Now being a cosplayer, my costumes can appear to be sexy because of the characters I chose. Also being a Christian and a cosplayer causes many heads to turn because people cannot accept or grasp me as a Christian and a sexy cosplayer....how can the two mix?
One thing I should mention to you is EVERY character I cosplay, I voice cast them in a podcast called Iceberg Lounges Podcast. This podcast is heard all over the world, we get subscribers from every continent ( except Antarctica...haven't had one from there yet) and one thing that makes our podcast different is we do not do just comics, but we also do Bible readings. We include the Word God in our episodes. What people don’t seem to see is we EVANGELIZE in this podcast.
The one thing I believe people have a hard time with is the fact that Christians are un-relatable. We come off as critical and mean and judgmental and I admit some of us are like that.....but not all of us. Some of us WANT to be relatable but just don’t simply know how to be. Me personally, I try my best to be relatable to people of the world through comic books. I have that common ground with people at comic book conventions, I can sit and talk about comic books, story lines, art, story boards and anything nerdy, it’s a great thing Also I must mention the fact that I am evangelizing as I'm going to the conventions because I constantly refer people to my website (which has All my faith material) and I refer people to my podcast which has my Bible segment readings as well.
Now this way of evangelism may seem unorthodox to other people, you sit back and think:
"How are you relating and impacting people when you look/act just like them, what makes you different?"
Well for one I'm not that different because I was just like them, a lost sinner in the world going nowhere in life so I by no means consider myself better than them. Also I am different not by how I look but how I speak to them. I have had many conversations with people at conventions who were floored when they learned I was Christian because:
1. I wasn't judgmental I was quite kind to them
2. I didn't put them down or make them feel bad for liking comic books; I was easy to talk to.
3. I was dressed sexy but yet had a kind attitude about it, I didn't act conceited.
Those statement floored ME because we're Christian, we're SUPPOSE to be nice, were suppose to be easy to talk to......I'm quite certain Jesus was easy to talk to, heck he talked to prostitutes and tax collectors and told off the Pharisees! Go Jesus *woot woot*
Another misconception is:
"How can I impact these people if I'm dressing sexy? Why do I have to dress sexy to get their attention?"
Let me tackle this one by first addressing the "sexy" issue. What exactly is considered sexy to you? Because for me, I do agree some of my costumes are quite sexy but I also see no difference between them and a bathing suit, a halter top, a mini skirt or a plunging neckline. These articles of clothing are EVERYDAY wear and my costumes are simply convention costumes, you will not find me wearing Slave Leia to the grocery store that’s for sure. My cosplay is ART, I love to express myself through costuming and design. As for Slave Leia, I love Star Wars and she is not the only Star Wars character I plan to cosplay, I plan to do at least 4 Padme costumes so I will have a range in the Star Wars department. Also Slave Leia, I am covered, even under the skirt YES I wear underwear under there and lots of fashion tape prevent "accidents." Poison Ivy is just a bodysuit; NOTHING is shown what so ever. Ariel is a Disney princess; they wear them sea shells at Disneyland all the time! I'm a mermaid, that’s what mermaids look like. The rest, I'm fully covered
Last I checked is the Lord looks at a person’s heart, not what they're wearing.
1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance,(but the LORD looks on the heart."
I use to use the example of I can walk around all day dressed as a nun and secretly hate God in my heart. What I wear will not usher me to the front of the line in heaven. God will not sit there and say "Oh Emy you wore a Slave Leia cosplay to Comic Con in 2011 and that was a NOT "Christian wear" so you're out of here!" I can even imagine God doing the head-bob thing -_-
Really?
It’s not a religion, it’s a relationship
I have a relationship with Jesus Christ. I read His word (The Bible) I pray to Him as often as I can and I do my best to obey His commandments and show people His love through me. God is love, He is perfect love and I want people to know and see how loving God is and I do that by being a friend to them and allowing them to see what god has done in my life.
Now after saying all this I also want to mention this: the devil KNOWS the podcast and my website is touching people’s lives and it’s my cosplay that is opening doors for this to happen. About two weeks ago, my boss Jack received an email from a listener of the podcast detailing how he was raised Muslim/Communist and came across the show and listened mainly for the comic book segment of the show, that’s all he cared about...at first. But by listening to the show, he converted to Christianity. I also want to mention how my boss Jack got saved. He got saved by Greg Laurie of Harvest church. Jack listened to Greg Laurie ONLY because Greg was a former cartoonist and Jack simply wanted to hear what Greg had to say, the words of a former cartoonists. Boom! That one tiny relatable fact, the Lord got his foot in the door in Jacks life and Jack got saved, thus this podcast show exists today.
There are cosplayers and listeners out there whom I have met who will listen to the show mainly because I am a voice cast member. They will want to hear me in the show simply because they know me, and by that tiny relatable fact that is the Lords way of getting His foot in the door of THEIR lives.....and the devil knows this. SO of course he’s going to send me opposition to stop me from being creative and going to conventions to talk to these people. I do talk about my faith quite often and will talk about my podcast because my focus to these people is not just comics, but by finding a way of getting the Lord to them. Yes my name was changed to JustSimplyEmy but that was changed to be simple, interesting and draw people in to get to know me and discover the person I am.
I serve God and I want others to know Him in the way that I know Him. Cosplaying is my way of doing it. I am relating to the world and showing them that yes Christians can be easy to talk to, we ARE nice and we are relatable. Their conversion may not happen overnight, it may take time but I have full confidence that through my cosplaying I will reach the lost. That is my mission and the Lord knows I can do it, that’s why He sent me to the convention scene. The Lord knows I can reach these people in a way that others cannot. We all evangelize and surprise, this is how I do it Its different, its unusual but since when is God normal? Does He not work in mysterious ways? He is creative and will find ways to bring the gospel to others in a way humans may not thought possible.
So that’s as much as I can think to write about to explain Christianity and cosplay. Still confused? Still offended? Talk to God, He'll listen
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