In our monthly Men’s Bible Study, we’ve been covering some of what the Bible has to say about manhood as opposed to what the world has to say (see related posts here and here). We recently had a very interesting discussion the other night about how many modern notions of masculinity actually help foster lives of hidden (and sometimes not so hidden) sin.

One of the stereotypes our culture fosters about masculinity is that of the “strong silent type,” that men need to have everything together and under control and be silent in the process. From a very early age we’re led to believe that it’s women who are more open, honest, vulnerable and willing to share their feelings and struggles. Men, on the other hand are taught that sharing like that is actually feminine and therefore weak.

This, coupled with the notion that men are to always have things under control (though this is necessarily applicable only for men), creates men who often find themselves wearing masks, pretending that there are no problems. We’re taught to hold things in under the mask of masculinity. Edward T. Welch, in his book When People Are Big and God is Small, quotes Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard about this idea of hiding behind masks:

Do you not know that there comes a midnight hour when everyone has thrown off his mask? Do you believe that life will always let itself be mocked? Do you think you can slip away a little before midnight to avoid this? Or are you not terrified by it? I have seen men in real life who so long deceived others that at last their true nature could not reveal itself; I have seen men who played hide and seek so long that at last in madness they disgustingly obtruded upon others their secret thoughts which hitherto they had proudly concealed.

Though not specifically dealing with masculinity, this certainly applies. Many men actually find themselves trapped in a vicious cycle. On the one hand, we’re told to keep our struggles (and, by default our sins) hidden because it’s not masculine to be so vulnerable. On the other hand, hidden sin breeds more hidden sin, which soon becomes larger and harder to manage. We’re actually fostering attitudes about masculinity that encourages men to hide their sin because no one wants to be around a man who’s just going to talk about his struggles and failures all of the time! That’s not very masculine, is it? Or so our society would have us believe.

All the while, as our men are being encouraged to keep things hidden, there is a also a sense in which modern views of masculinity actually encourage sin. After all, who hasn’t been told that it’s a man’s prerogative to go out and raise some heck once in a while? After all, “boys will be boys,” right? Men are entitled to go out and mess up once in a while, or quite often, or all of the time. We romanticize the “bad boy” image. So, we foster an attitude that first encourages men to sin and then to keep it hidden by believing that it’s somehow feminine to be open, honest and vulnerable. The result is that many men are simply dying inside because of these unbiblical notions and practices.

In order to put an end to this vicious cycle, we must encourage men to be able to develop the discernment to tell what atitudes are of the world and what attitudes are biblical. The Bible tells us, that though we might hide sin from other people, it will eventually be revealed:

Numbers 32:23c be sure your sin will find you out.

Luke 12:1-4 Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.

Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Churches must do better at helping men foster relationships that go beyond mere grunting or checking in with sports scores or stock tips (read here to see how some well-intentioned Christians actually make things worse). We must teach our men that to be open, honest and vulnerable is not necessarily feminine. The Bible often talks about the value of relationships, even from a very practical standpoint:

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him - a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Paul tells us in Galatians 6:2 to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” James 5:16 tells us to confess our sins to one another. 1 John 1:9 tells us that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” In Psalm 32:2-5, David talks about the weariness that comes from keeping silent about sin. Confession is first and foremost to God, but there is also a vital aspect in which we must have relationships of accountability, especially as men. This is not to say that we pour ourselves out to the checkout clerk at the grocery store or everyone we meet, but we must be developing key relationships in which we can share these things. There is something special about God’s people speaking God’s Word into one another’s lives that is powerful and effective. Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes quotes Billy Graham as saying:

Several years ago I was to be interviewed at my home for a well-known television show and, knowing that it would appear on nationwide television, my wife took great pains to see that everything looked nice. She had vacuumed and dusted and tidied up the whole house but had gone over the living room with a fine-tooth comb since that was where the interview would be filmed. When the film crew arrived with all the lights and cameras, she felt that everything in the living room was spic and span. We were in place along with the interviewer when suddenly the television lights were turned on and we saw cobwebs and dust where we had never seen them before. In the words of my wife, “I mean, that room was festooned with dust and cobwebs which simply did not show up under ordinary light.”

