Intention vs. Perception: What You Say Is Only as Effective as How You Say It

Published: Monday, March 15, 2010

Updated: Monday, March 15, 2010 15:03

Quackit

Bryan Overland:

Over the past few weeks there has been a student movement on campus involving white t-shirts with the words "I Have Died And My New Identity Is In Christ" written on them. This was intended as a "proactive response" to the Soulforce visit. Last week I wrote a commentary piece against this movement. I did not go about writing that article in the best way possible, and as a result, people's perceptions of my words did not match my intentions.

First of all, my fixation on the point of division and offense may have actually created more division and offense while failing to remedy the more important worries I had. These worries may have been obscured by many of my own words. Christianity is a religion full of division and offense. Christians are called to be in the world but not a part of it. The church is separate from the rest of the world. We are different. Being a part of one of the many Protestant denominations, I can attest to divisions within the church. As for offense, Christianity is an offensive religion. It reveals the sin that we live with. It is offensive to be told that you are wrong, that you need to do away with sin in your life. Therefore, just because something is offensive or divisive does not automatically make something wrong. You must seek to understand what the offence or division stems from. All unnecessary offense and division must be avoided, but a Christian should not be afraid when Christ's Gospel offends or divides us from the rest of the world.

Another mistake I made was not to talk with those behind the t-shirt idea to clear up my own misconceptions about their project. In publishing my article I was representing their intentions based upon my own perceptions. Since then I have met with Martin Hegeman and discussed how the messages we intend are often not what people receive. At the end of this article is Mr. Hegeman's explanation of what the goal of the t-shirts was.

My previous article was an attempt to question the usefulness and validity of using t-shirts to communicate a message like this. T-shirts give a person the opportunity to see what you are wearing, make a judgment, and move on based upon that fact alone. They have the danger of cheapening the words on them into clichés. If we are known only by the t-shirts we wear, and not by our stories or actions, then we have failed. I assume that many on the Soulforce bus would find the message of the shirts applicable to their own lives. This further illustrates the potential confusion caused by the shirts. Surely the purpose of the shirts was not to affirm homosexuality.

As I wrote in my previous article, the message on the t-shirts is a message that should apply to the life of every Christian. That this message is being displayed on t-shirts reduces the power of these words to that of a mere bumper sticker. I do not want the enormity of these words reduced to a clichéd theology that is associated with a strong anti-homosexual standpoint. That is not what they mean.

Martin Hegeman:

There is no doubt that some have taken away the wrong perception of our T-shirts. First, we do well to remember that even Jesus Christ invariably caused divisions and offended many, choosing to speak very boldly and strongly at times. We are called to be ‘citizens of heaven'; to ‘be in this world but not of this world.' Jesus Christ calls us as well to action, not to passivity. My question is this: How has the Holy Spirit empowered you into action that sets you radically apart from this world?

For some of us that means wearing a T-shirt that proclaims that our lives have been radically transformed by the Holy Spirit. This action should not be read as a protest, or that we who wear it are ‘better' then those who don't agree, or again, those who agree but don't wear a shirt. Philippians 3:12-14 says: ‘Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.'

Throughout the planning of our response, there have been some misconceptions that in hind-sight we may have been able to avoid; there may have been words that offended. Suzanne Derksen, with whom I have had the privilege of working, writes: ‘In a self-seeking and individualistic world, it is not a comfortable thing to put on a T-shirt that proclaims submission to the Word of God. It is a grave misconception that wearing a T-shirt with this message somehow divides the "sinner" and the "saved." It is our brokenness that unifies us. I believe in the power of testimony. Those who wear this T-shirt must be prepared to give an account of what Christ is doing in their life. While some may see these T-shirts as a tacky campaign or demonstration, the power of this statement must be accompanied by a response to the question "why are you wearing this T-shirt?' I am inspired by those in our community who have had the courage to publicly share their story. Sin loses its power over us with public confession."