My job requires me to know why individual human beings are the way they are, and why they do the things they do. I am not trying to make money off of them or sell them a product, but I am trying to lead them on to maturity in Christ. Paul says the pastor’s job is two-fold, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” (Colossians 1:28)

So my job is part theologian (a teacher of God) and part anthropologist (a student of people). And from studying many, many people over the past 25 years of ministry, I have learned something that I am sure will be quite a shocker…

People are strange! Jim Morrison was right after all.

It is very difficult to know why people do the things they do or why they are the way they are. Our society as a whole has become very petulant and monolithic when it comes to explaining human behavior.

By monolithic, I mean people now tend to clump a certain gender or race into one group using over-simplified and silly characterizations to describe everyone in that group: “Men are insensitive brutes who only see women as sexual objects.” “Women are way too sensitive and use men only for their money.” “The white race hates.” “The black race takes.” “Asians can’t drive.” You see, our categories for each other are often so general they end up describing no one at all. I grew up with four sisters and to say they were all the same because they were all white, suburban women is laughable. I have never met four people so completely different and complex than my four sisters.

We also are very petulant – by nature, people like to find reasons why the other groups that they are not a part of should not to be trusted and even castigated. We like to fight for our team and beat up on the other guys (oops, sorry ladies for using a masculine plural noun to describe all people), and we do this by constantly casting them in an unfavorable light. Rarely do our descriptions of another group seek to uplift and praise. So we demean and ridicule because that helps our side to be the best. We are living in a very sad time because we no longer know people for who they are individually, but rather we now chose to see others only through political, racial and religious labels.

So then, if we are more than the labels assigned to us by others, who are we really? This is where we must listen and really take our time to be a learner of others. You may have heard a human being is the sum total of Nature and Nurture, which has some merit, but I am going to also postulate that each person also has something else that can’t really be accounted for, but makes you who you really are: I call it “The Breath of God.” Theologians call this the “Imago Dei.”

I am white, I am male, I am 50 years old, I have rugged good looks, and I have above average intelligence and athletic ability, I have Germanic and Polish blood, I am of average height and weight, I can draw. However, I cannot surf, snowboard or sing an operatic arpeggio.

This is who I am, genetically. I won’t apologize for being a man, I can’t be held guilty for having skin the color of a peach Crayola crayon, I rarely cry at chick-flicks and you can’t sue me for wanting to throw a football with my son in the front yard or tackling Jared Doty when I see him in the hallway at work. The urge to hit is in my blood.

Nurture 

I am the youngest of six children, I am a product of Northwest Ohio culture, I was incubated in a peaceful suburban neighborhood, I grew up eating a lot of pizza, I was a Roman Catholic altar boy, I am used to having a dog for a pet, I was raised in front of a television screen, I played sports constantly, and I learned to talk like Rocky Balboa.

These different experiences formed me and shaped me. Much of my dislikes and likes I learned from my surroundings and the different influences that I had no control over. Why do I like the Browns? Because I grew up in an area where they promoted and broadcasted the games every week, the neighborhood kids would play a version of “kill the guy” called “Pruitt!” Someone would have a football and yell “Pruitt!” – named after Cleveland’s favorite running back in the late ’70s named Greg Pruitt – and then all the other kids would try to tackle the guy. I loved that game.

I learned how to treat women with respect and honor from my dad. He would not allow me to talk back to my mom, nor hit my sisters. I was taught how to talk politely and respectfully to older ladies and he never downgraded any women in front of me. He also discussed with me how looking at porn was not something mature men do, in fact, he hinted that it was the simple-minded men, like the ones who worked at the traveling carnivals, who let themselves be filled with that printed gutter trash. Maybe that is why I hate how progressive women accuse all men across the board of being misogynistic and lust driven apes. My dad was not, nor did he allow my brother and I to be.

All of this is Nurture, not Nature.

Imago Dei 

There is one more variable that we must include, along with Nature and Nurture, that contributes to forming an individual person as we know them. And in my opinion, this singular aspect dwarfs the impact of the other two – – but rarely will you ever hear experts speak about it. They have been conditioned to evaluate the human soul only by scientific or behavioristic models. But scripture says we are so much more than Nature and Nurture.

Imago Dei (“image of God”): A theological term, applied uniquely to humans, which denotes relation between God and humanity. The term has its roots in Genesis 1:27, wherein “God created man in his own image. . .”

Each of us was made by the creative genius of God. Psalm 139:13-17 hints to the idea that when God formed the person in his or her mother’s womb, he took his time. He was making a unique being, a one of a kind.

A one of a kind male, a one of a kind female. No one else is like you. If you are a man, there is no other male in the whole world quite like you. If you are a woman, there is no other female, even the ones marching at protests and rallies, quite like you.

God has made you unique. I personally believe you are the only one who can display that aspect of God only you carry. You are priceless because God specifically wanted you to be the one to display that which you can alone display. Quite literally, you are a singular masterpiece.

This is why monolithic groupings are so wrong. You are not to be known primarily by your gender or race, you are meant to be known for the person God uniquely designed you to be! If you are a female, you are meant to be known as more than just another female soldier fighting for a vague movement trying to win more territory for women’s rights. Whatever that means? You are a person made in the image of God himself.

When you are living as you have been designed to be, God will then be glorified!

I personally am so sick of our cultural penchant of labeling people with minimal descriptive terms. If you are a black man you are so much more than a black man. Stop settling for and adopting the position of victimhood others in your monolithic group are demanding you to take. You are more than that. Don’t let progressive voices keep you under their bondage of multi-cultural labels.

I hate how people insist that sexual preference is one of the primary ways to identify a person. Why do we demand other people see us by who we are attracted to or who we want to sleep with? This is so shallow. Do you really believe God made you so having sex can be one of the most significant and defining activities you can participate in as a human being?

Aren’t you made for more than that? 
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Last week I was reading a book and it asked the reader to think about the very first positive memory they had as a child. And memories from 9-millimeter films or videotapes don’t count. What is the first good memory you personally really remember?

Mine was a strange memory…remember people are strange! I was around 5 or 6 years of age and I can remember buying a pack of bubble-gum cards from Wyandots pharmacy in Columbus, Ohio. The cards were not baseball or football cards, but they were Wacky Packages. These cards were made by Topps as collectible trading cards that parodied American consumer products. I was mesmerized by them and for some reason, the cartoons and off-beat humor completely connected with me.

Was this interest in the unconventional a product of Nature, or Nurture, or was it just God’s way to make me as a person unique? I am not sure?

My other siblings sort of liked them, but I was hooked by them. Over the years the strange, the off-beat, and the creative visual image has always captivated me. I don’t know why, but it just did. I really do think God has made me like that and I believe it has been a big part of how I communicate to others. I even think my unconventional bent is one of the assets God gave me as I explain the gospel; for the gospel is an unconventional message. It is meant to disrupt and challenge the status quo. (1 Corinthians 1:27)

Here is my point: You too are strange in your own strange way. God wants you to use your strangeness, or uniqueness, for his advantage (The Bible calls it glory).  Stop seeing yourself as someone who is stuck in a label that the world at large is oppressing, or is against. If you are a woman, men are not against you. If you are black, whites aren’t out to get you. If you are a Christian you are not being overly persecuted.

Stand on your own two feet as Jesus made you — the world needs to see the you God designed you to be.