The point, of course is that when we have others shining light into our lives, we see things we might not otherwise have seen. Our men must move beyond these shallow definitions of what constitutes masculinity to develop relationships that are open, honest and vulnerable. We must learn to remove the masks in order to become the men the Bible would have us to be rather than society’s cheap knockoffs.

• Read When People Are Big and God is Small by Edward T. Welch
• Use Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes, compiled by Robert Morgan
• Read Future Men by Douglas Wilson
• Read The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity by Leon J. Podles

After being tagged by Amanda Ottaway of Imago Dei as part of the “Thinking Blogger Awards,” Timmy Brister at Provocations and Pantings has tagged me with the “Six Weird Things About You” thread. I guess the object is to simply list six things about myself that people would consider weird and then ask the same of other people.
I’m really at a loss here because there’s really nothing weird about me. OK, so maybe that’s not entirely true. Weird is often in the eye of the beholder, isn’t it? These six things will have to suffice:

• I collect Pez dispensers. I currently have somewhere around 400 or so dispensers. Growing up, my Mom would bribe me to go to the grocery store with her by buying me a Pez dispenser. I don’t remember ever actually asking for them, so I think she just had a secret love for them! For whatever reason, I just didn’t throw them away, then one day when I was visiting my parent’s house from college, I was going through my old room where I found 50-60 dispensers in a drawer. I remember wondering if anyone actually collected Pez dispensers, and that was the end of it (or should I say beginning!). God bless my wife, she’s even been to a Pez convention with me in CA!

• I am very much a creature of habit. In the evenings after our boys go to bed, my wife and I will often sit on the couch (I am there as I type). I have to sit in the same spot each time, with a pillow under my feet and another on my lap upon which sits my laptop (this is often when and where I blog). Please do not take my spot on the couch or I’ll be all out of sorts. Sometimes, I won’t even be doing anything on my laptop other than resting it on my lap. It’s almost like an adult security blanket. I continually use the same pens and remain very particular about a number of things.

• I nearly always wear Argyle socks (even with shorts, which my wife wishes I wouldn’t do). As I said earlier, I am very much a creature of habit and this is one of my habits. I’m not out to make a fashion statement, it’s just personal preference. I do own some white socks that I bought to wear when I worked at UPS because I didn’t want to ruin my Argyles. I wear these only when I exercise (which isn’t nearly often enough) and when my wife insists (which is nearly every time I go out in shorts).

• My oldest son Miles said to include that I don’t like chocolate or dark sodas. I don’t particularly consider this weird, but I do not like chocolate at all. I like white chocolate. I like coffee and tea but not regular chocolate or dark sodas.

• I have no nail on the big toe of my left foot. During Junior High, I had several ingrown toenails. Finally, they took the nail off. It grew back incorrectly, so they removed it again and put something on the roots so that it would not grow back. I wish they were all that way, I never have to cut the nail!

• I strongly prefer my bedsheets to be tucked. Sitting next to me, my wife says: “It’s not just that you like them tucked, it’s the first thing you do every night when you come to bed! You’re a weirdo alright” I just don’t understand how someone could comfortably sleep with their feet coming out of the sheets or the sheets not firmly anchored. That’s not weird, it’s just common sense!

Thanks for the opportunity Timmy. So now I’m supposed to pass this on. I pick: Gunny, Will Turner, Chris Gonzalez, Rhett Smith, Matthew Hall, and Mark Redfern. Pass it on.

I want to remind you of a wonderful resource that our church has just put out. It is a CD of all original worship music called Songs of Grace. Every song on this album was written and performed by people with a close connection to our life of worship as a local body.

