and attractive than Adam Hamilton's.) But their words, or at least the effort of listening to them, may be the more important.
Perhaps at the very least, if we're willing to use the Adam Hamiltons and the Isaacs of the world to save some, we should be even more attentive to making sure those who are being saved are saved from their propensity to be influenced by the Adam Hamiltons and the Isaacs of the world.
What do you think?
Comments (3)
Ironically (or perhaps not so ironically) I'm dealing with some of this in my current chapter on beauty ideals and beauty as cultural currency. Overwhelmingly, Christians have adopted the beauty ideals of the world. And with those ideals, some (MANY in the South) have accepted pageants as arbiters of those ideals. Why? To minister to the other pretty people? To show the world that Christians don't have to be modest and frumpy and dowdy? I'm not sure I fully understand it, but beauty does seem to offer real advantages in both secular and (some) sacred realms.
Now I think it's great that we want to encourage healthy lifestyles, but I don't think the whole Christian dieting thing is necessarily the answer. I should not feel pressure as a 30+ year old woman to wear a size negative 2 and have the gray in my hair appropriately hidden in order to be listened to and/or seen as faithful and/or successful. We should not desire clothing and/or makeup so expensive that (as Chad would say) makes baby Jesus cry. And we should certainly have ways of helping our young people look beyond appearances in both themselves and others.
But at the same time there's no denying the effectiveness of pretty people (Billy Graham...younger years, obviously, Beth Moore, Mark Driscoll, etc.)...especially when trying to pull in some youth. There is, however, a significant difference between wanting the youth group to be a hip place to be and overemphasizing the importance of looks so much that the same cliques form at church.
For many young women, Christians included, beauty pageants become a form of external validation. It's sometimes a short jump for some of them to make from beauty=goodness to beauty pageants are good...many "pretty" women might see the pageant platform as a potential mission field in the same way that a star football player might view the lockerroom. Okay, so apparently I don't have much to offer except, "Yes, I agree. You are exactly right. It is complicated!" I'll stop my rambling post and get back to writing my dissertation. I do have a deadline tomorrow afterall
Mandy, of all my colleagues' dissertations, yours is one of about three that I actually plan on reading.
@scsours - You are very kind. At this point, I'm not even sure I want to read the whole thing. ARGH.