Friday, August 3, 2012

August 03, 2012

Wear Your Faith: Reformation-Style


Pro: There are some venerable Christian clothing outfitters online. Con: There are few stores that carry clothing with specific, “Reformation-approved,” Scripturally-based verses that get into the nitty-gritty of Protestant doctrine. (There is a site called “Old Lutheran” that has Lutheran-based items, but they do not have a very large selection). On mainstream Christian clothing websites there are plenty of shirts with very clever messages, and while I really like these, I wanted something that reflected God’s amazing love shown through the doctrine of grace. 

I like to show I am a proud Protestant with roots in the five solas of the Reformation, with ties to the martyr-blood and to the steadfast courage, strength, and devotion of my spiritual ancestors, yet I am not the type to just walk up to someone and start debating religion. So I picked out a shirt for Christmas (yes, I do shop very early!) that states the Scripture declaration most important to me. I have decided not to include an image as I am unsure of the whole copyright issue when it comes to a store’s merchandise, so I will describe it. The shirt is rather plain, with a white background and big black and blue letters that state “Grace By Faith.” Not incredibly much to look at. But powerful.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith --- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God --- not by works, so that no one can boast . . .” Powerful stuff, and this simple shirt boldly declares why we should always remember God’s simple and liberating means of salvation. I love the idea of shy and/or non-debating Protestants really getting their faith out there through clothing, especially since it is a firm way to declare one’s beliefs without having to discuss them on the fly. This particular shirt is from c28.com and is $19.99 as of August. I was concerned about the sizing (c28.com mostly caters to juniors, or at least it seemed so to me) but it is also possible for adults to wear these shirts if they size up. It might just take a little extra time to figure out how.

I am sure c.28.com is not the only store that has shirts for Christians of the Protestant persuasion. Do some digging. Check out shirt messages. Pick something meaningful. There is nothing wrong with “commonplace” messages, but I personally think it means more to look for something specialized. After all, our ancestors stuck out like sore thumbs . . . why shouldn’t we?

On a side note, just after I wrote this post, I opened “Today’s Bible Reading” from Bible Gateway and the first words my eyes fell upon were from Romans 5, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” I was very pleased :-)


(c) 2012 Joyously Saved

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