"NASHVILLE, Tenn (BP)--With tight budgets, overwhelming schedules, frustrating traffic and politically correct retailers replacing "Merry Christmas" with "Happy Holidays," LifeWay Christian Stores is aiming to put the focus of Christ back into Christmas shopping.
--snip--
Mencer encourages shoppers to focus on Christ while shopping this Christmas season, noting that the potential for spiritual impact does not reside within the four walls of a LifeWay Christian Store.
"As in everything, pray before you shop," Mencer suggested. "Ask God for direction on what to buy and for guidance in your shopping."
Speechless.
16 comments:
i would say that christians need to pray about everything they do. we need God's wisdom and guidance and discipline to buy what we can afford. you know, to be wise with our money.
do you know how many go into deep, deep debt during christmas? how many people spend way too much, and then cant pay it all back?
volfan007
Yeah, THAT's the point here. Way to miss it yet again. I guess the only way you read carefully or think at all is if I link you to an abortion clinic bomber. The rest of the time, you choose to respond ignorantly.
streak,
do pray, what was your point then?
volfan007
My point, and, I believe Tony's as well, was how commercialized the faith has become. Not only are Christian stores filled with useless crap, but this article suggests that Christian retailers are telling people that they can express their faith by consuming more--just consuming Christian stuff. The very statement of "putting the focus of Christ back into Christmas shopping" is not a rejection of modern cosumer culture--it is an open embrace. It is saying, yes, spend, spend, spend, but do so buying Christian stuff.
That is kind of a parody of the life of Christ, don't you think?
volfan,
You never cease to amaze me. You exercise a tad of intellectual honesty and there seems to be just a glimmer of hope, then...well, you know.
Did it occur to you that LifeWay may be mismanaging its promotional rhetoric? Or is it because conservative Christians enjoy being willfully ignorant?
One of the reasons Christians go into so much debt is they are so gullible (btw, did you know the word gullible is not in the dictionary?) to believe pathetic marketing strategies like this. Not to mention they just exercise poor stewardship, so I don't want to lay all the blame on LifeWay. So go ahead, spend your money, swipe your cards, cash in the Christmas club, and as long as you pray about it, that makes it perfectly OK. Does that honor Christ?
Streak,
Not only are Christian stores filled with useless crap...
Classic! I could not agree more.
i would say that you are right, streak and tony. it is putting the emphasis on spend more, and buy here.
but, what i was trying to show you was that christians ought to even do their shopping according to the will of God. be generous. be wise. spend according to what you have, etc.
do you see what i am saying?
merry Christmas streak and tony, i hope you get lots of good gifts. lol.
volfan007
ps. thanks for the condescending remarks and insinuations that i am ignorant and stupid. thats real nice. real classy from both of you.
volfan,
With all due respect as a brother in Christ, you draw those kind of remarks purposefully and I am convinced you do it just so people will have sympathy on you...still very passive-aggressive. Do you share Christ in this fashion as well?
If you have a point, make it; otherwise, stop the foolishness.
I agree with you about spending more, generosity, etc. In my first return comment I alluded to that, they just exercise poor stewardship. So, I concur with your comment, but you did just blatantly miss the point, as is your habit of doing. That invites this kind of ire.
volfan, I'm not angry with you; just very fretted. Leave the passive-agressive jargon out, address the topic at hand, make relevant factual analyses, and state your comment plainly. Then just leave it at that, OK? Nobody wants to argue.
God bless you, too. And I say that with no sarcasm or irony, OK?
Tony
I couldn't agree more, Tony. Volfan, I do understand your point and it is a valid one.
I also agree regarding the passive aggressive nonsense.
here's a quote worth reading from charles spurgeon:
"i have heard of ministers who can preach a sermon without mentioning the name of Jesus from beginning to end. if you ever hear a sermon of that kind, mind that you never hear another one from that man. if a baker once made a loaf of bread without any flour in it, i would take good care that he should never do so again; and i say the same of a man who can preach a christless gospel. let those go and hear him who do not value thier souls; but dear friends, your soul and mine are too precious to be placed at the mercy of such a preacher."
let's preach Jesus, my friends.
volfan007
volfan,
You cast wrongful, illegitimate aspersions and YOU ARE as condescending as you accuse me of being.
You completely missed the point of my retort, not to mention that I was reaching for some kind of common ground with you, and then you accuse me of preaching a Christless Gospel! And you still fall back on passive-aggressive foolishness!
volfan, I have honestly tried. I have tried to be friends with you and hear you out. The only opinions that matter are yours, the only valid ministry is done in the hills of tn, criticism is a non-issue, you have failed repeatedely to take responsibility for the inanity of some of your comments, and you have the gall to say that we are condescending and call you ignorant and stupid???
Matthew 7:3-5
Just because a man is a minister of the Gospel, it does not mean you check your brain at the door.
Streak,
I just cannot take it anymore.
Tony, to quote a famous Southerner: "I feel your pain." :)
tony,
i find it interesting that you would think that the quote from spurgeon was for you. it wasnt. i didnt even have you in mind when i posted it.
i posted it for whoever.
volfan007
volfan (so you're certain I'm addressing you),
Who else is involved in this comment thread besides me, you, and Streak? How am I supposed to know that you are not addessing me? I don't think Streak is a preacher and that quote was from a preacher's pov, so obviously it must have been for me.
This is what we mean about the passive aggressive argument style.
What color is the sky in your world?
And besides, have you even read my post at my blog in its entirety, so you even have an inkling of where I am coming from?
You are simply a troublemaker.
Streak,
My apologies to you and your readers for my rant.
tony,
you are very wrong, and you jumped to a conclusion without knowing the facts. i dont know who all comes in here. there may be many people who come in here and just read....who never write.
anyways, i was not referring to you. i was not being passive aggressive...lol. i was simply quoting a great preacher who sums up how i feel about preaching and the focus of my life.
i am sorry that you took offense to a great quote from a great preacher of the past.
volfan007
volfan,
OK. Whatever. I'll take that as not coming from you and directed toward whomever.
But this is exactly what I am talking about...very passive aggressive. Fling out a comment, directed toward no one, that is from a preacher about preachers, and the only other preacher in this thread is me. How would you respond?
And thank you for the passive aggressive apology as well. Notice in your apology you didn't apologize. "i am sorry that you took offense."
This is why you and I have been bumping heads out here. Your lack of sincerity is nauseating.
A true apology would have been, "i am sorry that my quotation of Spurgeon offended you."
You have just given us all a classic example of when an apology isn't one. Moreover, if the purpose of your quotation was, simply quoting a great preacher who sums up how i feel about preaching and the focus of my life, THEN SAY IT THE FIRST TIME.
Plus the irony of your accusation that I am jumping to a conclusion without knowing all the facts is just, well, petty in this context.
Nevertheless, I am just tiring my fingers for nothing typing all this.
Have a blessed day volfan.
Tony
Tony is right. volfan, that quote certainly appeared without meaning and context--or was meant as a message to the other pastor in the thread. I think a better response from you would have been to understand how Tony could have recieved it and acknowledged that you communicated badly. That happens in the blogs, but you didn't even consider that it was at least part your fault.
You should at least think about the passive aggressive stuff, because several of us here see you responding that way.
Tony, no worries on my end.
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