Catchy jingle or mockery of our faith? – The use of Christian hymns in advertising
It seems as if the only groups that are politically correct to mock and belittle are men and Christians, especially Christians. We are portrayed as hypocritical, uneducated, superstitious, bigoted, etc, etc, etc. Now we are partially to blame for this for our failure to live like Christ, and fact that anyone who calls themselves a Christian is automatically considered to be one regardless as to whether they actually are or not. But I have an issue that disturbs me more deeply, and that is the commandeering of our sacred hymns to hawk the wares of the world or for the low brow entertainment. Say what you will about us, but do not make a mockery of that with which we magnify the Lord God Almighty. Lest you think I am just being over sensitive, consider how the Muslim world would react if their sacred literature or hymns were used in such a way. For instance the classic hymn Carol of the Bells also known as Ring Christmas Bells an alternate set of lyrics include the words:
“Ring Christmas bells, merrily ring, tell all the world Jesus is King. Loudly proclaim with one accord the happy tale, Welcome the Lord.”
While these constitute a later addition to the hymn, there can be no doubt as to the purpose of the song, to give glory to the birth of Jesus our God and King. Furthermore, the original Ukrainian song is based on an old Slavic legend that every bell in the world rang in honor of Jesus on the night of his birth. But this great hymn written for the glory of our Lord has been used to sell Burger King’s French fries and more recently Garman GPS units. The Garman use varies the lyrics from year to year but one of this years uses includes the following lyrics: “Fat man on bike shorts way too tight” and concerning a Viking, “find the village he will pillage”.
Or how about the Hallelujah Chorus, part of Handel’s Messiah, in many parts of the world it is traditional for the audience to stand during it’s performance. According to legend King George II was so moved by the music that he stood to his feet when he heard it, requiring that his subjects follow suit, sparking the tradition. While there is some doubt over the truth of this story there can be no doubt that thousands of Christians around the whole world stand to give honor to the King of kings when this great chorus is performed. Yet it has been used to sell everything from airline tickets to hemorrhoid cream.
But the Holy Scriptures are not immune from this form of sacrilege either. The WWF’s (now the WWE) “Stone Cold” Steve Austin loved to use John 3:16 as part of his marketing, and persona. Supposedly his use of it began as a retort against Jake “The Snake” Roberts who liked to quote John 3:16 to his fellow wrestlers, in what I assume was an attempt to witness to them. But Steve Austin transformed it into Austin 3:16 and emblazoned it upon hats and t-shirts. His version was “Austin 3:16 says, I just kicked your…” (expletive removed). Despite this many “Christians” went to WWF events, cheered for “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and purchased his “Austin 3:16” clothing all while reciting his credo.
These are but a few examples of the mockery that is made of us, our faith, and more importantly our God. Yet we are more concerned when someone changes the words to our Alma mater’s fight song, or when our school mascot is belittled by a rival team to boost their team spirit in an attempt to win the game or simply to poke fun at us. How much more so should we be angered when someone does the same to that which was intended to bring glory to our God? Has the lost world used the great hymns and scripture passages of our faith to hawk their products because we are pacifists who will make no noise about it, or because we have become passive in our zealously of God? Maybe the lost world does not take our faith and its emblems seriously because we no longer do. Think for a moment, have you seen an add using a Jewish hymn? Likely not any company which did so would be considered anti-Semitic. Nor would any company use an Islamic hymn. You can be sure that they would likely receive death threats and face jihad by Islamic extremists. Yet we sit by and do nothing. No, I am not suggesting we make death threats or call for jihad, such things are contrary to the teaching of Christ, but we can still voice our contempt and refuse to support such companies with our money. It does not matter whether or not boycotts work, we should simply do so for the principle of the matter. Why would we want to support any company which mocks our God? But again it is not entirely their fault, for when we live as if our faith does matter, why should they act as if it does? It is time for us to regain a faith worth living, and proclaim loud and clear to a lost and dying world that our God will not be mocked, beseeching them to repent and call upon the name of the Lord while there is still time.
