Jesus was a limp-wristed hippie
MYTH #1 – JESUS WAS A LIMP-WRISTED HIPPIE
PREACHER – ANDREW MORRIS
The hippy, limp wristed Jesus.
What makes a hippie a hippy- Is it dress?
Is it language?
Is it skin colour?
No it’s a philosophy and a philosophy that some say is based on the teachings of Jesus (love/peace/harmony/justice etc).
Explanations of:
Jesus- on free love
on pleasure (hedonism)
their answer, withdraw, when Jesus says engage.
depend on hallucinations for their philosophies
The teachings of the rabbi Yeshua and the lifestyle of his earliest followers did have a few things in common with the counter-culture hippie movement, a few examples. Explain.
1. A message of love.
2. Resistance to political and social control of the individual.
3. A communal/community type lifestyle.
Influence on modern thought- The legacy of the hippie movement continues to permeate Western society. In general, unmarried couples of all ages feel free to travel and live together without societal disapproval. Frankness regarding sexual matters has become more common, and the rights of homosexual, bisexual and transsexual people, as well as people who choose not to categorize themselves at all, have expanded. Religious and cultural diversity has gained greater acceptance. Co-operative business enterprises and creative community living arrangements are more accepted than before. Some of the little hippie health food stores of the 1960s and 1970s are now large-scale, profitable businesses, due to greater interest in natural foods, herbal remedies, vitamins and other nutritional supplements. Authors Stewart Brand and John Markoff argue that the development and popularization of personal computers and the Internet find one of their primary roots in the anti-authoritarian ethos promoted by hippie culture. Distinct appearance and clothing was one of the immediate legacies of hippies worldwide. During the 1960s and 1970s, mustaches, beards and long hair became more commonplace and colourful, while multi-ethnic clothing dominated the fashion world. Since that time, a wide range of personal appearance options and clothing styles, including nudity, have become more widely acceptable, all of which was uncommon before the hippie era. Hippies also inspired the decline in popularity of the necktie and other business clothing, which had been unavoidable for men during the 1950s and early 1960s.
Elaborate on these: SPIRITUALITY/ANTI ESTABLISHMENT/NEW STYLE OF LIFE REVOLUTION/POST MODERNISM/HARMONY TOLERANCE/SEXUAL REVOLUTION.
Astrology, including everything from serious study to whimsical amusement regarding personal traits, was integral to hippie culture. Focused on personal empowerment, culture and political decentralization, communal living, ecological awareness, higher consciousness, and radical liberal political consciousness. Psychedelic music and drugs were popular aspects of hippie gatherings. Free expression of self was a big part of hippie culture. The “free love” movement preached the power of love and the beauty of sex as a natural part of ordinary life.
Hippies have had major influences on society, both during the hippie movement as well as today.
Hippies originated the organic food, recycling, and Earth Day phenomenons.
Jesus as a wimp
My definition of a wimp- soft and effeminate, a wuss, scaredy cat, weak, ineffectual, timid, and coward.
Some see him as a guy who just plays with children, women follow him, is nice to sickly people. A gentle guy kind of like mother Theresa. He’s the mercy personified if you’re an outcast or a leper etc but against you if you’re an enemy.
The man- dessert
temptation
Jesus crying (isn’t that gay) and Jesus meek and mild.
He works with wood, has the loyalty of hardened fisherman and commands angel armies.
Furious zeal for the house of God
His message- of who he was
of repentance
standing for truth and against the hypocrisy of the religious
His mission- world encompassing John 3:16 (a wimp cannot save the world)
The cross. Jesus on the Cross- was he a wimp? Does a wimp take responsibility for others, does a wimp walk into danger death willingly for others, a wimp is more concerned with self preservation, can a wimp drink the cup of the wrath of God poured out on humanity, does a wimp leave comfort to pursue, woe and ultimately die for another, can a wimp bear his reputation being slandered, being abused and beaten, mocked and spat on without retaliating, can a wimp bear all of that and afterwards after all that, carrying his cross (whilst being jeered at punched along the way), placed on a cross, arms dislocated, nails rammed through hands and feet and left to die while people stare and taunt in the heat of the day- then still say father forgive them for they know not what they do?
THIS IS YOUR GOD and he is not a wimp.
So what?
False pictures of Jesus- false worship (also makes you just like him as we become like what we worship and are changed by what we worship).
Confronting false pictures of Jesus
Re-presenting Him. We’re his image bearers so if that’s the image, you become like that. If that’s your idea of Jesus and we’re meant to be Christ-like how will you end up believing and behaving- like a passive pansy? (We need to know and affirm exactly what he is like so that we can represent him faithfully) If we’re representing Christ to the world in this way no wonder there are fewer men in the church than women. Do you men really want to have a God like that or follow men who are limp wristed and wimpy?
When the chips are down you won’t be turning to that kind of Jesus for help (fight illustration).
