In reply to my recent blog” Coca-Cola Evangelism, I received this reply: “I am not very sure about using evangelization for advertisement because to me the former pertains to preaching the gospel (the death, burial and resurrection of God in the person of my Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ). No comparison Walt!”
Now I don’t wish to be pedantic here, nor to get hung up on semantics but while my friend may be right from a Christian perspective, his understanding is based on the content of the message of Christian evangelising, and not on the act of proclamation, which is technically what evangelism is. Not the message itself, but the act of proclaiming that (or any other) message
Another thing I could add here, is that while Christians may have qualms about using religious terms (which themselves originated out of non-religious terminology) in a secular environment, secular people don't have the same qualms about using religious terms in their secular world, thus often words accepted as normal Christian words, words like, evangelism and Bible, are often used by secular people to describe their non-biblical activities. Thus, I at least, feel my other friend’s use of Evangelism in his opening statement, instead of using " Spreading the word" (which also has strong Religious implications) or “advertising”, was appropriate when trying to reach a wide audience of both Christian and non-Christian alike. Which is the aim of these blogs, as well as to encourage all to think more carefully about spiritual things and eventually Christ.
Also, Jesus often did the same thing when on earth, where in his parables and public proclamations, he used the language that people were familiar with and told stories that they could relate to and understand, to convey his spiritual message.
Anyway, don't know if this has cleared things up a little or just muddied the water further. Either way, please feel free to discuss this further if you feel you have something to add: Walter
Showing posts with label Evangelism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Evangelism. Show all posts
Monday, May 16, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Coca-Cola Evangelism.
Coca-Cola Evangelism. 11/5/2011
Just as an aside here, I appreciate and welcome any and all comments on my Blogs. I may not respond or reply to all of them, but I do promise to take the serious ones seriously, and to at least ponder on what you say.
It is with that thought in mind that I post the following reply to my recent: "Good old Coca-Cola,” Blog. It is from an American friend currently living in South Africa and he wrote:
“It is interesting to me how successfully Coca-Cola has evangelized the world. Wherever you go in the world you will find Coke. People everywhere like it and want it. One day when we drove from our house to our church our kids identified over twenty Coke ads on the way (billboards, shops, taxis) etc. Yet Coke is just sugar and water and a few ingredients—nothing that ultimately satisfies and meets real needs.”
He is right you know! Haven’t been to the States, but we have lived for a time in South Africa, and in recent years, briefly cruised through parts of the South Pacific and parts of Europe, and Coke is available everywhere there too.
Mind you, the Christian Church has not done a bad job of evangelism either, and in all the above places that I mentioned I have visited, we have seen many churches there too. On one South pacific Island, some people from our boat went to the left and others to the right. Later , on meeting up in a McDonalds (!) one, who went to the right, asked of one who went to the left, what was there, only to be told, “Dozens of stray dogs and dozens of Churches!” Something we found, from our own observations of going to the right, was also true there too.
So yes the Christian Church, like the Coca-Cola Company, has done a good job of evangelism in the past, but? But, just like when you can go into some establishments that sell Coke, you can get Coke that is already previously watered down, or else have your cup half filled with ice, reducing the amount of Real coke that one gets, whilst thinking that we are getting the full deal, the same is true for some churches and even church Denominations too.
Don’t wish to get into an argument about that here but simply wish to point out that Christ is more substantial than Coke, but sadly many churches and self-called Christians, have in fact, not only watered Christ down, but have so done so much so, that many outside observers have never, ever experienced the real thing. Which is a terrible thing indeed!
But that is them! What about our own personal evangelism here? (And here I am talking specifically to Christians.) Yes in our own presentations of Christ to those around us, are we producing the Real Thing or just a watered down version of the original? Again, something to think on seriously! What say you?
Just as an aside here, I appreciate and welcome any and all comments on my Blogs. I may not respond or reply to all of them, but I do promise to take the serious ones seriously, and to at least ponder on what you say.
It is with that thought in mind that I post the following reply to my recent: "Good old Coca-Cola,” Blog. It is from an American friend currently living in South Africa and he wrote:
“It is interesting to me how successfully Coca-Cola has evangelized the world. Wherever you go in the world you will find Coke. People everywhere like it and want it. One day when we drove from our house to our church our kids identified over twenty Coke ads on the way (billboards, shops, taxis) etc. Yet Coke is just sugar and water and a few ingredients—nothing that ultimately satisfies and meets real needs.”
He is right you know! Haven’t been to the States, but we have lived for a time in South Africa, and in recent years, briefly cruised through parts of the South Pacific and parts of Europe, and Coke is available everywhere there too.
Mind you, the Christian Church has not done a bad job of evangelism either, and in all the above places that I mentioned I have visited, we have seen many churches there too. On one South pacific Island, some people from our boat went to the left and others to the right. Later , on meeting up in a McDonalds (!) one, who went to the right, asked of one who went to the left, what was there, only to be told, “Dozens of stray dogs and dozens of Churches!” Something we found, from our own observations of going to the right, was also true there too.
So yes the Christian Church, like the Coca-Cola Company, has done a good job of evangelism in the past, but? But, just like when you can go into some establishments that sell Coke, you can get Coke that is already previously watered down, or else have your cup half filled with ice, reducing the amount of Real coke that one gets, whilst thinking that we are getting the full deal, the same is true for some churches and even church Denominations too.
Don’t wish to get into an argument about that here but simply wish to point out that Christ is more substantial than Coke, but sadly many churches and self-called Christians, have in fact, not only watered Christ down, but have so done so much so, that many outside observers have never, ever experienced the real thing. Which is a terrible thing indeed!
But that is them! What about our own personal evangelism here? (And here I am talking specifically to Christians.) Yes in our own presentations of Christ to those around us, are we producing the Real Thing or just a watered down version of the original? Again, something to think on seriously! What say you?
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