silent witness week... aka, shameless self-promotion week
i had several things i wanted to post about this week... then i checked my email and saw the latest american family association ACTION ALERT there in my inbox, and i just couldnt delete it and forget it. seems don wildmon has a new thing goin on... silent witness week. basing their idea on the famous quote by st. francis of assisi, "preach the Gospel always... when necessary, use words," AFA has minted thousands of buttons that proclaim: EASTER, HE LIVES!here's the deal... during Holy Week (april 1-8), you're supposed to wear the button everywhere you go. you dont have to say a single word about Jesus.. the button does the "preaching" for you (thus the "silent" witness). further down in the action alert, bro don hopes your participation will bring opportunities to share the Gospel, but the point here is that they will know us by our buttons!
i have a couple of problems with this whole thing. first of all, what francis of assisi meant was that THE WAY YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE should be the silent witness to the lost. we are supposed to live our lives in such a way that sets us apart from the rest of the world. it's called holiness. but of course we should remember that many church-goers have no clue about what it means to be holy, or that we're even supposed to BE holy... so lacking that, we should wear a button i guess.
the second problem - and this is the thing that really got me - was that the buttons and magnets are not only festooned with 3 crosses and a slogan, but lest we forget who sent us out to be silent witnesses in the first place, the web address of the american family association is emblazoned across the bottom. somehow, to me, this cheapens the whole endeavor even further. if the focus is Christ, and being Christ-like, why are they attaching their web address? my attention was immediately drawn to this part of the button, even though its quite a bit smaller type than "EASTER, HE LIVES!" or the 3 crosses.
dont get me wrong... back when AFA started, i believe they took a difficult stand when it was very unpopular to do so. they were a lone voice crying out against the erosion of morality in the media, and they are to be commended for that. but some of the stuff they get involved with these days, it just doesnt make a lotta sense to me. maybe i'm being as nit-picky as the folks who sat through their church's super bowl parties waiting to be offended by prince, but something about this stunt just wont let me stand by and be a silent witness.
posted by dean at 4:32 PM
4 Comments:
This kind of stuff is why I won't listen to AFR anymore. I get sick of some of the ridiculous things they come up with.
The Francis of Assisi quote is one of my favorite, and you have it right - it's about living our lives. This is what "thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain" means. LIVING the truth, not just telling about it.
I forget who the evangelist was, but I recall a story of when he was on a train, minding his own business. Another passenger stood up after a while, looked at the evangelist, and said "Sir, you convict me!" and moved to another seat on the train.
Our very lives, without condemnation or saying a word should emanate the presence of the Holy Spirit so much that HE begins to deal with the sin in those around us.
John Maxwell says that a man who has to scream "I'm a leader, I'm a leader" to constantly remind people he's a leader is NOT the leader. I think this rings true to the life of a Christian. If I have to have Jesus bumper stickers and fish emblems on my car, wear christian t-shirts (and AFA buttons), carry a 96-lb King James Bible, while singing "I am a C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N" and that's the only way people know I am one, THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE TRUE WITNESS OF JESUS CHRIST INSIDE OF ME!
GREAT POST!
OK...I figured it out...TJ is mad 'cause he didn't get a button!
not really, just mad because I didn't think of it FIRST
Dean,
You just summarized for me again why I get literally incensed just by hearing AFA mentioned around me as a paragon of influence. They are isolationist, offensive (and please no one tell me that the cross is supposed to be offensive. I know that.), and downright annoying.
When they're not boycotting, burning relational bridges or lambasting a politician, they're raising money to be able to continue to do the above three things. Sigh.
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