{"id":128732,"date":"2015-11-11T05:27:49","date_gmt":"2015-11-11T12:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/11\/11\/what-would-jesus-brand.html"},"modified":"2015-11-11T08:14:43","modified_gmt":"2015-11-11T15:14:43","slug":"what-would-jesus-brand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/11\/11\/what-would-jesus-brand.html","title":{"rendered":"What Would Jesus Brand?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Starbucks Paper Cup Kerfuffle is silly not just because the idea that "white, green, and red without any words or symbols in it clearly doesn't mean Christmas, but if there were snowflakes and sleighs it would be fine, but without them it's a slap in the face to all Christians"<\/i> is so ludicrously zany …<\/p>\n

… but because that idea is actually kind of un-Christian.<\/p>\n

At church on Sunday, the Gospel reading was Mark 12:38-44, which reads, in part:<\/p>\n

'Teaching in the temple, Jesus said, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows' houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation."'<\/i><\/p>\n

Jesus has a number of messages in the Gospels, but one that keeps cropping up is disdain, if not condemnation, for outward piety, for wearing the trappings of spiritual fervor, especially while not actually caring for those in need.<\/p>\n

Would Jesus really<\/i> get ticked off at a "Christmas cup" that didn't have secular<\/i> symbols of Christmas on it? Or would He get more ticked off at people who felt smugly religious by walking around with coffee in paper cups that have snow men on them, thereby proving they are good Christians both for doing so and because they've compelled some sort of overt acknowledgement of the celebration birth of Christ?<\/p>\n

I mean, really: did Jesus instruct all of His apostles to celebrate His birthday every year as proof of their devotion and cultural hegemony? Did He condemn those people who didn't do so to be no true followers of His Father? Did He claim that businesses who didn't wish their customers a "Happy Jesus' Birthday" were opposed to Him and should be sent off to the Lake of Fire?<\/p>\n

In fact, who does<\/i> get mentioned as being sent off to the Lake of Fire in the Gospels? (HInt: it has nothing to do with coffee cups.)<\/p>\n

Anyway, get back to me on those Biblical citations. I'll be here waiting, and having a Pumpkin Spice Latte in a red, green, and white (but clearly not, therefore, "Christmassy") cup.<\/p>\n

(No, I actually won't, because Starbucks is ghastly expensive except as an occasional treat. But you get the idea.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/a>\u00a0\n<\/div>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Starbucks Paper Cup Kerfuffle is silly not just because the idea that "white, green, and red without any words or symbols in it clearly doesn't mean Christmas, but if there were snowflakes and sleighs it would be fine, but without them it's a slap in the face to all Christians" is so ludicrously zany … Continue reading “What Would Jesus Brand?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":128733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,722,38,68,378,110,72,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-coffee","category-food-drink","category-holidays","category-intolerance-persecution","category-religious-zanies","category-food-drink-restaurants","category-religion-me"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Cup+of+Christ.jpgimgmax=660.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":29083,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/04\/someone-from-across-the-atlantic-on-the-odd-religious-nature-of-american-politic.html","url_meta":{"origin":128732,"position":0},"title":"Someone from across the Atlantic on the odd religious nature of American politic…","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 4-Aug-12 9:10pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Someone from across the Atlantic on the odd religious nature of American politicsNot that there's a religious nature, but that its pursuits and focus\u00a0seem so out of keeping with what it claims to follow. 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What would the Jesus of the Gospels make of some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":156653,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/22\/what-100-million-ad-campaign-would-jesus-do.html","url_meta":{"origin":128732,"position":1},"title":"What $100 Million Ad Campaign Would Jesus Do?","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 22-Mar-22 12:10pm","format":false,"excerpt":"An effort to attract back unchurched young adults has a good message, but the wrong target","rel":"","context":"In "Church & State"","block_context":{"text":"Church & State","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/church-state"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/4_HG5Q4VTRY.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/4_HG5Q4VTRY.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/4_HG5Q4VTRY.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/4_HG5Q4VTRY.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/4_HG5Q4VTRY.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":27698,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/05\/01\/religion-and-compassion.html","url_meta":{"origin":128732,"position":2},"title":"Religion and compassion","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 1-May-12 10:40pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Saw this article being kicked around a few places online today. The quick read, based on the headline, is that religious people are less compassionate than non-believers, or give\/help less because they are \"less compassionate.\"The story itself, though, is a bit different. When looking at why people helped strangers, non-religious\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41234,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/02\/27\/movie-review-life-of-brian-1979.html","url_meta":{"origin":128732,"position":3},"title":"Movie Review: "Life of Brian" (1979)","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 27-Feb-14 8:03pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Father-daughter movie week continues with the \"Monty Python Makes Fun of Jesus\". \u00a0Except that's not actually what Life of Brian\u00a0is about. More damningly, it's \"Monty Python Makes Fun of the Blindly Religious.\" And \"... the Ideologically Fanatical.\" And \"... the People Who Only Pay Lip Service.\" And, also \"... 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