What Does the Bible Say About Being Cool?

0:00Welcome to Generations, Kevin Swanson with you today and today another segment of What Does the Bible Say About That? Which Joshua Schwiesow director of publications for generations. So you've got the generations, Jack. I actually have the brand and stuff here. You are cool. I do have kind of a cool kind of cool as generation standards. You identify with the cool generations. And ironically I don't usually wear this. And ironically today we're going to talk about what the Bible says about the cool. What does the Bible say about the cool? Now being cool, well I think we all know what being cool is all about. It's been around since the 1930s. So we're looking at almost a hundred years of the cool in American culture. And I think it's actually cross-cultural. I think you're going to find the cool in Japan, in South Africa, New Zealand, England, Russia. I think it's going to be everywhere. Being cool is identity of self-expression through appearances, sometimes clothing aesthetics,

1:03hairstyles, cosmetics, tattoos, pronouns, identity labels, some social service circles, and highly individualized personal presentations. Now cool, used to mean that you were calm during times of crises. You were controlled. You were unemotional. But today the meaning has shifted. Because of the 1930s, 1940s to that, which was socially admirable, stylish, authentic, sophisticated, or desirable. By the 1930s, 1940s, it was jazz musicians who were using cool, approvingly, Lester Young. Apparently a jazz musician named Lester Young frequently associated with popularizing hip jazz vocabulary included the word cool in his slang terms. And this setting, coolness, involves self-possession, emotional restraint, individuality, and a resistance to conventional expectations. All right, so what does the Bible say about the cool?

2:04Well, here's what the Bible says about pride. Better it is to be of a humble spirit with a lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud. Now it's interesting. I just did my devotional on Proverbs 16, 19. I'm doing a new addition of our Proverbs, Bible study guides. So I worked on this one and I brought the cool into it because I do believe that pride is a huge problem. And the expression of pride can happen in this cool mentality. Pride is contagious, but so is humility. The fix for pride is to associate with the lowly. So how do we fix the pride issue? Well, here it says, one of the ways to deal with pride is to hang out with humble people. One of the interesting thing is that proud people fail to recognize humility when they see it or they fail to recognize the value of humility. The humble person actually is out to flatter people and usually avoids contact with the proud. In other words, they just would rather not be with the proud.

3:05The proud people probably rather not be with the humble people. If they would even recognize what humility is, they don't particularly appreciate it. They don't see as a value. But the Bible wants us to be humble and be humble enough to identify the humble and then go and associate ourselves with the humble. Well, and as you mentioned, Kevin, the idea of cool has this mindset of wanting to be admired, wanted to be appreciated, wanted to be noticed. And so when there's a particular cool movement, other people want to align behind it so that they too can be noticed. And hence it's going to be something that's constantly being a generating pride in the process. And humble people aren't cool and they don't really find any need to hang out with cool people. Now, of course, the modern world has this high sensitivity to someone's image or the image cast by others. The cool is a metric really of externals. I mean, you think about what I just talked about. I talked about cosmetics, clothing, your hairstyles, tattoos.

4:07That's not the heart. God doesn't look on the externals. God looks upon the heart. And cool people are fixated. They have an obsession with externals. Well, that's what they can see, right? And that's what they like. And that's the thing that draws them in. They don't care about the character of the other person. They don't care about their own character. It doesn't make any difference. What matters is the externals. The cool is a metric of externals portraying an appearance of self-confidence, self-possessiveness, and an object to be admired by others. Now, sometimes the cool guy expresses himself as the trendsetter in the matter of external appearance. He's out there to set the trend and become the social leader or the cultural leader. So it could be like the main jock at a high school, a big sports guy, or it could be a musician that hired five millions of people. Sure. Either case, they could be a trendsetter in their particular job. So the cool guy expresses himself as the trendsetter. Now, other times, the cool fashions themselves is conforming to the cultural trend in appearance.

