New Testament class – Action Option Journal Entry

Note how the Media refer to Jesus. Where did you hear it? Who said it? Why did they say it? What does it imply about their view of Jesus?

I had to go searching for a mention of Jesus in media, it didn’t make itself known; it wasn’t plastered on a billboard. I don’t watch a lot of TV. I haven’t read the paper for a long time but I was still not overly surprised at what I found when I looked.

I found an article in ‘The Age’, titled: In a Jam for Jesus. It was about a cult. A drastic misinterpretation of Biblical values – the article didn’t tell me this directly, but it was fairly simple to derive it from their literal interpretation of, “Offering your bodies as a living sacrifice” in pushing kidney donation and more alternate/extreme ideas. What frustrates me about stories like this is that non Christians do read them, and draw immediate suspicions about Christianity, often bypassing the ‘cult’ factor and focusing in on the, this is what it means to follow Jesus. That or it subconsciously adds to a ‘anti Jesus’ vibe.

Just as cults are often based around distorted truth, I found another example of this in an article on the Da Vinci Code, a best seller, a different kind of media putting forward wrong ideas of Jesus. The Da Vinci Code however, presents an opportunity for ‘Jesus interest’, which can only be a good thing. It does highlight Jesus in a purely historical context, placing what I understand as fact into a constrained box of fiction.

An article on noisy neighbors, and I quote, “I’ve prayed to Jesus, Buddha, Allah and Gary Ablett.” points towards the view of religion/Jesus being a convenience, a God to pull off the top shelf when you need help. This also emphasises the equivalent value, likening Jesus with sports celebrities. That it ‘does not matter’ which God you pray too, just so long as they are willing to do your bidding.

There is a sign I pass on the train to work – an Essendon footy advertisement that plays of a player’s (Matthew Lloyd) last name. “Praise the Lloyd.” There is reference to Jesus plastered on billboards. Our culture has a very vague idea of who Jesus is and predominantly makes a mockery of what they don’t understand. To me this simply testifies how we constantly fail to portray in our lives who Jesus is.

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