Jesus being sold like a commercial product

 

Does Jesus need advertising like a commodity?

In many towns across America people post Jesus signs in their yards at
the direction of a local minister.  Some evangelists seem to believe Jesus should be sold like a commercial, while some Christians wonder if it is necessary to "sell" Jesus like a commercial product. 


It isn't just unbelievers this leaves wondering, the selling and commercialization of Jesus,  but believers as well as there are people within the Christian community raising the question and the concern.

Matthews Paul Turner some years ago wondered about the commercial aspect of Jesus, as he asked the question and wondered about the impact of selling Jesus and whether or not Jesus really needs the militant, almost door-to-door salesmanship that is ordinarily used for commodities.

Some of those in the public relations campaign maintain Jesus needs name recognition.  So that's why
folks put Jesus on signs.  It also helps to identify the people at the home or church they live under the banner of Jesus.

People wear crosses around their necks, sometimes young people as pieces of jewelry.  Some wear crosses for earrings or use Jesus words on slogans worn on t-shirts.  Jesus is on bumper stickers and all sorts of paraphernalia.

One website chronicled the various ways Jesus is displayed, from billboards on the highway, to cryptic notes on doorways, balloons and even chopsticks.

They use the name of God to protest laws on homosexuality in the United States and some of the more extreme groups, like Westboro Baptist Church, would show up at funerals of fallen soldiers and heckle families and those memorializing the dead. 

What's in back of this push, this commercialization of Jesus?

Is Jesus so unusual most people don't know the name in America?

Is identifying a home or church with a big sign important to identify the people inside follow the message of Jesus better than others?

Religion sources wonder about these issues and question if Jesus needs hype and sold like merchandise or a political candidate when sometimes it's difficult to tell the difference from the signs that are stuck in the yards.

Signs of the times in some places are these banners about Jesus.  That's why religious sources are wondering now about commercializing the name of Jesus or using the name for a political purpose.

It is especially true during elections or when one wants to advertise a cause, with a sign with Jesus name on one window and a flag hanging out of the other, as if no one would wonder if they were demonstrated as of equal worth and if there were that many people who needed to know the fact someone is an American and Christian that the symbols need to be prominently displayed.

(Updated from issues raised in 2010)