I am extremely excited about how everything turned out and I can’t wait for as many people as possible to hear it! We now have song clips available for preview at our website. The CD can also be ordered through our website (via PayPal) for $10 which includes shipping. If you want it cheaper, you can always come to the church and buy a copy in person!

• Visit our church’s official website
• Visit this page to learn more about this project
• Visit the Music page where you can preview clips and order the CD
• Download the track “Lord Jesus, Come” (thanks Gary!).

Welcome to the light at the end of the tunnel. Or maybe it’s the darkness at the mouth of the cave? Either way you look at it, this is The Weekly Town Crier, where I gather and regurgitate some of the things that caught my eye over the past week. Enjoy.

Sign up for eMusic. Discover a wonderful world of DRM-free digital downloads and help me earn free downloads in the process!

You can always see what I hear (I promise that my musical taste isn’t all that obsure!) at last.fm.

Read about the Texas panel that has rejected plans to make the Bible a required textbook in some schools.

Read this piece about the “Justin Timberlake effect” which really has nothing to do with Justin. Instead, the piece wonders why the so-called “tastemakers” are so bad at actually predicting what will be popular and what will not.

Read this NY Times piece which questions the growing practice of artists re-recording and re-releasing old material.

Read about jazz musician Ornette Coleman winning the Pulitzer Prize for music for his Sound Grammar, the first jazz composition to ever win the prize.

Read about the voluntary manslaughter conviction for Mary Winkler in the death of her husband.

Read some of James White’s thoughts on the “King James Only” “worn out manuscripts” argument.

Read about the Pope revising “traditional Roman Catholic teaching on so-called “limbo,” approving a church report released Friday that said there was reason to hope that babies who die without baptism can go to heaven.”

Oh boy, kittens.

Read about the former Miss America who shot out the tires on a would-be thief’s car to prevent his getaway.

Read about U2’s Bono and the Edge writing the music and lyrics for a Spiderman musical.

Read about internet backyard brawler Kimbo Slice facing former heavyweight champion Ray Mercer in an official MMA-ruled cage match on June 16 in Atlantic City.

Ever wonder how much the New York Yankees are worth?

Read Hillary’s comments that, if elected, she would make Bill “a roaming ambassador to the world, using his skills to repair the nation’s tattered image abroad.”

Browse this list of 12 albums you should hear from Rickie Lee Jones for eMusic.

Read about the first possible “transgender” high school prom king.

Read about Washington’s new “domestic partner” bill which grants gay and lesbian couples many of the rights of marriage.

Read this article which urges pastors to prepare for jail if they plan to continue preaching that homosexuality is a sin.

Read about the Governor of New York’s attempts to legalize same-sex “marriage.”

Read about New Hampsire lawmaker’s recent vote to legalize same-sex “unions.”
Be on the alert for pirates.

How would you do in “competitive text messaging?”

Browse the week in photos from Yahoo.

Read rocker Ted Nugent’s thoughts on why “gun free” zones are a recipe for disaster.

Read Harry Jackson’s thoughts about impending legislation that could hinder what is said from pulpits across the country.

Prepare to register for the 2008 “Together For the Gospel” conference.

R.I.P. former Russian leader Boris Yeltsin.

Read about the three men who have been sentenced to prison for the theft of Edvard Munch masterpieces “The Scream” and “Madonna.”

Watch this live(?) perfomance from 1985 of “Think For a Minute” and this one of “Build” by personal favorite, the now defunct Housemartins (thanks Mr. Cordova).

Read hip hop mogul Russell Simmons‘ call to remove the very words from rap that got Don Imus fired.

Read this piece which laments the “hip hop hypocrisy” that Imus has helped unwittingly uncover.

Read as Matt Perry (via Tony Kummer) examines research about how old the average Southern Baptist pastor is.

Read as Denny Burk lets Nancy Pelosi speak for herself on partial birth abortion.

See the newest ESV Journaling Bible (I wish they’d stop, I’m getting “Bible envy!”).

Read about the NY exhibit of never before seen paintings by Monet.