5:07The humble spirit does not associate with any of this. Now, pop culture is actually a form of this whole cool thing. Pop culture is a form of idol worship, where somebody gets to be at the top of the heap, becoming the teen idol, because others will identify with them as the idol. And so what happens is you get the Taylor Swift, whoever's at the top, really directing the way in which every other pop singer and every other Christian pop singer is going to look and sound. She sets the direction. She is the cultural leader of the day. She is the compendium of all wisdom and human society, and she will lead all 60 million or 140 million people in America by her music and by her accentuations and by her clothing and by her... There will be an admiration of every aspect, effectively. Sure. Exactly.

6:08Exactly. And I think what happens is you have this vicarious identification with the idol or the hero on the part of those who conform to the trendsetter, and that further buttresses the pride in the association itself. If you take the young person, you know, goes to the high school and everybody's wearing a certain kind of shoes. What does he do? Yeah. He wants to be wearing the fashionable shoes. But why? But why? Well, it's a people pleasing dynamic. You want to be appreciated. And you may not want to be made fun of. It's possible in some contexts that the failure to have the fashionable item could actually lead to mockery against you. I actually experienced this in some past school years. I remember that. Okay, I need this particular shoe. Everybody's got one. Yeah. If I don't get it, then I'm going to feel like I'm in the out. Yes. Exactly. So humble people are actually usually not popular. They view worldly popularity as worthless, shallow, fleeting, proud people. Man, they're interested in the accolades of others.

7:09They're always interested in what others think about them. They don't think of others as much, but to gain attention of others. They play the popularity contest for the purposes of seeking the glory of man. But the humble actually take no interest in the game. Rather not waste their time and conversations with proud people who are one upping each other. And you know what, this happens to conversations. I think we have to be careful. Because we can try to one up each other in terms of personal anecdotes, exaggerate accomplishments, funny stories. You think that's funny? Check out this one. Yeah. Dropping names of famous people with whom they've associated. But humble people are just going to absent themselves from these conversations. You know, they're not interested in proving themselves smarter and funnier and more athletic, more wealthy, better looking than the next person. That's just not interesting in that. Yeah. And that's because humility is a God word reference. Yes. Funnily defined. We're looking to God. We're viewing ourselves in relation to God. And he's the one that we're most interested in.

8:10If we truly have a humble spirit. Whereas this popularity thing is always driven by people around me and what they think about me, what others are thinking of me. So you're right. It is a God orientation. Humility is absolutely always seeing oneself under the mighty hand of God. The word humility is actually sometimes better translated lowly. We're just going down, assuming the posture of frustration, but prostrate before who? Some people say humility is to become the welcome matter, whatever, right? And people just walk over you. But that's not it. The humble man actually is prostrate not before people, but before God. Yeah. In light of that example, the humble man is actually a very courageous man as well because he doesn't fear, he ought not to fear man, right? He fears God. Yeah. So people are no longer this concern of his. Yeah, exactly. Well friends, when it comes down to what the Bible is interested in the inner person of

9:10the heart, first Peter 3, 3 speaks to women. But I think it could be said to men. It's interesting that men today have become very much, you know, fops, fashion oriented. I can't remember where the word fop comes from, but it's foppishness. Do you remember that? This would have been from the 1930s, 40s, 50s. Very much given to their external appearance. Oh, yeah. I just, you know, always work in their hands. And, you know, and clipping the nails and maybe even polishing nails and very careful about all these things. And in fact, it's an embalmination for a man, a male to be taken up by his hairstyle. Yeah. And I think back even to the strong masculinity of like Saul or Eliabins for Samuel, I say masculinity in the sense that they were strong men, tall, capable and in combat. But in both cases, Saul is despised when it comes to his looks because everybody liked him because he looked good, right? They said, we want, he looks like a king. So we want him.

