I wasn't expecting much considering major funding for the ad came from the ultra-right-wing Hobby Lobby founder. You know, the guy who opposes access not just to abortion but to all contraception and went to court for the right to deny it to his employees.
But of all the tone-deaf and offensive crap in the ad, the one that stood out most to me was the "both sides" moral equivalency, specifically treating protesting against racist police brutality as the same thing as refusing to wear masks or otherwise try to avoid harming your vulnerable neighbors. Wyte Evangelicalism has completely lost its ability to think either ethically or empathetically, and this is obvious to Millennials and especially Gen Z.
I really appreciated your comments. It’s one of those times where I fit in much better with folks much younger. The ads feel patronizing. Possibly, most of the reason is I know who is donating and making the ads. The other half is it is playing to culture wars and that bothers me. When all is said and done, if it reaches one person for the kingdom I guess it’s all good. But a billion dollars could relieve a lot of medical debt, student loans, hunger in 3rd world nations and support the people of Ukraine. And thank you Kevin. Very much. Definitely the church has a reputation problem.
"Young people are savvy. They are digital natives who understand the difference between slick marketing and authenticity. Megachurches, mega-events, and mega spending on marketing is seen as money that could have been used funding community programs, advocacy for the oppressed—such as refugees, LGBTQ+ individuals, abortion rights—and the poor."
In other words, if ya wanna solve the image problem, stop acting like Jesus' PR wing, slow-dance partner, and publicist, and just do the s**t above. Problem solved.
The words that you have the courage to share are things that have been coming out my own heart for a couple of decades now, as God has revealed them to me. As a former Chaplain, the revelations of God’s love and Christ’s command to Love Others, meaning ALL others, have caused many of my Pastor “friends” to leave me and call me “back slidden” or deceived. I’m okay with that because at the same time My Heavenly Father has allowed me the opportunity to show the wounded in Christ to know His real love for the first time.
Primarily LGBTQ+ but also many women who have lived in religious homes where pastors have used the doctrine of wives submitting to their husbands as an excuse for the husbands to abuse women, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I have been married to my husband for 32 years and I understand the blessings that come from a God form of “submission” but it is never controlling in any way! It is a true partnership that doctrine has perverted, once again.
So many things that, being outside the institution, I have watched deteriorate over the decades. I have said for years “The Church has lost moral high ground!” This is what you talk about here. The world is doing the things that the Body of Christ was called to do so why should the world, particularly young people, listen to the “Clanging Gongs and Resounding Cymbals” coming from the pulpits and the hearts of “Christians”?
My children are 23 and 25 and grew up outside the church but in a Christ Following home. I used to feel like I was doing it wrong but I was being obedient to what my Father was commanding me to do. Now both of my children love Jesus and Love OTHERS! I asked my daughter if she felt like I had missed the mark by not having them in Church and this is what she said,
“Mom, if I had been in the churches around here, I would have seen the hypocrisy and run as fast and as far as I could have away from those people I know now!” She thanked me for teaching the truth about Jesus and for living a life filled with His love. She also grieves for her generation because they’re so polarized and even bringing up Jesus to her peers provokes such anger and hatred. She loves them anyway and keeps just showing it!
I’ve taught her to preach with her actions, not her words. There have been numerous times when her friends have been hurting and they’ve turned to our home for ministry because they can’t go to a Church.
People have been asking me for years to begin writing my own story, and the revelations that God has shown me, and I know that it will put a target on my back. Thank you for being courageous in the face of religion! Religion, or the Spirit of Religion, is what killed Jesus in the first place and it will be what brings down Christianity, without a revival in the hearts of His people.
I’ve enjoyed reading your heart in your writings. I’m in NE Florida so maybe I’ll get down your way one of these day to visit your church.
I think what the He gets us campaign is trying to do is convey to the masses that Jesus relates to them and knows them in every way but sin. He knows what it is like to be a refugee, to be rejected, to be alone even. The ad is way to heal some of the hypocrisy you talked about that people have experienced in the church. We are not of the world but we sure are in it and need to be on the front lines meeting people where they are at. Also I'm having a hard time reconciling your words of being real Christians who fight for people while at the same time suggesting we should support things like abortion or same-sex marriage. These issues are complex and we need to love people in difficult situations. But real love does not compromise. Real love is commitment, willing the true good of the other even if it hurts to say or live out. Loving someone is not compromising what the Gospel actually teaches
I wasn't expecting much considering major funding for the ad came from the ultra-right-wing Hobby Lobby founder. You know, the guy who opposes access not just to abortion but to all contraception and went to court for the right to deny it to his employees.
