I do understand where you're coming from. I would say, some people are too caught up in the irreversible mistakes of their life that they are not yet willing to hear gospel from someone that doesn't at least aesthetically reinforce their current persona. In that way, I'm sure someone like Tom can do some good. But I do wonder... what comes next?
If meeting dejected drug users, whores, and gangbangers "half-way" by sanctioning their cultural aesthetic, which itself is mainly a manifestation of their broken life choices, when does it appear to give credence and support to that lifestyle and drag down the entire culture?
I celebrate the freedom we have in America to make choices. An individual wants face tattoos and drug themselves to death, I don't claim a right to make that choice for them. But, when a collectivized culture starts demanding that I'm a bigot if I don't employ them in my store, believing it would do damage to my particular business, because we've normalized this aesthetic, I have a problem and won't support the entertainment that does the normalizing.
But the fact is that he's preaching to a niche market because it's already large and growing. White, alcoholic and drug addicted, struggling with redemption and recovery that have already succumbed to urban culture and don't know how to speak any other language. Sad.
And here's the problem demonstrated. You'll have everyone screaming "I didn't choose to be an addict. I was born into it!!!" Anything to deflect the reality that our choices and their consequences belong to us alone.
Unless you're born with an addiction because your mom shot heroin while pregnant, you chose the lifestyle.
As far as I can see, Tom was an aspiring canadian entertainer in pro wrestling and certainly chose the cringe trailer park wigger aesthetic. And if he developed a substance abuse problem he chose that too.
The thing about owning our own choices... if Tom has now kicked his substance abuse, that victory can also belong to him. Otherwise, neither the successes or failures are our own.
OK, but he wasn't born into the aesthetic either. Here he is before choosing it. Plenty of people are born into the culture of Vancouver who don't choose this look so I'm just not sure how you figure he "didn't adopt this lifestyle".
I do understand where you're coming from. I would say, some people are too caught up in the irreversible mistakes of their life that they are not yet willing to hear gospel from someone that doesn't at least aesthetically reinforce their current persona. In that way, I'm sure someone like Tom can do some good. But I do wonder... what comes next?
If meeting dejected drug users, whores, and gangbangers "half-way" by sanctioning their cultural aesthetic, which itself is mainly a manifestation of their broken life choices, when does it appear to give credence and support to that lifestyle and drag down the entire culture?
I celebrate the freedom we have in America to make choices. An individual wants face tattoos and drug themselves to death, I don't claim a right to make that choice for them. But, when a collectivized culture starts demanding that I'm a bigot if I don't employ them in my store, believing it would do damage to my particular business, because we've normalized this aesthetic, I have a problem and won't support the entertainment that does the normalizing.
But the fact is that he's preaching to a niche market because it's already large and growing. White, alcoholic and drug addicted, struggling with redemption and recovery that have already succumbed to urban culture and don't know how to speak any other language. Sad.
I agree that Christians should not "appropriate" secular culture, especially when we understand the spiritual aspect of these superficial expressions.
But for these folks who were drawn deep into the world and are now declaring God, they have a zeal not easy to find in a lot of churches.
Well Tom didn't adopt this lifestyle to reach anyone. He was born into this lifestyle and he's screaming about the problems in it.
And here's the problem demonstrated. You'll have everyone screaming "I didn't choose to be an addict. I was born into it!!!" Anything to deflect the reality that our choices and their consequences belong to us alone.
Unless you're born with an addiction because your mom shot heroin while pregnant, you chose the lifestyle.
As far as I can see, Tom was an aspiring canadian entertainer in pro wrestling and certainly chose the cringe trailer park wigger aesthetic. And if he developed a substance abuse problem he chose that too.
The thing about owning our own choices... if Tom has now kicked his substance abuse, that victory can also belong to him. Otherwise, neither the successes or failures are our own.
I'm not talking about the addiction. I'm talking about the culture. The look is how things are for some folks.
OK, but he wasn't born into the aesthetic either. Here he is before choosing it. Plenty of people are born into the culture of Vancouver who don't choose this look so I'm just not sure how you figure he "didn't adopt this lifestyle".
http://genickbruch.com/pics/bio_gross/101315249802.jpg