An email, my response and the insight of many others who posted comments on the Pierced Clothing MySpace blog featuring this topic. Here's a recent, pretty tactful email I got from someone inquiring about the skull imagery and it's relation to death followed by my response. It is good to ask these types of questions and I'm glad for this person's question. I'm convinced on my end and am being led by my convictions in Christ when launching designs but I'd like your input and perspective since I know the offering of alternative Christ-based clothing is still relatively new and have many pondering the validity of the concept in a still mostly traditional, evangelical Christian-base of people that live in North America and who in certain generations many times make mountains out of molehills...and trust me, my personal, especially past record does not exempt me but I do try to keep a dual perspective when it comes to debatable issues that bare little or no relevance to the foundation of my Salvation in Christ because I know many of us interperet thing's a little differently sometimes (hence the fact that we have hundreds of mostly divided denominations within Christianity) and that our maturity levels in Christ also differ from one another. Read Romans 14-15. I know many would like to buy the clothing but fear the quick judgement and condemnation from their parents who might not look into the designs first before jumping to conclusions about them and their validity in helping spread the Message relevantly to this generation but I pray that will change...God willing! Here's the email and my response. Thanks for your comments and feel free to ad your 2 cents either way! Peace. Jason.
Email:
"Hey I like your clothes designs and I would love to support your company but I wanted to know why do you guys put skulls on your shirts? I have noticed every designer Christian or not has a skull or some hidden skull on their clothes. And as being a Christian and a potential buyer I am letting you know that's a "turn away". Skulls represent death. I don't understand why people would want to wear DEATH on them. I have seen shoes, hats, shirts, belts, wallets, jeans, hoodies and coats that look so sweet but I look closer at the design it's a hidden skull on it. That's the first thing I now look for when I buy clothes. Your company would be a lot bigger in the Christian and Secular market if you didn't have skulls on shirts. Just a idea to put in your mind. Hope I have helped and not hurt"
My Reply:
"It's a worthy question that I've pondered and the imagery of the skulls represents to me the mortality of our human body and that we are destined to die and that we should be taking every opportunity to spread God's Word during the short time we are here on Earth. Even Christ physically died so we could live and even had to climb up Golgotha: The Place of the Skull to be crucified. It can also represent sin that leads to death without Christ, or the fleshly nature and our need for Christ to help us overcome our fleshly desires by the power of the Holy Spirit in us. Also representing the death of our old lives to the new one in Christ. To me it's abstract imagery and art that must be looked at in the context that it's in and because I try to back my designs up with scripture or a story behind the design, I feel it's up to the person wearing it to know and understand the design to be able to tactfully explain in their own words when they're led to or asked about the design, what it means to them in relation to their faith and testimony in Christ as a witnessing tool to the unsaved. It can't be that much different than looking at an image of a blood-drenched, bruised, beaten, nail-pierced crucified Christ that we're so desensitized to, you know? I personally find a lot of the shirts with slogans like Jesus Christ instead of Orange Crush within an Orange Crush logo and things like that ineffective as witnessing tools and actually make me kinda cringe as they do others, since they are more self-serving designs than they are outreach and will spark more conversations with Christians than those we seek to lead to Christ. I would be happy to be persecuted over my faith but not over a cheezy shirt which makes others cringe over the design and not necessarily the message which is exactly what those other shirts do and actually makes Christianity appear even more unattractive to the unbeliever and preaches at them when they may not even want to engage in that type of conversation at that moment. There is a place for them in certain parts of the body but there is a need for more culturally relevant witnessing tools for younger people to use to spark conversation with people of world without compromise. That's my take and I hope this makes sense to you and helps you understand my take on the issue a little better and the last thing I'm out to do is deceive anyone. I just don't go for the cookie cutter mold that traditional Christianity of the last 150 years offers either. If you have any other questions, please let me know and I'd be more than glad to respond and I thank you for your humble approach in posing your question. Peace and God Bless! Jason"
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