Tag Archives: neckties

A Yoke Around My Neck

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tiesThey say that neckties are making a comeback. Too bad, I say. I’m not a fan.

I especially don’t like the way ties have been used in churches in developing nations. In many countries, the tie is seen as a symbol of Christianity. Schools of preaching require their students to wear ties, some of whom return to their home congregation, trying to impose the fashion there. In countries where neckties are virtually unknown, you see preachers wearing ties (often in garish colors that in no way match the clothes they wear). In Argentina, if you saw someone wearing a tie walking down the street on Sunday, you had almost certainly found an evangelical.

On Islamic websites, posters ask if the tie is meant to be a symbol of the cross, or if the imposition of ties in business settings isn’t an attempt to proselytize. One reporter who was held captive by the Taliban told of being questioned on several occasions as to what magic Christians saw in neckties.

Wear your ties, if you like. Just don’t mix fashions and faith… neither here nor overseas.

Finally, during some Bible study yesterday, I discovered that neckties are criticized in the New Testament! Note this from the book of Acts:

“Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?” (Acts 15:10)

There you have it. Why put on the necks of the disciples a yoke that others have not been able to bear? That settles it. No neckties.

(OK, maybe I’m not totally serious on that one…)

Photo by Jane M. Sawyer via MorgueFile.com

The ties that blind

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tiesI like neckties. I think they look good. In most cases, I don’t find them to be that uncomfortable.

And I think every missionary should leave them at home.

We’ve exported an obsession with this piece of clothing to countries far and wide. In some of those countries, no one wears a tie except for preachers. They aren’t a part of the culture in those places. In others, people who otherwise wouldn’t even own a tie are forced to put one on every Sunday.

In many countries, Christians believe that a preacher has to use a tie or he isn’t worthy of respect. Preacher schools around the world have required their students to wrap this colored cloth around their necks as a sign of their seriousness and spirituality.

In Argentina, it was easy to spot the evangelicals on Sunday: the women all wore long skirts (completely out of style) and the men used ties (often with short-sleeved shirts… ugh). You didn’t even need to see the Bibles under their arms to know, without a doubt, that these people were part of some religious group, a group that had been imported from the United States. They stood out, not because of Christian behavior, but because they tried to dress like people from another place and time.

Do Christians have to dress like Americans from the 1960s to be faithful? Are we supposed to create barriers between us and outsiders by the way we dress? Obviously I think not. What do you think?