But of all the tone-deaf and offensive crap in the ad, the one that stood out most to me was the "both sides" moral equivalency, specifically treating protesting against racist police brutality as the same thing as refusing to wear masks or otherwise try to avoid harming your vulnerable neighbors. Wyte Evangelicalism has completely lost its ability to think either ethically or empathetically, and this is obvious to Millennials and especially Gen Z.
I really appreciated your comments. It’s one of those times where I fit in much better with folks much younger. The ads feel patronizing. Possibly, most of the reason is I know who is donating and making the ads. The other half is it is playing to culture wars and that bothers me. When all is said and done, if it reaches one person for the kingdom I guess it’s all good. But a billion dollars could relieve a lot of medical debt, student loans, hunger in 3rd world nations and support the people of Ukraine. And thank you Kevin. Very much. Definitely the church has a reputation problem.
Would rather see that money build housing for the homeless, feed the poor…actually help humankind ❤️
"Young people are savvy. They are digital natives who understand the difference between slick marketing and authenticity. Megachurches, mega-events, and mega spending on marketing is seen as money that could have been used funding community programs, advocacy for the oppressed—such as refugees, LGBTQ+ individuals, abortion rights—and the poor."
In other words, if ya wanna solve the image problem, stop acting like Jesus' PR wing, slow-dance partner, and publicist, and just do the s**t above. Problem solved.
The words that you have the courage to share are things that have been coming out my own heart for a couple of decades now, as God has revealed them to me. As a former Chaplain, the revelations of God’s love and Christ’s command to Love Others, meaning ALL others, have caused many of my Pastor “friends” to leave me and call me “back slidden” or deceived. I’m okay with that because at the same time My Heavenly Father has allowed me the opportunity to show the wounded in Christ to know His real love for the first time.
Primarily LGBTQ+ but also many women who have lived in religious homes where pastors have used the doctrine of wives submitting to their husbands as an excuse for the husbands to abuse women, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I have been married to my husband for 32 years and I understand the blessings that come from a God form of “submission” but it is never controlling in any way! It is a true partnership that doctrine has perverted, once again.
So many things that, being outside the institution, I have watched deteriorate over the decades. I have said for years “The Church has lost moral high ground!” This is what you talk about here. The world is doing the things that the Body of Christ was called to do so why should the world, particularly young people, listen to the “Clanging Gongs and Resounding Cymbals” coming from the pulpits and the hearts of “Christians”?
My children are 23 and 25 and grew up outside the church but in a Christ Following home. I used to feel like I was doing it wrong but I was being obedient to what my Father was commanding me to do. Now both of my children love Jesus and Love OTHERS! I asked my daughter if she felt like I had missed the mark by not having them in Church and this is what she said,
“Mom, if I had been in the churches around here, I would have seen the hypocrisy and run as fast and as far as I could have away from those people I know now!” She thanked me for teaching the truth about Jesus and for living a life filled with His love. She also grieves for her generation because they’re so polarized and even bringing up Jesus to her peers provokes such anger and hatred. She loves them anyway and keeps just showing it!
I’ve taught her to preach with her actions, not her words. There have been numerous times when her friends have been hurting and they’ve turned to our home for ministry because they can’t go to a Church.
People have been asking me for years to begin writing my own story, and the revelations that God has shown me, and I know that it will put a target on my back. Thank you for being courageous in the face of religion! Religion, or the Spirit of Religion, is what killed Jesus in the first place and it will be what brings down Christianity, without a revival in the hearts of His people.
I’ve enjoyed reading your heart in your writings. I’m in NE Florida so maybe I’ll get down your way one of these day to visit your church.
I think what the He gets us campaign is trying to do is convey to the masses that Jesus relates to them and knows them in every way but sin. He knows what it is like to be a refugee, to be rejected, to be alone even. The ad is way to heal some of the hypocrisy you talked about that people have experienced in the church. We are not of the world but we sure are in it and need to be on the front lines meeting people where they are at. Also I'm having a hard time reconciling your words of being real Christians who fight for people while at the same time suggesting we should support things like abortion or same-sex marriage. These issues are complex and we need to love people in difficult situations. But real love does not compromise. Real love is commitment, willing the true good of the other even if it hurts to say or live out. Loving someone is not compromising what the Gospel actually teaches