Read Michelle Malkin’s thoughts about Hillary’s recent use of “black speak” which concludes: “You be trippin’, girl.”

Read this article which notes that church attendance in Blacksburg, VA has been “unusaully high” after the college shootings.

Read this article which profiles an unemployed MA man who offered his cell phone number on YouTube for anyone just wanting to talk. He has received over 5,000 calls, and though he is out of minutes, plans on continuing to take calls.

Read about the guitars recently sold at auction to benefit musicians who lost everything in hurricane Katrina. Among the items were a Gibson Les Paul guitar of U2’s The Edge which fetched $240,000 and Bono’s sunglasses pulled in $20,000. Other items and prices: “Jimi Hendrix’s 1966 Red Fender Mustang guitar, which fetched $400,000, former President Clinton’s saxophone ($54,000) and a pair of John Lennon’s round, blue-tinted sunglasses ($30,000).”

Read as Justin Taylor makes available a response from the authors of Pierced For Our Transgressions to N.T. Wright’s criticism of their take on penal substitution.

Read about Wiccan symbols being approved for use in national cemeteries.

Read about the ACLU in IN suing over “In God We Trust” license plates.

Read about the governor of MA seeking to end abstinence eductation (htx3: PR).

Watch the trailer for the latest installment of the Harry Potter series of movies.

Read as Tim Challies offers some challenging thoughts about what happens when we try to disrupt God’s created order.

Read about Mexico lawmakers’ recent vote to legalize abortion.

Read about researchers who claim to have found a potentially habitable planet outside of our solar system.

Read about the Spinal Tap reunion concert to help save the earth.

Read this piece which reports that: “Kids with religious parents are better behaved and adjusted than other children, according to a new study that is the first to look at the effects of religion on young child development.”

Read an interview with former Spock’s Beard member Neal Morse who left the band after his very public conversion to Christianity. After being championed by Christian Music Today, Morse has recently said “I am not a Trinitarian” which also means he is not a Christian. Morse’s latest album, Sola Scriptura, is a concept album based around the life of Martin Luther.

Read about what happens to your body when you drink a Coke.

Read this piece by Michelle Malkin which criticizes Hillary Clinton’s recent attempts at “black speak” and concludes: “You be trippin’, girl.”

Read Rudy Guliani’s warning that “a Democrat is elected president in 2008, America will be at risk for another terrorist attack on the scale of Sept. 11, 2001. But if a Republican is elected, he said, especially if it is him, terrorist attacks can be anticipated and stopped.”

Read about Democrats reaction to Guliani’s comments.

Read about Oregon’s governor living on foodstamps for a week.

Read about Stephen Hawking’s “zero gravity” flight.

Create your own “Mr. Picasso Head.”

Read Al Mohler’s thoughts about Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of the Episcopal Church USA, who, in a recent interview, described “her church’s election of an openly-homosexual man as Bishop of New Hampshire as “a great blessing” and said, “I don’t believe that there is any will in this church to move backward.”

Read Russell Moore’s thoughts on baptizing robots and other questions we might soon face; all of which was prompted by Bill McKibben’s new book Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age.

Browse and participate in the discussion at Timmy Brister’s blog about the “Top Five Reasons” people consider themselves Reformed.

Read about the Indian arrest warrant for Richard Gere after an apparently inappropirate “public display of affection.”

I am convinced that Christians must regain an appreciation for the arts in light of and for the sake of Gospel. To that end, I take some time on Fridays to highlight the pursuit of creativity. I link to the photography of Joe Kennedy, Will Turner, Timmy Brister, Steve McCoy, Joe Thorn, along with the Friday Flickr Group in which they participate. If you also regularly post photographs or some other creative expression and would like to be linked on Fridays, pleast contact me. I also highlight a poet who may or may not be Christian, but who above all, uses words well and stimulates our thinking. I also highlight a musical artist (more often than not instrumental since that’s primarily what I listen to) who makes at least one track available for free and legal download.

