WWJD (Who Would Jesus Duke?)

Spirit Of St. Louis Church in Arnold, Missouri plans to draw people in for Easter Sunday services with an Ultimate Fighting theme: a cage, a guy demonstrating mixed martial-arts techniques, and lots and lots of machismo.

Pastor Tom Skiles tells The Riverfront Times:

I always make fun of people's images of Christ. The hippie Christ. The Christ with the long flowing air, like he came straight from the salon. I make fun of that. I don't think he was that kind of man. I think Jesus was a man's man. Him and his disciples. I tell people they probably had teeth missing.

I must've missed that part in the Gospels, and I've read through them at least twice.

The Ultimate Fighting is something we're doing to promote to the guys. We want to make Easter relevant again. We don't want to make it about lilies and nice dresses. When they walk in we'll have a chain link fence set up, it'll be set up like an octagon. We'll talk about fact that Jesus didn't tap out, he was an ultimate fighter.

Funny, I always saw Him as the Ultimate Peacemaker, Ultimate Lover, Ultimate Giver, Ultimate Healer, and Ultimate Sacrificer. I remember Him clearing the money-changers from the temple (John 2:12-25, Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:12-19, Luke 19:45-48), but that's about as physical as it got.

We're doing Easter Smack Down for our kids. It's not going to be an egg hunt. It'll be a Smack Down. It'll be a cool event. Kids love wrestling. We got inflatable boxing ring and all that stuff.

Guess the kids will be wearing their Everlast equipment instead of suits this Sunday.

I admire Pastor Tom for finding a unique way of reaching out to people who don't come to church. After all, my church, The Cool Church, has been doing that for years. I Corinthians 9:22 says: "I become all things to all people that by all means I might save some."

However, the Good Pastor and I part ways when he characterizes Christ as a "Man's Man." That's a man defined by a man, not how God defines a man. The Bible clearly tells us Jesus was multi-dimensional in His emotions. Let us not forget John 11:35: "Jesus wept." And while He clearly saw the time and place for tough love and righteous indignation, He did not enjoy mixing it up. On the night of His betrayal, He stopped what could've been a fight to the death, as recorded in Luke 22:49-51 (NIV):

When Jesus' followers saw what was going to happen, they said, "Lord, should we strike with our swords?" And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.

But Jesus answered, "No more of this!" And he touched the man's ear and healed him.

Not quite UFC material. Yes, Jesus is a warrior. Yes, He's a fighter. But not on a level any of us can even imagine. He won the Ultimate Fight for all of us, and it cost Him His life. That's surely the point Pastor Tom will be making this Sunday. Amen to that. But all of us men who live right for God and wish to make ourselves more like Christ realize the spiritual battle against Satan cannot be won with a good roundhouse kick.

God's idea of a man is someone who commits his life, his soul, his actions and his thoughts to loving and serving his Maker. God's idea of a man is more than just a fighting machine, but a person capable of balancing several emotions and realizing what wonderful gifts they are.