Friday, October 31, 2008
Apparently, I am in a cult...
Tweet
The Cult of Mac according to Skye Jethani - I think he's only half-kidding, but he certainly raises some good points about consumerism and Christianity. His final question is this:
[A]re we unknowingly contributing to the problem by encouraging Christians to construct and express their identities via Christ-branded merchandise rather than through characters transformed to reflect the values of Christ himself?
I would answer in the affirmative, and add that the problem runs even deeper, to the level of identity via church affiliation, similar to merchandise/brand affiliation. The first question amongst Christian acquaintances is, "What church do you go to?" This is how Christians define themselves - what church have you chosen to be your church? This mentality leads churches into the marketing mentality with phrases like, "A church for people who don't like church." Just like Mac is the "anti-PC," there are "cool" churches that are the "anti-churches."
Unfortunately, for those like Skye and others who see through such BS, we are stuck in a postmodern world of churches marketing to us while we look for a group of Christians that are willing to jettison the entire mentality. But all we are offered is another brochure that says, "Come to our church! We don't market like everyone else. We really love Jesus."
[A]re we unknowingly contributing to the problem by encouraging Christians to construct and express their identities via Christ-branded merchandise rather than through characters transformed to reflect the values of Christ himself?
I would answer in the affirmative, and add that the problem runs even deeper, to the level of identity via church affiliation, similar to merchandise/brand affiliation. The first question amongst Christian acquaintances is, "What church do you go to?" This is how Christians define themselves - what church have you chosen to be your church? This mentality leads churches into the marketing mentality with phrases like, "A church for people who don't like church." Just like Mac is the "anti-PC," there are "cool" churches that are the "anti-churches."
Unfortunately, for those like Skye and others who see through such BS, we are stuck in a postmodern world of churches marketing to us while we look for a group of Christians that are willing to jettison the entire mentality. But all we are offered is another brochure that says, "Come to our church! We don't market like everyone else. We really love Jesus."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Bam. This is dead-on. Perhaps we could devise a different "first question". I'm not sure what it should be, exactly, but I imagine it should be as uncomfortable as the "What church...?" question is automatic.
We like to label people, categorize them, and I understand that (I am so often guilty of putting too high a priority on such labeling), but a side effect of labeling out of laziness is greater distance between ourselves and difficult truths. Certainly useful on one level, labeling & branding can become a mechanism for avoidance. If I label you, I don't have to try to really understand you. Not cool.
As a community, Christians should care more about each other than our superficial labeling & branding imply we do, and asking each other deeper questions (assuming deeper, honest discussion follows) wouldn't be a bad place to start.
Post a Comment