Today’s featured poet is: former U.S. Poet Laureate (2001-2003) Billy Collins. Collins began his career as a professor of English at Lehman College in New York in 1968 where he taught for 30 years. Collins is unique in that he has often often argued against the over-interpretation of poems. Instead, he adopts a clear and understandable style and makes it clear that poetry is not just for other poets or academia. Today’s poem is The Lanyard:

The other day I was ricocheting slowly
off the blue walls of this room,
moving as if underwater from typewriter to piano,
from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,
when I found myself in the L section of the dictionary
where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.

No cookie nibbled by a French novelist
could send one into the past more suddenly—
a past where I sat at a workbench at a camp
by a deep Adirondack lake
learning how to braid long thin plastic strips
into a lanyard, a gift for my mother.

I had never seen anyone use a lanyard
or wear one, if that’s what you did with them,
but that did not keep me from crossing
strand over strand again and again
until I had made a boxy
red and white lanyard for my mother.

She gave me life and milk from her breasts,
and I gave her a lanyard.
She nursed me in many a sick room,
lifted spoons of medicine to my lips,
laid cold face-cloths on my forehead,
and then led me out into the airy light

and taught me to walk and swim,
and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard.
Here are thousands of meals, she said,
and here is clothing and a good education.
And here is your lanyard, I replied,
which I made with a little help from a counselor.

Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,
strong legs, bones and teeth,
and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered,
and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp.
And here, I wish to say to her now,
is a smaller gift—not the worn truth

that you can never repay your mother,
but the rueful admission that when she took
the two-tone lanyard from my hand,
I was as sure as a boy could be
that this useless, worthless thing I wove
out of boredom would be enough to make us even.

• Read Billy Collins for yourself
• Visit Wikipedia’s page devoted to Collins

For today’s musical selection I want to break from tradition a bit. I typically try to offer actual downloads made available (free and legally) by various artists. I try to stay away from streaming media but today I want to make an exception. So be forewarned, today’s links are not to actual download but to media streams. The reason I’ve done this is because these particular files are only available in streaming media. They are some selections from RadioOM.org, which is the online radio outlet for Other Minds, a CA organization that sponsors a wide variety of music, specializing in “new music” and “minimalism.”

Today’s selections are a 2005 solo piano performance by Michael Nyman. In this short segment, Nyman performs several selections from his score to the motion picture soundtrack from The Piano. Next is a 2005 performance by the Del Sol String Quartet of Nyman’s String Quartet No.3. Next is a 1970 performance by Steve Reich, performing four of his early works (?Four Organs,? ?My Name Is,? ?Piano Phase? and ?Phase Patterns.?)

• Listen to Michael Nyman’s solo piano performance
• Listen to the Del Sol String Quartet perform Michael Nyman’s String Quartet No. 3
• Visit Michael Nyman’s official website
• Listen to Michael Nyman for yourself
• Listen to Steve Reich’s 1970 performance
• Visit Steve Reich’s official website
• Listen to Steve Reich for yourself
• Visit the Radio Other Minds site
• Visit the official Other Minds website

I was watching the television version of This American Life the other day (the same episode I commented on yesterday). In one segment, several people are describing a series of paintings when someone says: “A work of art is never just one thing.”

I’ve been thinking a lot about this proposition, especially in terms of biblical interpretation, but also in terms of art and music. Every once in a while, my mind drifts to things of which I’m not qualified to speak. Today I’m going to ask you to wade through one of those mind drifts with me.

It’s no secret that I listen to a lot of music and a lot of different kinds of music (some of which my wife says is not really music, but I’m getting ahead of myself). Lately, I’ve been trying to understand what some peole call “minimalism” along with things like just intonation and other things I can’t fully define or explain but that interest me to no end. In other words, I’ve been doing a lot of exploratory listening lately (you can always see what I hear here) trying to put actual sounds to many of these terms. One cannot explore far into minimalism (though Cage himself is typically not considered a minimalist) without coming across John Cage (1912-1992). Wikipedia says:

Cage was an early composer of what he called “chance music”—referred to by others as aleatoric music—where some elements are left to be decided by chance; he is also well known for his non-standard use of musical instruments and his pioneering exploration of electronic music. His works were sometimes controversial, but he is generally regarded as one of the most important composers of his era, especially in his raising questions about the definition of music.

