Is skull and crossbones on the leather clad backs of some christian motorcycle riders... christian?

Please bear with me on this. I am a complete outsider to the motorcycle world.
When I look at the history of how riding clubs formed, it seems to have changed over time. The original riding clubs I thought were for the sheer fun of riding a bike.

But the change seemed to occur in that riding became synonymous with "free rider" mentality. Media attention in the early days, a big movie on the subject, and now riding clubs use a descriptive word such as "freedom".

So when I see these "freedom" riders clad in leather with dark imagery and embroidery underneath that says some christian group, I lack the comprehension to understand the premise. Are they in the duds for protection - if so why dark imagery?
Is if for the sheer fun of riding, or is there more to the story?
Revving the engines late at night while everyone is asleep is ok because they are riders for jesus?
Standing beside their bikes in front of dives and laughing at you if you even look a little afraid of them because they are dressed like unsavory people?

I'm not saying all do this, but where I am at there are many motorcycle enthusiasts who all have christian group affiliation names but then in no way in any other facet of their life do they actually hold christian beliefs.

So the large question is this.... why would a proclaimed super christian take on the "free rider" mentality and dress bad to the bone? Or are these riders not "free riders" and are entirely something else?

a reply to: SachaX

I can't understand how some motorcycle gangs, the mafia, street gang members and other criminal elements in society can where a necklace with a cross or have a Christian tattoo.

They've chosen to lead a life of drug and alcohol abuse, dealing drugs, killings, gang fights and stealing. Why would they wear a Christian symbol that represents the complete opposite of the kind of life they're leading? Doesn't make sense to me.

What is their name?

Are you sure it's not taking the piss out of god or religion??

Maybe they just get a giggle out of annoying you.. Oo idk.

dont sound like charity bikers anyway..

Hhhmmm.. It's almost like, being a christian doesn't make you a good person. And being in a motorcycle club with dark imagery on your vest, doesn't make you a bad person. You might want to rethink everything.

a reply to: SachaX

a reply to: SachaX

On an episode of King of The Hill, an old cartoon show in the USA, the son was following Jesus in an unorthodox way. Bobby, the son, and Hank, the father started arguing. At one point...

Bobby: Jesus had long hair!

Hank: That's because I wasn't his father!

Okay I'm not a motorcycle enthusiast but I may be able to answer a question or two. Yes the leather chaps and jacket are worn by bikers to literally keep there body together in a crash. Vests? Just to look cool I'm guessing.

When you ask if skull and crossbones can be associated with Christians. I would say yes.
The skull and Crossbones design that we all know and associate with pirates was actually the Navel Flag of the Knights Templar.

A useless bit of knowledge I learned long ago and thought I'd never use.

a reply to: SachaX
Perspective. We all have skulls and bones, we all die, those are creations of God.... if it is dark, it is because of your perspective. A man sitting at a park watching kids play.... is that evil? Perversion? Or just someone enjoying watching children play? Perception and perspective. People fear death, people fear graveyards, people fear skeletons.. people may fear being crucified... should they fear crucifixes worn around a neck? Its symbolism. Swastika... one direction its a Nazi symbol, the other direction its an ancient symbol of India and Native Americans.

a reply to: SachaX

I am a metalhead. I am also a Christian.

You need to understand that there is no look to Christianity. We are all over the place, and some places you would not expect to find us either. I cannot speak to the biker mentality, because I have never wanted a motorbike, since I value things like my kneecaps, and having a face which has not been ground into a pavement at faster than walking pace. But what I can tell you is that I am most often misjudged by other Christians, who are not Christian in spirit, but in indoctrination.

The truth is, that Christians do not all look alike, think alike, or enjoy like music. We are not all to be found in Church on a Sunday, because apart from anything else, many Christians, myself included, find congregational, organised worship to be anathema to the true expression of the faith, as it places more emphasis on hierarchy here on Earth, than it does the hierarchy in Heaven.

I dress how I feel comfortable. For me that means all in black, with images of skulls and big axes and so on. It does not mean that I am a violent and evil man, it just means I have a good eye for graphic design. I also like spiky leather wrist cuffs. That does not mean I am a wrongun.

What it does mean, is that thankfully, I rarely get bothered by shallow people, who believe that what a person looks like, is anything like as important, or has anything to do with what they are actually like.

a reply to: TrueBrit

Thanks TrueBrit
This answer was very helpful. I'm not a metal head either and have always wandered the same thing. So the comparative makes sense.

a reply to: SachaX


I am always prepared to provide any information I have that might be useful. I consider it my duty toward my fellow members! No thanks are necessary therefore!

I think people tend to get bogged down with the expectations of others, placed in the mind by the media. Where Christianity is concerned, many people assume that Christians are all cardigan swaddled, corduroy trousered, socks in sandals types with a stick up their behinds, because that is the impression often given by television and film, particularly satirical entertainment, which tends to play off generalisations in order to illuminate certain truths, despite the shallow nature of the characters portraying those truths to camera. It is an effective way to achieve this, because by simplifying individuals and sublimating them into the background of the demographics they occupy, it is easier to tell stories about them that people can engage with, without making undue mental effort in so doing.

However, the reality of the matter is never as simple!

Put another way, I know from my experience of other human beings, that those who profess to the polytheism of old, are not all hippy dippy, daisy chain advocates who fart peace and love and munch wheat grass and shout at meat eaters, and in the same way, not all Christians dress and act as if they have not got a personality of their own

When dealing with matters like this, I refer to the words of John Green, an author and YouTuber, whose statements on like matters are as profound as they are succinct. He once stated that the vast majority of perception problems like xenophobia, start when "We refuse to imagine others complexly.".

I believe he is right, and I have made it my mission in life to imagine others as complexly as possible, to minimise on any unintentional prejudices which could develop in the absence of such an effort. When you can actually form a picture of a person that has more to do with them, than with the demographic they fit into, you realise that no matter where a person is from, what they believe, they are individuals first, and everything else they might be a very distant second.

That is something I have found very reassuring during my time on this world