10:11And then Eliabins, David's, one of David's brothers, even Samuel thought it's probably him. That's good. Look, I mean, it makes somebody, but God's not looking at that. So the Lord does not look on the outward appearance. The Lord looks on the heart. Exactly. And here's what first Peter 3 says. This again, primarily to women, but of course men as well, if you're in the foppish mode, do not let your adornment be merely outward. And the word actually merely is not there, which is interesting. But again, the focus is not on the outward, arranging the hair wearing gold or putting on fine apparel, but rather let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. Comment on that. Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. Now every Christian believes that, but what does that mean for government, law, justice, and civil authority? For generations, Christians have been told that faith belongs to the church, and politics

11:12belongs out there somewhere. But the Bible speaks directly to nations, rulers, justice, liberty, and the responsibilities of citizens. And that's why I wrote under God. This book provides a biblical framework for understanding government, the role of civil authority, the relationship between church and state, and how Christians should engage a world that increasingly rejects God's law. If you'd like to learn more, visit governmentundergod.org. If you ever wish there was an easier way to teach your children the Bible, I'd like to invite you to check out the Teach Me the Faith podcast. Each episode is short, engaging, and designed to help children learn important truths from God's Word through Scripture memory, storytelling, and simple questions and answers. Whether you're in the car, around the breakfast table, or wrapping up the day, it's an easy

12:15way to have meaningful conversations about faith with your children. You can listen to Teach Me the Faith on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or by going to Teach Me the Faith dot com. That's Teach Me the Faith dot com. Thinking about homeschooling, but not sure where to begin, we would love to encourage you. At howtostarthomeschooling.org, you'll find practical, biblical guidance to help you take your first steps with confidence from God's purpose for education to choosing curriculum and planning your school year. And while you're there, be sure to download your free copy of the first steps to homeschooling, a biblical guide for new homeschool families. Whether you're just exploring homeschooling or getting ready for your first year, we're here to help. Visit howtostarthomeschooling.org and start your journey today. Yeah, the Lord here looking upon the heart is something that is truly valuable, right?

13:17We think in terms, the world thinks in terms of value of gold, especially in any other sort of external, but what is most pleasing to the Lord is what actually the Lord can only see, which is that heart itself. So he's looking straight at the heart. First, Tim and three nine as well, and like manner, women should adorn themselves and modest apparel with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but which is proper for women, professing godliness with good works. So the cool is sometimes that highly individualized form of presentation, but it calls attention to oneself. And this is what we find in first Tim and three nine. I think the Bible, the New, the King's Aversion refers to shame, facetness, modesty, not calling attention to oneself, not being ostentatious. That would be another word, I think, to use in some of the versions, but the idea being that I'm not going to be so odd in my dress, my approach, you know, trying to establish

14:18some kind of new trend in the church community by wearing something that is out of the soul, out of the ordinary. I don't know, it's, you're just not wanting to call attention to yourself in any way, shape or form, in some form of highly individualized form of presentation. Now, I'm not saying you can't have some individualized approach to clothing, but there is a point at which you're calling attention to yourself. Right. And perhaps the purpose for you wearing that very thing is to gather attention from others in the Bible forbids that. Right. It's saying don't, don't draw attention to yourself because the focus, especially when you come into Christian worship, is upon the living God and his glory. And hence why it's so important to consider these things. Well, and I think, fundamentally, it's the me-centeredness versus God-centeredness about the presentation. Humility is really that posture before God. And humility is not all that interested in how people see us. The mindset is how is God seeing me? Not how people are seeing me, but how God sees me.

15:23And here's the other thing. How others see God. See, again, it's not about me, but it's also paying attention to how God is seeing me right now. And by the way, he's looking at my heart, it's not looking at my externals as much as he's looking at my heart. And also how others will respond to God. You know, I'm not interested in others praising me, looking to me as the great trendsetter, et cetera, et cetera. No, no, I want people to look to God and praise God and worship God. That's the outlook of Christian. We want God to be glorified. I think if Titus 2, it's interesting here where the language of adorning is used, but it's used of adorning the doctrine of God our Savior in the context of showing a life of good works. That's actually what we want the focus to be is the beauty and glory of God that he made known through our actions. What does the Bible say about the cool? Well, let's go back to history for a moment because I think this is helpful. The cool was a standard lay down by the younger generation beginning the 1940s, really

