“Jesus is like actually God” – Outreach Media

Posted by Martin S Pribble on February 4, 2012 in Featured, Thoughts | 5 comments

February’s poster from Outreach Media is an extension on their quest to convert and appeal to as many young people as possible, by using language, imagery and celebrities that are familiar in pop culture as references for their quest. This month’s poster reads “Jesus is like actually God”, a statement that seems to come directly from the 80′s movie Valley Girl.

So, like, actually, let’s, like, study this poster, OK, LOL?

The tactic they are using here is again one claiming that the relationships people have in life are not real, when compared to a relationship with Jesus. But this one talks more about the cult of personality, that famous people aren’t real relationships, and we shouldn’t worship celebrities, as the relationships are false. The only way to have a true relationship is through Jesus.

The article goes on to tell us that none of us are perfect, that the people that we idolise like Jobs and Sonny Bill are flawed, and some of us in worse ways than others, and that Jesus is the only perfect person.

Jesus was a carpenter, and apparently a world builder too?

The tactic here is used over and over again, belittling humanity in the vain struggle to place the apparent divinity of God above all else. I take issue with this claim, because the whole premise of religion is setting up the unobtainable as humanity’s aim, then telling us that it is impossible to reach, but that they have the answer. We are told to be like Jesus, then we are told we can never be like Jesus. This is similar to the way the aggressors in an abusive relationship would act against their victims. There is no better way to control people than to convince them they are worthless, or that everything they do is sub-standard. Once you have beaten any sense of self worth out of them, then they are under your powers.

The language in this passage, “ransom” being the operative, is akin to a hostage situation. It’s like an admission, that God is holding us up for ransom, against himself, using the death of his own son as payment for the sins God bestowed upon us in the first place. Makes perfect, circularly logical, sense. Without treading the well-worn path of the bible’s claims making no sense, doesn’t this all sound a little passive aggressive to you?