The skull and bones was once a fearsome image, warning us of deadly danger on poison containers, waving fearsomely from atop pirate ships. Now it's just trendy.
According to the New York Times, the skull image is everywhere in contemporary youth fashion trends, so much so that it now evokes hipness more than fear. The Times writes:
“The skull is all-purpose,” said Sasha Frere-Jones, a music critic at The New Yorker. “It simultaneously refers to horror movies, to the Misfits and, by extension, all punk rock, and to a generalized culture of blackness and spookiness and the larger, mall-Goth culture.” So, he said, “if you’re really at heart a Goth, but you have friends who are into metal and punk, you can rock the skulls and be friends with all of them.”
Or in fashionspeak: skulls — fun, flexible, easy, breezy!
The article cites a fashionable jeweler who now uses the skull motif often in his creations:
In his view skulls are not less threatening because a chic jeweler is casting them in precious metal but because, in an age when slasher films are top grossers, death itself has become less threatening. “In the 19th century, when people died, they were laid out in the living room,” he said. “I think we’ve lost that connection to death.”
I don't think we've lost the fear of death. Divine revelation tells us this fear is universal, and universally enslaving apart from Christ (Heb 2:14-15). Our black-clad, skull wearing youth, who powder their faces to look corpselike, are not exempt from this. But what are they telling us about what they have learned from contemporary American culture?
What we may have lost is our hatred of death. We walk, after all, in a world in which we lock our elderly away in nursing homes, experiment on the corpses of the frozen prey of our unborn children, and celebrate the latest vanities of Paris Hilton and Brad Pitt.
As the Wisdom of God once said, "All who hate me love death" (Prov 8:36).
While I agree with the thrust of this post, I wonder if people or the culture in general have truly entirely lost their hatred (or fear) of death. I think there is something else underlying it. A post-Christian culture has adopted an unreal attitude toward death because of an even more profoundly anti-Christian attitude -- a denial of the redemptive value of suffering, and the virtue and necessity of having to endure it. A culture that cannot accept self-denial -- expressed variously in contraception, abortion, fornication and perversion, assisted suicide, euthanasia, etc. -- so resents, hates, and fears suffering that death becomes preferable to it. Rather than accept life as a gift from God which man has corrupted and therefore has trials which must be endured, man now denies the fall and refuses to accept the gift of life if he cannot have it on his own self-centered terms. Acceptance of death no longer flows naturally from the Christian perspective of humility and resignation, but perversely as the ultimate act of selfishness.
Posted by: James A. Altena | July 27, 2006 at 11:12 AM
Perspective is everything. Back in my biochemical laboratory days, I was sitting in my office and one of my (female) colleagues was perusing the new catalog from an anatomical supply house. Flipping through the pages, she suddenly stopped, opened the catalog wide, and exclaimed "Oh, look! Baby skulls! Aren't they CUTE!"
Posted by: The Waffling Anglican | July 27, 2006 at 12:15 PM
>>>The skull and bones was once a fearsome image, warning us of deadly danger on poison containers, waving fearsomely from atop pirate ships. Now it's just trendy.<<<
Perhaps the oldest use of the skull and bones is on icons of the crucifixion. According to ancient Christian Tradition (at least in the East), Golgotha was also the site of Adam's tomb. Thus, in icons of the crucifixion, the cross is shown erected over a cave in which the bones of the first Adam are arranged as the skull and crossbones, a sign of death in sin. Crucifixes in the Byzantine Tradition also show the skull and crossbones below the figure of Christ Crucified.
Significantly, in the icon of the Anastasis, Adam is shown as rising with Christ's assistance from the pit of Hades, while Death is shown bound amidst the broken doors of Hades and various bits of chains and locks.
Thus, the skull and crossbones is indeed a sign of death, but must be taken in context as part of a series of images that climax with the death and despoiling of Death through the death and resurrection of the Author of Life.
Posted by: Stuart Koehl | July 27, 2006 at 12:34 PM
I bet it won't be long before conspiracy websites link this trend to Yale's Skull and Bones Society.
Posted by: James Kabala | July 27, 2006 at 01:20 PM
Waffling Anglican,
That baby skulls anecdote has given me the creeps. Yikes! You are right. Point of view makes all the difference.
RDM
Posted by: Russell D. Moore | July 27, 2006 at 02:49 PM
I thought the trend for skulls came from Pirates of the Carribean...not quite so dark and threatening. (it is, btw, well-wort wasting seven or eight dollars to see:)
Posted by: luthien | July 27, 2006 at 07:51 PM
>Thus, the skull and crossbones is indeed a sign of death, but must be taken in context as part of a series of images that climax with the death and despoiling of Death through the death and resurrection of the Author of Life.
Someone may take it in that context but most people in the west are much more likely to take it in the context of the Jolly Roger.
Posted by: David Gray | July 28, 2006 at 04:43 AM
Everyone probably knows someone who is a "Freemason", but how many of us know what is involved in Freemasonry , it's beliefs , aims , purpose and history? The establishment and the press , in the past , have endeavoured to portray the Freemasons as examples of upstanding citizens and respectable members of society.
