Saturday, July 31, 2004

How Much Money Can We Make Off Christ's Death - And Does He Want a Cut of the Profits?

Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ just won't go away. For those of you completely out of touch with reality, The Passion is the film that is supposed to save humanity from itself and turn us into anti-Semite. I like to call it the film that made Protestants realize Catholics might in fact be Christians.

Well, the DVD of the film is coming out on August 31, so our store is rolling out the merchandise in eager anticipation. This means the reincarnation of The Passion of the Christ jewelry. My favorite is the Nail Lapel Pin. It's a solid pewter pin fashioned like a nail with the biblical reference Isaiah 53:5 carved into it.

You should really see all these officially licensed products. It's one of the most frightening things I've ever seen. Who comes up with all this? And will a lapel pin really make someone become a Christian? If you ask me, it will just make people more cynical. Heck, I'm cynical about this, and I'm a Christian.

Luckily, many of my coworkers feel the same way. We decided to come up with more appropriate uses of these pins. There's the obvious golf tee. I thought it would be a cool nose ring. It would seem reminiscent of the bones you see in the noses of various National Geographic centerfolds. One person suggested using them to make a studded belt, but that idea seemed a little too labor intensive.

Now, if I could only figure out a better use for my Left Behind trading cards.

3 comments:

Neville said...

the last line of your first paragraph here was so right on the mark, i almost cried. that couldn't be more true---what a sad reflection that is of the protestant-mindset..."what, they're catholic? dang it, now we have to worry about witnessing them and evangelizing to them too!!" i hate this mentality but it's there. oh well.

Timothy said...

Thank you for the blog that you have put together. While doing a search for another topic in google I was directed to a link that pointed to "How Much Money Can We Make Off Christ's Death - And Does He Want a Cut of the Profits?" I really appreciate the passion that you have about this topic.

I'm not sure if everything that you are saying here is one hundred percent accurate. And for that matter I am sure you can find some inaccuracies just as easily in the topics that I write about in my blog as well. I am only making this observation because I am a very judgmental critical person by nature, and as such who better to see the likelihood of this in someone else. Please don't misunderstand me, I only say the likelihood because I could never be certain of this in someone else unless the person I am addressing uses my observations to examine themselves and then they come to that conclusion on their own.

As for me, Jesus is teaching me about the grace of God the leads us to repentance. And a couple of the scriptures that the Lord has brought to my attention over the last few weeks have been Rom 2:1-4 and Rom 14:4. In the context of the entry that you wrote about in your blog I have this to say --> I have not yet looked into the hearts of the people that are involved in the making of The Passion. And as such I do not know which of them are involved in it to "make a buck" and which of them are involved in it to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Though I am prone to agree with you that the "marketting" that you speak of in your entry is nothing that attracts me at all. In either case if Christ is taught then it brings peace to me to think that the good news of what Christ did is being spread. Perhaps a reflection on Philip 1:15-18 may be good here.

I will not deny that the gospel 'is' being spread by many just to make a buck. And more so in many cases a false gospel is being taught. And further more there are, I believe, greater powers that are put into place and being organized in a very subtly twisted fashion. A fashion so subtle and so twisted that those involved in it themselves believe that they are doing good when they are in fact being manipulated in a way hidden to them because of their pride.

Thanks again for this article. I believe it does good to help myself and others to think about things and consider things that they might not otherwise think of or consider.

... Timothy

Unknown said...

If you are offended by the cross, then you'll be judged by the cross. Either live for Christ or be judged because you don't. So will Christians The world just doesn't need "I don't want to offend anyone, I'll be like you so you can feel better about yourlife" Christians. The message of what Jesus did and the fact that they are sinners needs to be preached to them. That they WILL GO TO HELL if they don't have Christ. Stand up for Christ or you will fall down with the world. God Bless.