Love for Sale

Yesterday I wrote about the possibility that, eventually, video will supplant text as our information medium of choice. I didn't name this blog Stream of Consciousness for nothing; since then, I've been pondering the overall effects of video on our lives. Don't get me wrong, these missives are not meant to infer I am anti-video. However I will admit to times when I just have to step away from all the screens. Think about it. If you're like me, you are in front of some type of video screen for hour upon hour each day. Phone, tablet, laptop, computer, television, projection screen...if you live in a major world city like New York or London or Tokyo you can't even go outside without large public display screens shining down on you.

We are, all of us, bombarded with messaging from these screens. Some messages are personal, many are work related, but more and more, the Mad Men are invading all of our screens in an effort to win our love. That's right. Your love; my love; everyone's love is for sale. You may not think so but every time you buy a product, the influence of advertising is a factor in your decision. It may only be a small nudge but it's no longer a stretch to believe that an advertisement could be the main reason you have bought something.

All designed to earn our love.

The Talking Heads video above is aptly titled, "Love for Sale". From the 1986 album True Stories, it captures exactly what I'm talking about. The fact that advertisers' main objective is to separate us from our hard-earned money should not come as a surprise to anyone. The sole purpose of a successful ad is to create a need for the product being advertised - and to create that need in as many consumers as possible.

If video advertising were only informative, letting us calmly decide whether (or not) to buy something that would be one thing. However, can we continue to stand idly by while consumer debt, brought on by a need for more things, spirals out of control? Reliable statistics show that total household debt grew every year (with the exception of 1991) from 1982 to 2007. The Federal Reserve Board reports that as of 2008, American (total) household debt stood at $13.9 Trillion. That is $13,900,000,000,000. The U.S. National Debt Clock is currently showing our nation's debt at over $17 Trillion. But despite these horrifying numbers, we continue to spend money like drunken sailors on shore leave. And advertisers count on that.

There is a growing social and cultural selfishness. We justify the houses, cars, clothes, entertainment, etc. to ourselves with one phrase: because we DESERVE it!

Forty years of tricking ourselves into believing this...

Who is selling what to whom? Is it really the ad companies selling to us or are we selling our love to them? Give me 10% off and I'll love your product.

What is the definition of love?

The answer to that question would take up an entire series of blogs...a couple of short definitions are:

1. An intense feeling of deep affection.
2. Like very much; find pleasure in

The truth is, humanity has hijacked love. Individually, we twist love into all sorts of shapes, each claiming that our own, personal love-shape works for us. Corporately, we try desperately to tap into as many of those individual love-shapes as we can, to sway people to love the latest thing. In effect we sell our love to the company or companies that connect with our love-shapes most closely.

We humans want love to be the best thing that we can see, touch, smell, taste, hear and experience. We believe love exists to make us feel good. Give us our unicorns, rainbows and leprechauns and everything will be alright. The Beatles taught us All You Need is Love. Redbone invited us to Come and Get Your Love. Diana Ross sang that's it's possible to overdose and get a Love Hangover. If you searched the Internet for love songs, we might not see you for months, as you waded through the 1.4 billion results (Google). 

Psychologists like to tell us that we have to love ourselves before we can expect anyone else to love us. If that were the case, then, when we're born, doctors need to hand each of us - well, our parents - a button so that once we love ourselves we can let others know it's okay to love us (also). So what's the payoff? Where's the slot machine that lights up and sounds the happy chimes when we get three hearts in a row? Is the hidden leprechaun sitting on the proverbial pot of gold at the end of his rainbow, teasing the unicorn and keeping us from our love jackpot?

No.

I believe, as Johnny Lee sang a long time ago, we're still Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places. I could write a thousand words about this and maybe you'd get my point. But maybe I need to try out that newfangled video thing. Maybe I need to see if there is a video out there in the vastness of the Internet that speaks to what I'm trying to say.

Perhaps the most important 4 minutes and 15 seconds in your life...

Before we ever started to worry about anyone loving us. Before we despaired of ever loving ourselves. God loved us. As we dig the hole of our life deeper and deeper, God continues to reach down in infinite kindness and mercy and grace to offer us a way - the way - out.

You want love? There's no need to sell your love; and the most important love in the whole world has no price tag. It's free. All you have to do is ask.

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That's it - you're off!

It's Sunday. No one wants to think about Hell.