It is only in recent years , possibly with the advent of the internet , that light is being shown into the darker and sinister aspects of the workings of Freemasonry. Many books have been written on the Freemasons and several excellent web sites have appeared exposing all of their hitherto unknown secrets. One of these sites is "FreemasonWatch" and I would recommend everyone to visit this highly enlightening site.
.www.freemasonwatch.freepress-freespeech.com
Figure above. The Freemason initiation ceremony of being " re-born " or "Born Again". The novice is required to physically lie down inside the coffin and arise whereupon they are born again into a higher level within the society of Freemasons , a higher level of spiritual awareness and of exclusive esoteric knowledge.. The
The freemasons use of the wording "re-born" "Born Again" or "Born Anew", should be closely scrutinised. I believe there is a definite connection with the Fundamentalist, Charismatic Christian's use of the same words to describe their followers! The use of the terminology "Born Again" , could have a different or even an inverted meaning !
We are all told that Jimmy Carter in 1976 was the first person to coin the phrase "Born Again" to describe his type of Southern Baptist Christian belief. The Freemasons have been using the description, "Born Again" in their ceremonies for centuries. However, the use of the description "Born Again" in the Freemasons initiation ceremonies has a sinister and a satanic meaning. Reference: The 33 degree level in Freemasonry.
. www.freemasonwatch.freepress-freespeech.cm
Another interesting analogy is Hitler and his "spiritual" awakening within of the Thule Society.
The Thule Society is the German Brotherhood of Death secret society and it has as it's symbol , the skull and crossbones. This was also the Nazi SS symbol and the Freemasons use the skull and crossbones in their ceremonies. The extremely secretive USA society , Skull and Bones is believed to be the American branch of the original German Thule Society !
Ref: . The Thule Society
The leader of the Thule Society in the 1930s was Dietrich Eckhart .He was Hitler's mentor who nurtured and led him into the world of the supernatural . In the Thule group in Munich , Eckhart, Alfred Rosenberg and Hitler held seances and communicated with demons. Eckhart believed that a dark spirit had informed him that he was the guardian of the coming "great one" , the "Antichrist". Eckhart said on his deathbed ; " Follow Hitler ; he will dance, but it is I who have called the tune. I have initiated him into the secret doctrine, opened his centres in vision and given him the means to communicate with the powers."
When Eckhart had completed his "training" of Hitler ; Hitler described his spiritual experiences as a transformation and believed his had been "Born Anew", "Born Again"!
I have been involved since 1994 in a campaign to expose a Satanic cult which has members in hundreds of countries across the world. I have discovered over these 7 years that this cult can be traced back to the USA where it was spawned in the 1970s . In the early 1970s, the CIA were involved in mind control research on human guinea pigs , this research program was called MK-ULTRA. Congress directed the CIA in 1973 to cease it's program but instead the CIA carried on it's mind control program , using "religious Cults" as fronts and covers for their research and practice.
The CIA recruited Jim Jones ( his father was a Ku Klux Klan member ) , the head of the Indianapolis Church, The Peoples Temple Gospel Church. The CIA involvement with Jim Jones culminated in the so-called "suicides" in Guyana in 1978 of 911 members of The People Temple !
Ref: . Jonestown: Population Zero
Contrary to the CIA and their pawns in the US media , many many writers and researchers believe that this was a CIA mind control experiment which involved the murders of 911 Peoples Temple members, the majority of whom were black Americans. After the Peoples Temple demise the CIA and US military continued their involvement with "religious" cults as fronts for mind control research . The Children of God would be another cult whose leader David Berg had friends in high places within the US administration who protected the cult from the many allegations of child abuse and devilworship.
There is another , much more powerful religious cult which is now being used to put into practise the plans of the CIA and US e'elitists . We are past the point of initial mind control research ; we are now at the stage where the CIA and the Nazi e'elitists have begun their campaign to make their New World Order a reality! They have been sending their "Christian Missionaries" to many countries across the world since the 1970s . Their New World Order will be of the occult and everyone will worship an evil deity ; a GODDESS with many names , ISIS, Semeramis, Diana etc.
The Cult which the NSC (National Security Council, a group reported to be superior to the CIA) and CIA/ US e'elitists are using is the evangelical Charismatic "Born Again" Christians, The International Church of Christ. To say that the CIA are controlling all "Born Again Christian " groups might be going too far ! However, the Pat Robertson group , Rev Phil Dernstein, Larry Lea , Cubie Ward and Oral Roberts definitely were deeply involved in the criminal activities of US/CIA operations in Central America in the 1970s and 1980s . Many thousands of innocent men, women and children were murdered by the "Born Again" CIA trained anti-communist Contra murder squads. Notable "Born Again" deceiver Christians in this devilish episode were ; "Born Again Catholic" Oliver North, and the head of the CIA at that time , Bill Casey, "Born Again Catholic"
The "Born Again" CIA deceiver Christians involvement in the dirty war in Central America/Nicaragua should have been an eye-opener to the whole world .The CIA controlled US press and media have literally pulled the wool over the eyes of millions of people across the world when we should have been looking closer and asking why so-called Christians had their fingers on the triggers which were responsible for the murders of thousands of people in Central America.
