Baby Bats and Meat
I guess I should clarify, cause many of you may not be familiar with the term “Baby Bat.” It seems every one who has been goth for a while, at one point, had to discover what goth was. And they go through this weird Hot Topic shopping, Marilyn Manson listening, Twilight loving, bad poetry writing, all black wearing phase. For most people, their whole goth experience is that phase. But some of us, haven’t grown out of that “phase.” Instead we have “grown up” with it. Conversely, this has also been known as being a “mall goth” cause that is where most of us met up or hung out.
While I don’t have to many pictures, at least online, of how awful and dreadful my attempt at discovering goth was, I think this was pretty early on. Circa fall 1996, and I was just buying my own clothes. Gotta admit, it was pretty bad. Tie dyed shirt and a Dr. Seuss hat bad. I was trying to find my own style, and was kind of leaning toward the alt / punk / goth scene, since I did like that kind of music. I think the earliest pics of my early days of goth are from 1999–2001 or so. This was before the “digital age” of photos and I don’t think I was all that photogenic. Or perhaps several times, I just hid from the camera. But I did find one from that era of me being a bit silly.
Sorry, if you know me and pictures, Fred (my bunny) was bound to show up sooner or later. But judging by his shirt being the original one he wore, I’d say this was prolly my first year at a Christmas Conference with Campus Crusade with Christ, 1999 or 2000. Notice that I am wearing a Punisher shirt, that I prolly picked up at Hot Topics. Also notice, Fred has some fishnets on over his paws. Fishnets being a staple of the 90’s baby bats. The idea was to “pull a rabbit out of the hat.”
Ok, enough with the pictures and the trip down memory lane. Because everyone who knows me, knows I have a style all my own. I tend to think of it as a mainly corporate Goth with some Steampunk elements thrown in for fun. The point I am trying to make here is that I just didn’t wake up one day and BOOM! that was my style. No, it had to evolve and change and adapt on its own. Part of it was a bet gone wrong. (Maybe I’ll share that story sometime.) Part of it was me wanting to step into leadership at the church I was at and knowing I couldn’t be taken seriously wearing clothes I got at Hot Topic. Part of it was several New Years Resolutions. (Most of which, I have kept.) My look is something that I didn’t really grow out of but grew in to and grew up with.
How does any of this have anything to do with meat? And why am I even talking bout meat as a vegetarian? Don’t worry, I am about to get to that. Just can you imagine if I never grew out of that phase? If every goth that you met, still shopped at Hot Topic and still primarily listened to Marilyn Manson? You probably wouldn’t think that they were very mature in their style or personality. But how many Christians do you know who do the exact same thing with their faith? The get saved and go to church, or maybe they were raised in the church and they don’t grow in their faith. To cite the author of Hebrews:
“In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”
-Hebrews 5:12–14
How many Christian out there, are still drinking milk and are ok with not eating meat? Who have stayed close to the exact same spot in their faith as they were in when they started? And I know growing in our faith looks different for different people. I am only going to mention 3 common ways people grow in their faith. Sure there are more. I feel most people would agree that these 3 things are helpful to develop a mature walk with Christ. They are Study, Praise and Prayer.
I am not saying you have to be a Bible scholar and know the Hebrew and Greek to study the Bible, just to read/study it. Some studies say only half of all Christians read their Bible…and it sounds like that number has dropped during the pandemic. I try to read mine everyday, as I have a couple of plans I am involved in. One of the constant joys I have is reading it.
I don’t care if your prayers sound like perfect King James, but you should have an active prayer life. I will admit this prolly is something I wrestle with. Don’t get me wrong, I do have a prayer journal, and some beads. Those do help a bit. But many of my prayers are just in my mind / thoughts and I don’t often vocalize them. I suck at praying out loud, be it in a group or just on my own. I do like to think I have a mindset for it, and my thoughts do count as prayers. But speaking my prayers, yeah, I fail at that. Big time.
Personally, I’d much rather Praise G-d to metal than listen to Hillsong. But I still praise Him. And yes, there are several metal bands that have covered Praise and worship songs. And even a few hymns. Please don’t be fooled into thinking that just cause you don’t hear a song played in church, or on Christian radio, that it isn’t a worship song. Lyrically, I have several songs on my “worship” playlist that are solid expressions of love, joy, gratitude, and even some of our need, for G-d. And they do it a lot better than some modern worship.
There are other areas where we can grow. Fasting is one of them. Acts of service is another. Fellowship is yet another. Having a mentor or even mentoring someone is still another. I encourage you to find a blend of meat (and veggies) that works for you. Yeah it will take time. Yeah you may go through an awkward phase. Not all “older” goths (known as Elder goths in the culture, people who have been goth for a while) look or dress like me. They have their own style. But we can all agree on a lot of what goth is at its core. You may grow through prayer a lot easier than study. That’s great! Keep growing! I grow better with study and that’s ok. Cause at the core, we can both agree that both prayer and study are needed. That they both provide us nutrients that our faith needs to grow.
I just feel like so many Christians go to church on Sunday and just remain stagnant in their faith. They aren’t growing, and barely getting the basic nutrients they need to survive. They are still “Baby Christians” when they should be “Elder Believers.” Quit drinking milk, and start eating meat…or the vegetarian paraphrase “Quit drinking almond milk and get a salad or an impossible burger.” (Sorry, had to try to make that joke.) Just like I didn’t stay a “Baby Bat” forever, my walk with Christ has evolved and grown up over the years. It wasn’t an over night process, but one that happened over time. Just like I had to develop my own style of looking goth, I had to develop my diet within the faith. I hope and pray that if you haven’t done it already, you that the time and effort to find out what it is you need to grow.