16:24about 1948. Most people say the cool, at least in the modern age, was established by the teenager and by the younger generation by 1948, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and James Dean, leather jacket, T-shirt, right? Leather jacket T-shirt, we all know who James Dean was. The perfect embodiment of the transition, they established the modern culture, they established the standard for music, they established the standard for dress, they established the standard for everything. It all came from the most wise, the most wise generation ever. The source, the embodiment of all knowledge, understanding of wisdom on planet earth, James Dean, okay? In Rebel Without a Clause, the admirable young man wasn't admirable because he perfectly imitated a respectable society. His attractiveness came from being recognized as being different of it. The leather jacket, the jeans, the cigarette, the motorcycle, the rock music, the slang,

17:24the emotional detachment. These became the cultural signals of the cool in 1955 Rebel Without a Clause. It's a rebellious pattern of being different, but then the great irony is that everybody starts to conform behind your example of being different, and then at the end of it nobody's actually very different from each other anymore. But also realizing that your fearless leader is a 24-year-old Rebel Without a Clause, so keep that in mind. That's going to be your example. Of course, the teenager was given quite a bit of leash by the social revolution. If it had not been for the large high schools, if it had not been for the separation of the heart of the father from the children, the destruction of the family economy, El Manzo Wilder was no longer working in his family farm. You have all of this young people gathering in by the thousands into large high schools in the 1920s, 30s and 40s. It was the social revolution that gave birth to the cultural revolutions. There's increasing prosperity.

18:25The teenagers had substantial disposable income, high school attendance, of course everywhere, huge social group there, radio records, television movies, transmitted youth fashions nationally, advertisers discovered the teenage market, rock and roll, supplied youth culture with music. That was increasingly their own. Of course, don't forget, perpetual immaturity and irresponsibility become a virtue. If you can continue to act like a beach, I remember back in the 1990s when I was in the work world, I was running into guys who grew up in the 50s and 60s with the beach boys. They're like 54 years old and they still look like Brian, what's his face? Because the whole lifestyle had been kind of like, right? He still looks like he's got gray hair, but he's still kind of dragging his surfboard all over the place. Same thing with the car. He's got that tied to the roof of his car, but he's 54 years old. He's still acting like Brian, what's his name of 1958? Like I see the rolling stones. There's some of them are still around and I'm thinking, well, on your 70s and your 80s,

19:27I don't think you can really wear that in full-life way. Exactly. It's not looking as well as it used to. Well, it's the perpetual immaturity and responsibility becomes the virtue. And of course, all of this contradicts the wisdom of Scripture. It was Proverbs 30 generation that got its impetus in the 1950s. There is a generation that curses its father. Have you seen Rebel without a cause? I mean, that guy's cursing his mom and dad, right? His dad's a pushover, his mom's, I don't know, alcohol problem, whatever. This is Rebel without a cause. It's James Dean, okay? He's a generation that curses his father, does not bless his mother. There's a generation that's pure in his own eyes. Yet not washed from its filthiness. It's a generation how lofty their eyes, how their eyelids are lifted up, their generation teeth are like swords, fangs like knives to devour the poor from off the earth. This is not very good for the, you know, the Rebel of the 1950s, 1960s. Whether it was the Communist or James Dean or the one, you know, whether it was a hippie or the James Dean thing, either way,

20:28it was a generation that was not washed from its own filthiness. They were pure in their own eyes, but not washed from their own filthiness. And man, how lofty were their eyes? Their eyelids were lifted up. They're proud, cool people, but a generation whose teeth are like swords. I think of another most frightening proverb, Kevin, where it says, the one who curses father and mother, their lamp shall be put out and utter darkness. Yeah, and the raven of the valleys will look out their eyes. They're like, gougey. Right, neat. Terrible, yeah. All right. So, Proverbs 13 20, he walks with wise men who be wise. The companion of fools will be destroyed. And this whole idea of, you know, the youth leading Isaiah 3, 4, and 5 says, this is judgment on society. God says, I'll give you children to be your princes and babes will rule over you. The child will be an insolent towards his elder, you know, like, this is, this is what it looks like when society will self-destruct and, you know, begin to see the destruction of a culture and a whole social system. But, you know, what is required of us? Well, what was required of us is to disciple the young men to be sober.

