Saturday, April 20, 2013

Tetzel has nothing on Contemporary Christianity

Much has been made of the Tetzel dog and pony show selling indulgences -- some of it mythology to be sure but not all.  Yet for all that is made of the slick entrepreneurial production that peddled indulgences (forgiveness at the ridiculously low sale price of....), modern day Christianity is replete with gimmicks that would shame even Tetzel (at least I think so, since I am not quite old enough to have known him personally).

The old "strange but true" line and the venerable "truth is stranger than fiction" are not exaggerations when it comes to the lengths people will go to, usually in evangelical Christianity, to make a "big splash" for Jesus.  It is a shame that these same folks ridicule the time honored liturgical rites that accompany the high and holy days of the Church Year.  They could learn something about ceremony which teaches instead of gimmicks designed to entertain and impress.

My favorite line in this is the guy who announces "the best pastor in the world..." at the end.  Cheesh


What a shame that Jesus had to make do with a colt, the foal of an ass.  I guess sometimes the colt is gone and some churches are left with only an ass....

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Your post reads something like Chris Rosborough would write. Are increasing numbers of people waking up to the phoney gimmicks? Why do so many people continue to attend such churches?