Cage is perhaps best known (or perhaps he’s most infamous) for his “composition” 4′33″ which is four and a half minutes of silence. Apparently, Cage visited the anechoic chamber at Harvard in 1951. Wikipedia says that “An anechoic chamber is a room designed in such a way that the walls, ceiling and floor will absorb all sounds made in the room, rather than bouncing them back as echoes. They are also externally sound-proofed.” Yet, instead of silence, Cage reported that he heard two sounds, a high-pitched sound (which he was told was his nervous system operating but was probably a mild case of tinnitus) and a low-pitched sound, which was his blood pumping. Expecting to hear total silence, Cage could not esape sound which began to inspire the piece 4′33″.

Another inspiration for the piece came, not from sound but from sight. Also in 1951, Robert Rauschenberg produced a series of seemingly blank, white canvases (though they were actually painted white rather than truly being blank canvases). Each canvas would take on a different hue depending on the lighting where it was hung. The viewer’s shadow and other natural lighting elements became part of the work itself. Cage recorded his reaction to the canvases as they related to his infamous piece: “what pushed me into it was not guts but the example of Robert Rauschenberg. His white paintings… when I saw those, I said, ‘Oh yes, I must. Otherwise I’m lagging, otherwise music is lagging’” Cage’s equivalent of the “blank canvas” was four and a half minutes of silence that, of course, is never actually total silence and will vary absolutely every time it is “performed.” Thus, the audience, the creaks in their chairs, their coughs, the rattle of the piano bench, all of these “found sounds” actually become the piece itself.

All of this prompts the question(s): what is art and the larger question of interpretation. Rauschenberg and Cage both challenge our sensibilities about these things in ways that we might not expect. Nearly everyone will take away something different from Rauschenberg’s canvases and Cage’s performance and that’s just the way the artists want it. Cage wants to challenge not only the idea that there is ever complete silence, but also our expectations of music and performance while Rauschenberg does the same with a canvas. In each case, we are no longer just a participant but an “artist” ourselves, whether it be the creak of our chair or our shadow on the canvas, we are defining each piece. We shape the pieces themselves so that we can truly say: “A work of art is never just one thing,” these are pieces that will truly mean different (even contradictory) things to different people.

Earlier I said that I’ve also been thinking of these things in relation to biblical interpretation. I’m afraid that too often, we approach the Bible as though it’s simply a blank canvas, open for whatever interpretation we bring to it. Many of us approach the Bible as though it doesn’t mean anything until we decide what it means. If we don’t take that approach then we try to say that not only different but differing interpretations can all be right, after all, it’s open for interpretation, right? But can we truly approach the Bible in the same manner as experimental art?

It’s interesting that we don’t approach every area of life in this manner. After all, when we file our tax forms, we expect that they will have a fixed meaning, not open to interpretation. When we sign our names to the dotted line on a mortgage, we’re counting on the fact that the lender will not later change the meaning because it’s just open to interpretation. When we set out to right a history or a letter to someone, we expect that they will not make up their own meaning; why then do we approach the Bible in this manner? After all, isn’t much of the Bible history and letters?

The Bible is not a blank canvas waiting for our interpretation, it is the inspired Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16, etc.) and we must strive to handle it well (2 Timothy 2:15), allowing it to be a lamp unto our feet (Psalm 119:105) rather than trying to see what hand puppets we can make by its light.

