Monday, February 14, 2011

"TA" and the Church

So I am over on Facebook, and an ad pops up on the side - there's a thumbnail of a picture that is black with lots of grey writing that is too small to read on the thumbnail, around 40% of the picture is taken up by a striking pale gal with short, hip red hair.

And the ad top reads: "Grow Your Church with TA!"

TA there apparently means "Truth Advertising"

...

I don't know, if you are going to show a picture of a "hot" girl, I'm not thinking "TA" is supposed to refer to Truth Advertising.

Now, I could go off onto a standard (for me) rant about how the Word of God grows the Church, not our slick presentation of it. Or about the hyper-sexaulization of America.

No, instead, let's rant a bit about advertising itself. Think about it - we are bombarded with hundreds, thousands of adverts every day. And what is the main goal of any ad? To make you... want. To make you desire.

That chili's ad? It's meant to make you want food. Anyone on a diet can tell you that.

That ad with the sexy model - well, it's trying to tie your lust into their product... ah, so if I buy a Budwieser or a Lexus, I'll get the hottie.

That ad for the new toy - well, now your kid can't live without it and will be a screaming, horrible demon child until it's passions are fulfilled.

Now yes, I know, some ads can simply inform. We've got as a circuit radio ads going... they are nice and shocking... they talk about how we are all sinners. (Shocking ads can work too). But to be honest -- most advertising isn't about informing, it's about shaping and driving and manipulating sinful desire.

Is that what the Church is about? Well, we don't really want to shape desire - we want to beat it down. We want to learn to repent of it, learn to not be ruled by our passions, learn to see more and more Christ Jesus our Lord and His forgiveness.

Is your slick presentation, is your worldly approach doing that -- or are you giving a little TA with a bit of Jesus tossed in there?

In the world, not of the world people. And it's stuff like this that Jesus is referring to here.

1 comment:

Mike Baker said...

Maybe I'm too cynical, but I think that "truth in advertising" is, in itself, an oxymoron. :P

I don't remember Jesus saying, "Therefore, go into all the world and sell the gospel, marketing to them, and teaching them everything that is a felt need."