Since the late 1970s the US/CIA deceiver Charismatic Christians spread their evil tentacles across the world to many countries and attracting into their ranks many people who were involved in killings and mass murders!
A definite pattern has emerged regarding the International Charismatic "Born Again" Christians! The Born Agains seem to attract the worst type of persons to their ranks , the morally corrupt , the spiritually unclean . Many Satanic and multiple killers have, since their capture , proclaimed themselves "Born Again Christians".
One has to ask; why have all of these killers chosen the "Born Agains" Christians sect in preference to all the other religious denominations?
There is a definite pattern here! This could be more than a coincidence !
Let us examine some examples: ....... killers who call themselves "Born Again" , cults and sex abuser statistics
*Sean Sellers/ Satanist...executed /murdered his parents , called himself a "Born Again" Christian
Ref: .Sean Sellers
* Karla Faye Tucker/ executed pick-axe killer/ former prostitute , called herself a "Born Again " Christian
* Henry Lee Lucas , multiple murderer /vagrant /"Born Again " christian claimed he was a hitman for a Satanic cult Henry Lee Lucas
*David Berkowitz/"Son of Sam"/former Jew... satanic connections to his murders... calls himself a "Born Again" Christian
BBC - Crime Fighters Solved - David Berkowitz
* Jeffrey Dahmer . murdered 15 people. son of "Born Again" Christian father , Church of Christ, re-baptised in prison
Ref: .Jeffrey Dahmer: Born Again Fundamentalist Christian
* Mark Chapman.. John Lennon's murderer.. calls himself a "Born Again" Christian
* Charles Tex Watson, henchman of Charles Manson/Satanic murderer, calls himself a "Born again Christian"
* Ted Bundy /executed multiple Killer/Born Again Christian
* Velma Barfield/executed killer/Born Again Christian
* The Shankill Butchers/Ireland . multiple murderers / suspected Satanic connections, many former members call themselves "Born Again Christians"
* JonBennet Ramsay...died on Dec 25th 1996 . parents are "Born Again Christians"
Ref: .The Konformist - Daddy's Little Princess
* Susan Smith / USA..murdered her two children , her father was a "Born Again Christian" who sexually molested her. he was never brought to court
* "Duch",mass murderer , Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge executioner, commander of Tuol Sleng detention centre , Cambodia ,calls himself a "Born Again Christian"
* Medellin, Columbia , Evangelical Fundamentalist "Born Again Christians" attract many killers active in the drug trade
* Ugandan cult, involved in the witchcraft murders of more than 300 people was controlled by "Born Again Christians" , Jim Clair head of US "Born Again" missionaries in Uganda claims allegations are false!
Ref: .Ugandan Christians Fear Repercussions
REF: Mail&Guardian: Zambia church banned for 'Satanism'Ref::
* Ray Wyre, head of the UK young sexual offenders clinic at Gracewell , Birmingham, England , in an interview with "Men and Crime" , issue 13-summer 1992, gives witness : " I've worked with more Born-again Christian abusers than any others. A lot of our child killers are evangelical born-again abusers"
Ref: .All Wyred up
* Ireland: a close relation of one missing boy is a "Born Again Christian" , went missing just before Hallowe'en 1986. The statistics relating to missing persons in Ireland and their immediate connections with the "Born Again Christians "cult are being suppressed by those in authority!
* Kincora Boys Home Scandal , Northern Ireland 1970s/80s, William McGrath , head of staff at Kincora convicted of sexually abusing the children under his care at the home, was a "Born Again Christian"
The Kincora Scandal
REF: The Kincora Scandal and cover-up " by Chris Moore .
* Many Irish Republican and British Loyalist paramilitaries , UVF,IRA and LVF involved in the war in Ulster are Born Again Christians !
* Lindsay Brown - Bangor Grammar school teacher/convicted paedophile - Born Again Christian
* The Latest Born Again devil inspired child killer to come to light as a "reformed" Christian was Born Again Christian Myra Hindley! Added 25-4-04.
Myra Hindley and Ian Brady - They took pleasure in torturing children while the kids pleaded for mercy!
This is the symbol of " The International Council of Churches " . NB Note the upsidedown crosses!
Posted by: Greg Mckinley | September 17, 2007 at 03:29 PM
Greg, this entry is amazing. You take the use, by one politician, of such Biblical language as he surely had heard in his Baptist church, mix it with the abuse of the same Biblical language by a bizarre cult, and add in the names of various criminals who claimed redemption at some point after their crimes, and a few others who used the term to enhance their cover, all to, apparently, demonize anyone who has claimed the Second Birth. To be born again is a description of the inner transformation for all who trust Christ with their lives, and is necessary for our salvation, as Jesus Christ explained, in John chapter 3.
Too true, the birth itself does not guarantee a righteous life thereafter: We are all still human, and stupidity is always an option, but it does, just, enable us to begin to live for God.
Posted by: Robert Easter | December 18, 2007 at 12:57 AM