• Listen to John Cage for yourself
• View Robert Rauschenberg for yourself
• Visit the official This American Life website
• Read A Basic Guide to Interpreting the Bible: Playing By the Rules by Robert Stein
• Read Evangelical Hermeneutics: The New vs. The Old by Robert Thomas
• Read How to Read the Bible For All Its Worth by Gordon Fee
• Read Introduction to Biblical Interpretation by William Klein, Craig Blomberg and Robert Hubbard
• Read Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics: Foundations and Principles of Evangelical Biblical Interpretation by Graeme Goldsworthy

The other day I was watching the television version of This American Life with Ira Glass. On this particular episode, they featured a Utah man who is devoting several years of his life to painting several scenes from the life of Jesus. In order to accomplish this, he recruits real bearded men from the streets of Utah to inhabit his paintings.

During the course of the show, they highlighted the girlfriend of the painter’s “Jesus of Choice,” the man the painter prefers to pose as Jesus. This young woman is what many refer to as a “JackMormon,” a lapsed Mormon. She is someone who has not been excommunicated but is not necessarily a practicing Mormon. The show highlights the tension between her denial of her faith, the faith of her father and the fact that her boyfriend (also an avowed Atheist) models as Jesus for a series of paintings.

In one particularly poignant scene towards the end of the show, this young woman laments the fact that because of her “wayward ways,” she is not allowed to enter into the Mormon temple, because in her words, “she is not worthy”. This means that she will not be able to witness her brother or sister marry. She says that she will have to stand outside the temple and wait for them to come out to congratulate them, which she will do because she loves them.

I couldn’t stop thinking about that scene for quite some time after viewing it because it underscored for me just how unique biblical Christianity truly is. After watching the segment, all I could think about was torn temple curtain (Matthew 27:51). Christ’s work on the Cross opened, directly, for all, the way to God. Even the Holy of Holies itself had now been opened. Jesus did away with the notion of separation based on lifestyle that we so easily turn to in order to exclude others.

He did away with the notion that we are to “keep away the unclean.” He Himself dined with with the outcasts of His day, those who were not allowed in the temple. Paul admonishes that “it was for freedom that Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1). Yet we so quickly want to return to slavery because though we complain, it’s comfortable and comes with clearly defined boundaries. It’s much easier to bear the yoke of legalism because it creates very clear, very external guidelines by which we can judge. However, the truth of Jesus is that we are all unclean, we are all unworthy. Though we might put another coat of paint on the outside, inside, on our own, we are all nothing more than rotting tombs (Matthew 23:27).

Biblical Christianity alone does away with all external attempts to come to God and separate people based on external qualities. Biblical Christianity alone recognizes the true value of grace, that it is, by definition, unmerited. Biblical Christianity alone says “come as you are and I will change you” while every other approach says “change who you are then come…” Illustrating this point, John Piper says in Desiring God:

The difference between Uncle Sam and Jesus Christ is that Uncle Sam won’t enlist you in his service unless you are healthy and Jesus won’t enlist you unless you are sick (Mark 2:17). Christianity is fundamentally convalescence (”Pray without ceasing” = Keep buzzing the nurse). Patients do not serve their physicians. They trust them for good prescriptions. The Sermon on the Mount and the Ten Commandments are the Doctor’s prescribed health regimen, not the employee’s job description.

As Piper notes, Jesus says in Mark 2:17: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” This sets biblical Christianity apart from every other approach to God. As we sometimes sing, “the only fitness He requires is to feel our need for Him.” Every other approach says that we must become fit to find Him. Praise God that it is

by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Once Christ has torn the curtain, who are we to put it back up, keeping people out because they are not worthy? Aren’t they the ones who most need to hear the message that none of us are worthy? I can’t imagine telling the sick that they need to become better before they can enter the hospital but that’s exactly what we do when left to ourselves to judge.

• Read Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist by John Piper
• Read God is the Gospel: Meditations on God’s Love as the Gift of Himself by John Piper
• Read Getting the Gospel Right by R.C. Sproul
• Read Faith Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification by R.C. Sproul
• Visit the official This American Life website