{"id":7324,"date":"2014-03-17T21:31:28","date_gmt":"2014-03-17T21:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/karenspearszacharias\/?p=7324"},"modified":"2014-03-17T21:44:29","modified_gmt":"2014-03-17T21:44:29","slug":"making-jesus-famous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/karenspearszacharias\/2014\/03\/17\/making-jesus-famous\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Jesus Famous"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>


\n<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There is a new phraseology making the rounds in Evangelical circles. I\u2019ve heard it said several times as of late.<\/p>\n

It is meant to be a form of encouragement, I suppose, although, to be honest I\u2019m never sure why these oddities pop up the way they do. If I had to guess, I\u2019d say that the phrase is a derivative of people raised up under the celebrity culture of Reality TV and big church personalities.<\/p>\n

I heard it again just the other day in a group prayer situation: \u201cWe just want to make you famous Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a certain quarterback from a much-loved university in the South that told a news anchor his whole mission in life is to \u201cmake Jesus famous.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be clear, I\u2019m not questioning the devotion to God of anyone who makes such a statement, although, I am completely baffled by their remarks.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m pretty sure Jesus doesn\u2019t need the help of a quarterback or a worship leader to make him famous.<\/p>\n

More importantly, I\u2019m pretty sure Jesus never had fame as a goal.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think Jesus cares two whits about fame. If he cared about fame, he might have behaved better, treated people more gently, instead of going off half-cocked at the Temple and the Pharisees the way he did.<\/p>\n

Branding was never part of God\u2019s plan. In fact, in Jesus\u2019s day, branding had a whole different contextual meaning, usually involving hot coals and a burning poker.<\/p>\n

Brentwood Evangelicals have changed all that. Nowadays it\u2019s not uncommon for churches to spend more time, money and effort on developing a Social Media plan than it is to talk about the plan of salvation. Salvation, like sin, it seems, has lost favor with God\u2019s people.<\/p>\n

It turns out that among a certain demographic (read younger) God\u2019s people are as hellbent on seeking the limelight as Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus.<\/p>\n

Christians are now praying for ways to make Jesus famous.<\/p>\n

My people used to have a different saying which seems approp here: \u00a0Gag-a-maggot-off-a-gut-wagon<\/em>. I\u2019m not sure exactly what that means, either, but I would rather gag-a-maggot than to work as Jesus\u2019s PR agent, booking him on the Today Show<\/em>\u00a0and Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel<\/em>.\u00a0I don\u2019t think Jesus would be a very good guest. He would be a cross between Bruce Dern and Bill Murrey, alternately surly and somewhat abstract.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I was distressed to learn that Jen Hatmaker<\/a> (of all people) has joined forces in an effort to make Jesus famous. Hatmaker, a pastor\u2019s wife and mother to five, is going to be bringing her own special \u201cbrand\u201d of Christianity to the ever popular HGTV.<\/p>\n

According to Christianity Today<\/a>, Hatmaker said: \u201cWe told HGTV, \u2018Listen, we are super-Christian, you guys. This is not gray. We\u2019re all the way. Brandon\u2019s a pastor, I\u2019m a Christian author and speaker\u2014this is who we are,\u2019 \u201d she said. \u201cThey said, \u2018Yes. All of it.\u2019 That\u2019s how they\u2019re portraying us on the show, which is lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Have Evangelicals learned nothing from Jon & Kate Plus Eight? \u00a0<\/em>What about Duck Dynasty<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Jen, I adore you, but really?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Reality TV by its very nature is a deception.<\/p>\n

Reality TV isn\u2019t real. There are story-lines and editing and narrative arcs to every show. There has to be or you wouldn\u2019t watch it.\u00a0<\/span>There are contrived relationships, contrived dramas, contrived experiences, all recorded for the public\u2019s <\/span>voyeuristic\u00a0and disturbing pleasure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I am so saddened by this.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I am an author. I understand that there is a marked difference between my public persona and the intimacy I share with my family. Inviting a television crew into one\u2019s home muddles that line.<\/p>\n

There is no s<\/span>uch thing as reality TV. \u00a0It\u2019s a misnomer. It\u2019s a lie.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nor is there such a thing as a Super-Christian. Shiny people aren\u2019t really glossy in person. They are broken. Shattered, inside and out.<\/p>\n

And seriously, people, do we need to keep putting our underage children on the sacrificial altar of television in the name of making Jesus famous?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a new phraseology making the rounds in Evangelical circles. I\u2019ve heard it said several times as of late. It is meant to be a form of encouragement, I suppose, although, to be honest I\u2019m never sure why these oddities pop up the way they do. If I had to guess, I\u2019d say that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5557,5555,552,5556,2347,5552,864,5554,5553],"class_list":["post-7324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-branding","tag-duck-dynasty","tag-fame","tag-famous","tag-hgtv","tag-jen-hatmaker","tag-jesus","tag-jon-kate-plus-eight","tag-super-christian"],"yoast_head":"\nMaking Jesus Famous<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There is a new phraseology making the rounds in Evangelical circles. 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