Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Where Would Jesus Shop?

There has been some hubbub about, if Jesus walked the earth today, what would He wear, who would He hang out with, what would He do, and where would He shop. Well, I don't claim to know, but, I do have some ideas.
One thing that has been suggested is that Jesus would definitely NOT shop at Wal*Mart. Their hiring practices, foreign made goods, slave-labor wages, etc. I can see the point. I have to disagree, however. I don't find anywhere in the scriptures where Jesus made a big deal out of business practices, except when people were getting cheated right in the temple, the House of God. He did tell His followers not to cheat anybody. It seems to me that the main thing Jesus did was talk to people; generally not so much an=bout what they were doing wrong, but about what they could be doing right. If you read about Jesus' ministry, he spent a lot of His time with 'sinners.' The pharisees gave Him a hard time about that, but He told them that the whole need not a physician--that the religious people didn't need Him. There we get into another aspect of Jesus' ministry: His biggest criticism was not of people that were normally considered sinners, but of the religious people who tried to tell Him how to act. The common people didn't seem threatened by Jesus--they got along with Him most of the time. It was the Pharisees, Sudducees, and Scribes (the religious leaders) who wouldn't come near the common people that Jesus railed on. Given that understanding, would Jesus avoid Wal*Mart? Aren't the shoppers at Wal*Mart the kind of people Jesus wanted to reach? Shopping at a given store doesn't necessarily mean that you approve of or condone the habits or business practices of the owner.
Let's expand this a little farther. Let's suppose, just for the sake of argument, that Jesus wouldn't shop at Wal*Mart. What kind of movies would He watch? Would He watch movies that star Scientologists? How about people who can't seem to stay married? Gay actors/actresses? How about people that are just plain weird? Alcoholics or drug users? Let's be honest about it, if you are looking for an excuse not to watch a given movie, you can probably find one (It's rated 'R.' There's some foul language in it. There's sexual content in it. One of the actors is a drug user. One of the characters is gay. It's got that weird guy in it. Oh, it's a 'Christian' movie; the production values aren't very good). Does that pretty cover it? On the other hand, if you don't watch movies at all, how do you relate to people around you that do? Can you explain your behavior without sounding like a Pharisee?
You know what? I watch movies. Some of the movies I watch have Scientologists in them (I think John Travolta is a better actor than Tom Cruise, but I generally find both of their movies to be entertaining). I have watched movies knowing that one (or more) of the actors involved lived a lifestyle that I wouldn't approve of. If you buy an apple at the supermarket, do you investigate to see if the guy who picked the apple was living a good, Christian life? Of course not. But because movie stars are public figures, and we are inundated with details about their private lives, there is a certain amount of, "Oh, I just don't approve of that..." You know, if you object to foul language in a movie, that's one thing. If you don't want your kids watching movies that glorify witchcraft, I can understand that (but let's not forget that Harry Potter has weened a lot of kids off of video games, and we need more of that kind of 'magic'). But to refuse to watch a movie because you don't approve of somebody's lifestyle (or religion); all I can say is, get a life.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Have you read the Harry Potter books? Some of my adult friends are just as avid Harry Potter fans as the kids are. Did you know that Brian Camley has read all the H.P. books in both English and German?
What ever became of the WWJD bracelets?
Keep up the blogging!