Sunday is about Heaven. I'm not going to cast aspersions on anyone's interpretation of Scripture but in my opinion, there are far too many who believe that by going to church on Sunday, they can make up for a multitude of sins committed between Monday and Saturday.

Church becomes the limbo bar that we duck under to avoid paying the penalty for our sin(s). Hell is the inexorable stone door that modern culture has taught us we can avoid with some effort and a little luck.

Indy loses his whip, but we all know what happens...

Not hardly. I can go to church every Sunday of my life and it won't make a bit of difference as to my eternal place in this universe. From conversations I've been a part of the big stumbling block for most people is: Why would a loving God consign His children to a bottomless pit of fire and misery forever?

I'm not in any way intending to make light of a very serious subject, but in effect, anyone who does not accept Christ as their Savior (read John 14:6 to get started on the need for Jesus), gets shown the eternal red card.

In sports and in life, there's always a ref

From the rule book of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association):

A player, substitute or substituted player is sent off and shown the red card if he commits any of the following seven offences:

1. Is guilty of serious foul play
2. Is guilty of violent conduct
3. Spits at an opponent or any other person
4. Denies the opposing team a goal or an obvious goal scoring opportunity by deliberately handling the ball (this does not apply to a goalkeeper within his own penalty area)
5. Denies an obvious goal scoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards the player’s goal by an offence punishable by a free kick or a penalty kick
6. Uses offensive or insulting or abusive language and/or gestures
7. Receives a second caution in the same match

In football (the real kind), a caution is also known as a yellow card. So above, you have the immediate sending off offenses and below are the ones you can commit once and get away with it, but do it twice and you're off!

A player is cautioned and shown the yellow card if he commits any of the following seven offences:

1. Is guilty of unsporting behavior
2. Shows dissent by word or action
3. Persistently infringes the Laws of the Game
4. Delays the restart of play
5. Fails to respect the required distance when play is restarted with a corner kick, free kick or throw-in
6. Enters or re-enters the field of play without the referee’s permission
7. Deliberately leaves the field of play without the referee’s permission

Go back and read those again (please)...

Now, think of God as the referee and all of us as the players.

In the caution department, I can't count the number of times I've been guilty of unsporting behavior in life. I have shown dissent, persistently infringed the laws of the game (Ten Commandments) and done many things without the referee's permission. So from that alone, I have earned more than one caution and deserve to be sent off. 

In football, getting a straight red is not helpful to the team. It leaves your mates a man down and at a distinct disadvantage for the remainder of the game. In the realm of bookable offenses, I like to think that I've not been that bad. But in my younger days I was guilty of foul play, violent conduct and abusive language and gestures. I would have had no leg to stand on if God had decided that He'd had enough and showed me the red.

"That's not fair!" you shout. "We have no way of knowing for sure if God is who you say he is. And besides that if I haven't even played the game I don't deserve to be punished!"

All great points. I'm not here to judge anyone. I'm just sharing what I think about this whole Heaven and Hell thing. My understanding is that Hell was not created for us to begin with. Although Revelation 20:15 indicates that anyone who's name is not found in the Book of Life is cast into the Lake of Fire, I don't think that counts as an eternity of torment for those who did not accept Christ in this life. I'm just guessing, but the Lake of Fire sounds like an eternal red card: you're out of the game.

There also seems to be a lot of chatter about how unfair it is that people who don't even know about Jesus can end up getting shown the red through no fault of their own. For that particular point, I typically refer to Matthew 24:14 which indicates that everyone will get the chance to hear and make a decision.

I believe that God is a God of love. He is like our earthly parents. Our parents punish us when we mess up but always give us another chance. We get things that we don't deserve and we don't get things that we do (deserve). Getting things we don't deserve can be called Grace. and not getting things that we do deserve can be called Mercy. 

I'm not a bad guy. I work hard, I do the best I can to support my family and be a good husband and father; I'm like billions of other people on this planet. Nothing about me is special except for one thing:

I have accepted that Jesus was/is the earthly Son of God and that he died on the cross for my sins and then defeated death so that I, too, might defeat death at the end of my days here. In other words, I may be guilty of multiple red card offenses but through Jesus, I've escaped a lifetime ban.

You can believe that I'm crazy or whatever you prefer to think. God can't be defined in a blog. All I can do is share what I think and hope that spurs a dialog about what others believe.

So, what do you think?

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