An Unchristian Christian August 20, 2009
Posted by Matt in Christian Beliefs.Tags: Christian marketing, Jesus, Mammon, money, poor theology
5 comments
Does anyone else find themselves perturbed when companies or products advertise themselves as Christian?
Maybe I’ve developed some sort of deep-seated prejudice against such organizations, but I always find myself turning my nose up at any sort of business entity that plasters itself with Jesus. I despise contemporary Christian music and their abysmally bad radio station that plays here. I steer clear of any sort of movie or television show that markets itself to a Christian audience, for I’ve always found that the only thing poorer than their theology is their artistic value. I don’t shop at businesses that trumpet their Christianity or bookstores that specialize in their badly written fiction and terribly dumbed-down theological concepts. I don’t wear Jesus t-shirts or cover my car in fish and poorly thought out bumper stickers. I have no use for any of it.
I guess I’m just very cynical about the whole Christian industrial complex, about using Jesus as a marketing tool in order to sell stuff.
So, I’ll just be an unChristian sort of Christian.
Money, It’s a Gas March 3, 2008
Posted by Matt in Uncategorized.Tags: corporation, investments, Mammon, money, work
6 comments
Saturday we were invited to and were able to attend an eighth birthday party for the newly adopted son of some friends of ours from church. While the kids were having a great time running wild in the backyard as children are wont to do, the attending men were relegated to the living room where we were able to converse in relative peace. Two of the attendees’ interests and work were weighted heavily to the financial side, so naturally the conversation quickly turned to matters of dollars and cents and investments and other monetary concerns of that nature.
It did not take very much time for me to figure out just how admittedly ignorant I am to all things financial. Heck, we are less than five years removed from unemployment, government cheese, and using credit just to get by. At this point in our lives, we have no savings, no retirement fund, no investments, but we are doing just fine. Of course, that’s not to say we will never have any of these things, but I think after several years of financial difficulties we’ve come to a realization.
Money is not that important.
Sure, you have to pay your bills, you need to put food on the table and clothes on your back and a roof over your head, but, outside of that, it sort of bothers me to even think about it. I’m thankful for the monetary blessings that we have, but many times it feels like they are just another millstone hung about our necks, dragging us down.
Now that I’ve worked for a good sized corporation for a while, their ultimate motivations have become more and more of a concern. I enjoy what I do – at least when it comes to researching and breaking down numbers, but, it seems as though everything in the corporate world revolves around profitability and defeating our competitors – two things that often cause me to wonder whether or not there is room for someone who identifies themselves as Christian. It weighs on my mind a lot and I often ponder over it – if the company I work for serves Mammon, does that mean I do too?
Eventually, when much of our debt is paid off and we can afford for me to take a major pay cut, I think I want to leave the corporate world. Perhaps the nonprofit arena would be a better fit for my worldview. Or maybe my inner muse will spark me to try and write something of longer form – perhaps even something publishable…
Thoughts?