21:32Right. Titus 2 and verse 6, and what you want is a church community in which the young men are hanging out with the older men and are becoming increasingly sober. Yeah. And the young women are being taught by the older women. And so that pretty much dismisses the whole idea of a gender mix youth group. I mean, that's ridiculous, right? What we need is the Titus 2 picture of younger men being discipled by the 50 plus crowd and the younger women being discipled by the 50 plus women. So if you're going to have a trendsetter, it's going to be those older Christians among you that you want to imitate their life and faith. Of course, the word trendsetter seems kind of out of place. But my point is that we're not going to be looking to popular culture for our examples. We're going to be looking to godly Christian men and women older than us. And we're going to imitate their faith as they imitate Christ. That should be our priority. Yeah. And one last thing, I'm going to throw this in. I know it barely applies. It does apply, I think to it. And it's the question of the in crowd and the clicks.

22:32Yes. I, this is something I've noticed. I mean, I was homeschooled and I think not really processed through the whole cool thing. And I did attend a Christian school in the fifth grade. And I noticed there were in crowds and clicks. Yeah. Immediately. And I myself, this other homeschool kid, we just kind of wandered around the church product. And that's cool property. Connecting occasionally and playing a game. But the rest did their thing. We were alone. Myron and I, Myron Moreland. I still remember him. Good old Myron. Good old Myron. Myron and Kev. The Myron and Kev team. We were not in the click. We were not in the in crowd. Must not have bought the tennis shoes or something. Right. But we should each other. Well, we did to commiserate a bit. We were friends later on. And he became a truck driver. And actually later on, I traveled around with him in the truck all the way across Oregon one time. I love Myron still. He's a good godly man. But the in crowd and the click. Listen to James chapter two. I just don't think this belongs in the church.

23:33We still find occasional clicks in the church. I don't particularly appreciate it. They come and go. But I think our young people and older people, maybe we've all been raised in public schools where clicks were the thing. But it just doesn't belong in the church. James too. And do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, find a pearl. I guess I pretty much the cool guy, right? The cool guy comes in. She also come in a poor man of filthy clothes and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes. You say to him, you see here in a good place, say to the poor man, you stand over there. Sit here at my footstool. Have you not shown partiality among your sails and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen to my beloved brother and has God chosen the poor. Has not God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him. But you have dishonor the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts. Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? Okay. So do you think this speaks at all to click?

24:34Yeah. Well, in the principle here goes beyond just rich and poor. It speaks to us desiring certain people and liking certain people more for various reasons. We can have the people that we want to talk to because they like the things we like, the way we talk and we don't want to cross any barriers because we're just not very loving. And that's the thing that I think we've always experienced at times. Because it takes a little bit of effort to have. It takes more love. It takes a perseverance sometimes to cross a barrier into somebody else's life and to engage with them and ways that are different than you're used to. Yeah. So I think we're called to this. I mean, Jesus crossed every universe. Yeah. Across the universe to, you know, wash the feet of your disciples and then to wash us all with your blood. Yes. And he ministered all kinds of people. Oh, he did. You talk about him. All kinds of backgrounds. Gentiles, men, women, Syrophonician women, censurians. You name it. Jesus is crossing boundaries all the time.

25:35We need to be like Jesus. I need an amen for somebody. Amen. Always good to get any men from in studio. Well friends, talk about the cool today, the clicks. And I hope this has been helpful for you. If you have any questions about these issues, man, put it on the table. We want, we want to be addressing these issues. These are relevant issues, right? Josh. Yeah. They deal with issues of the human heart that are being brought up. Yeah. We encourage you to my book, The Tattooed Jesus. What the real Jesus would do with pop culture, I think that ties in directly to what we're talking about today. It's called The Tattooed Jesus. What the real Jesus would do with pop culture is just a short little 120 page book, but it gets to some of the principles that we've been talking about today on this issue of what does the Bible say about that. And this is Kevin Swanson and Josh, we so inviting you back again next time, as we continue to lay down a vision for the next generation.

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