Growing Up Pierced In Galatia

I think it could be said that there are two styles of Christians, Galatian and Corinthian.

The Galatian Christian sees himself as an ongoing reclamation project. Forgiven and destined for heaven, he is, nevertheless, a mess. As fast as he can after his newbirth he must learn what's acceptable and not, what curry's God's favor and what doesn't, and how to be vigilant in making sure that everyone around him does the same. He doesn't actually believe that he has been given absolutely everything in Christ for absolutely nothing, so he's making sure there are no holes in his day to day life of how-to-make-sure-I'm-right-with-God. He has a big problem with God's grace. Always work to be done, always something to do better. Push, push, push. He doesn't like Corinthian Christians.

The Corinthian Christian is a grace-tester supreme. All he knows is that now that he's accepted Christ, God actually likes him. He's glad he made that good choice for Jesus, and figures God's glad, too. God's cool, and the two of them are tight. Aside from a few essentials, his theology bottoms out at "Nobody-can-tell-me-I-need-to-change. Put up with me--I am what I am...." He's got a problem with God's grace, too. He thinks he doesn't have to move or change at all in order to live a godly life. Chill, chill, chill. He doesn't like Galatian Christians.

I'm somewhere in between the two. I grew up Galatian, moved over to the dark side, repented and renewed my Galatain vows, and have now fallen into a happy life on the outskirts of both.

In the next few days I hope to dialogue about the positives and negatives of each. Is there a bigger lesson we may learn from the two? I think so.

To kick it off, Phil Johnson has a good read about tatoos and piercings on his blog at Pyromaniacs. It ought to get you going. Click here to read the article.