Pastor Tom has at times been quite concerned about legislation focused at one's beliefs or thoughts. That would indeed be dangerous. Legislation can only restrict observable behavior, such as the bagginess of pants or exposure of bra straps as is the topic of today's post. Tom is right not to make the blanket statement that these externals do not necessarily reveal with reliability what is in the heart. So if his job as a preacher of the word of God is to focus on the heart, what does that say about the limitations of what can be accomplished by legislation that only speaks to the external not the internal? I don't have firm answers, but I take this as an important caution when suggesting restrictions on another's behavior, particularly through legislation.
Blog you later,
Pastor Ian
Thursday, August 23, 2007
THOUGHT POLICE?
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2 comments:
I do think clothing has a way of "exposing" who we are. But it regulate it is a tough mandate. I've seen radical looking attire and a gentle heart. I've seen well dressed business men who bilk people out of money based on their desire for more. This is the old "don't judge a book by it's cover". While it's regrettable that women find it cool to have their underwear showing, or that men refrain from purchasing a belt, it isn't something easily changed. This has more to do with identity issues, peer pressure and cultural trends. I've seen many christian kids who dress and talk like all the non-christian kids. S000, it may be that parents need to set the trends for their kids. Rebellion typically escalates when some mandate prohibits certain kinds of behaviors. It's our job as parents to police our kids.
Ah, it is easy to tell that you have young children and Tom and I both have teenagers in the house. ;-)
Seriously, I think this is a fluff issue and has all the trappings of the makings of a remake of "Footloose." I thought that there was an interesting sidebar about the use of legislation to regulate "the heart" I think that an important part of the pastoral job is to help people change at the heart level. And we certainly should be working to change the behavior of society, which at times will be accomplished via legislation. The limit of legislation lies at the point of motivation, so even if we control the external the internal is beyond our reach.
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