“He Gets Us” and Skin Suit Christianity

Fake Aslan is on the prowl

In The Last Battle, the final book in The Chronicles of Narnia series, word goes around that Aslan (Lewis’ Christ figure in the form of a lion) is returning after a long absence. Naturally, this brings great joy to the Narnian people.

But immediately most Narnians notice something is… off. Aslan’s presence makes everything worse. The values he brings to Narnia seem entirely contrary to his character. Still, many of the citizens defer to him because of the weight his name carries, even when he makes no sense.

As it turns out, it’s not Aslan at all. It’s just a donkey named Puzzle, dressed in a lion skin, being used as a puppet by a malicious ape named Shift, who works the Narnians’ love for Aslan against them.

Those who wanted to serve Aslan but didn’t truly know him were ripe for deception, and Shift capitalized on their earnest naïveté to destroy Narnia from within.

The wordly have no use for real Christianity—discipleship, denying self, cross-bearing (Luke 9:23)—but in a Western world still operating on a Christian value system, they need the appearance of Christianity to make their agenda seem good and proper. As Auron MacIntyre often says, “Progressivism will hollow out your religion and wear its skin like a trophy.”

What is a “Christian skin suit?”

Most typically, it comes in the form of Gospel-ish sounding quips or verses ripped out of context, like:

Jesus washed feet
Jesus said “Do not judge”
Jesus said “Love your neighbor”
Jesus ate with sinners

All of those things are true. But any time someone says something like that, before you “amen” them you need to figure out just why they’re saying it.

When it comes from those who show no respect for Christ in any other capacity, you can be sure they’re weaponizing Scripture to bludgeon you into compliance. “Love your neighbor… so bake the gay wedding cake.” “Jesus ate with sinners… so use the trans pronouns.” “Jesus washed feet… He didn’t pass laws against abortion.”

Satan himself was able to wrap an argument with “It is written…” (Matthew 4:6). Jesus rebuffed the argument with another Scripture, one which proved that Satan was abusing the verse he quoted.

We have to be able to do the same thing. Knowing this tactic is often employed, we have to look at all the trappings surrounding a Scriptural argument before we assent to it. This is discernment.

With a campaign like the controversial He Gets Us Super Bowl ads, we all agree that Jesus did actually wash feet and He did actually love His neighbors and enemies—both important, powerful truths. I think that’s why a lot of Christians view the ads as positive.

But this is where discernment kicks in. That’s not all the ads are saying.

The messaging doesn’t just stop there.

You have to look at why they’re pointing to those truths.

Their ads depict what appear to be a transgender person, a homosexual, a drug addict, a young woman seeking an abortion, rioters protestors, etc.—generally highly-favored social classes who are typically called to repentance within conservative, white, evangelical Christianity in America. “Jesus didn’t teach hate,” they say. The obvious implication? Anybody who has a problem with any of these people hates them.

Christians who applaud this message tacitly consent to the popular idea that “Christians have been really mean/racist/homophobic/transphobic.” Outside of the universally-condemned Westboro Baptists, the only way the overwhelming majority of Christians “hate” or “mistreat” these folks is by disagreeing with them and calling them to repentance. The only option we have to spare ourselves the sanctimonious lecture is by becoming “tolerant” and giving up our Biblical convictions.

So when you “amen” their obviously true basic claims, you’re implicitly accepting all the questionable baggage they loaded up on top of it. We have to be more discerning than that.

And, we have to know our Scriptures.

Shift was able to bring Narnia down because people didn’t know Aslan well enough to discern when they were being presented a counterfeit. As Jesus rebuffed Satan’s false use of Scripture with proper use, we have to be studied enough and attentive enough to do the same. For example:

Jesus didn’t spend His ministry washing feet. He did that precisely one time, to a highly select group of people, to make an important point to them about His love and service which they were to embody among one another (John 13). While Jesus did many wonderful things for the general populace and “the other,” He did not wash their feet.

Instead, He preached to them and called them to repentance. To name a few, the woman at the well, the adulterous woman, Zacchaeus, Nicodemus, the rich young ruler, Saul of Tarsus, the scribes and Pharisees, and the people of Nazareth all received some variation of “you’re wrong” and/or “you need to repent.”

You can claim He Gets Us is a bridge to the message of repentance, but that would misunderstand the point they’re going for. There is no invitation to Christ. There is no portrayal of a just and righteous God who must be obeyed. It’s all “love.” But love that comes from a God Who is not holy is useless. The power in His love is found in Isaiah 53 and John 3:16 and Romans 5:6-8.

Instead, the world is getting a coddling, reassuring message of cheap grace. It’s moralistic therapeutic deism with a marketing budget. It’s “God knows my heart” in the hands of video editors. It’s Critical Theory wearing the Gospel like a skin suit. It’s Christianity without a bloodied cross or an open tomb.

This is why I’ll say it yet again—Christians, we have to know what time it is.

Understanding the times means knowing the spirit of the age, knowing that it’s against God, and knowing what God truly wants.

We cannot afford to be deceived by every Gospely-sounding idea parading around in an Aslan-esque skin suit. A Jesus who has the exact same values and concerns as the culture that hates Him isn’t Jesus. A Jesus whom the carnally-minded think is super cool isn’t Jesus. A Jesus who gets weaponized by people who have no interest in following Him isn’t Jesus.

When you take a step back, these ads, the messaging that Christians should forget about culture, and just about every other skin suited declaration has one central message: Christians need to sit down, shut up, keep our religion to ourselves, and be “nice.”

The more time you spend paying attention to the plays being run, the easier discernment gets. The vocabulary and the tone give themselves away instantly. But too many Christians have yet to catch on, making them perfect marks for whatever the donkey under the lion skin has to say next.

---

NOW AVAILABLE! Pick up a copy of my new book, Sunday School Catch-Up: The Bible Basics You Need to Know

Shop at Amazon or Focus Press