Through the Eyes of Jeff

friendlyatheist:

danielholter:

diaryofabeleaver:

Today I sat in on a meeting between two former executives at Christian publishing giants Zondervan and David C. Cook. 

For all of the “good Christian work” their former companies claim to do in the world, the conversation was full of triumphant stories of stealing employees from competitors, clever sales pitches, and the ease with which they could boost profits through “spiritual” marketing. 

How is that Christian? 

Sounds like any other business to me. 

The idea of having a “Christian business” is complete bullshit.  If “God’s will for your business” constantly aligns itself with your balance sheet, you are no different than any secular entity. 

In business, money controls the basic decisions of each day, and there is no changing that, there never has been, there never will be—as Jesus said, you cannot serve both God and money. 

Yet, as the hucksters of the world have found time and time again, if they call their business a ministry, they can sell almost anything to those who believe. 

In my opinion, the blatant manipulation of the faithful and trusting is one of the gravest sins of all—and one that I have been guilty of in the past.  Having worked at Christianity Today I’ve sold “life changing” things I’ve never read, repackaged old content into the “new resource that every Christian needs” and cited “spiritual experts” with new insight into God’s work in the world…all under the guise of helping people and churches become closer to God—deepening their relationship with the divine—and our bottom line.

When people are caught between the promise of heaven and the fear of hell, they will  pay for any advantage they can get. 

So remember, you don’t have a spiritual problem…until the next marketing campaign comes along.

~AB

Reblogged for Truth.

I won’t say the time I spent in the Contemporary Christian Music industry con is what pushed me into leaving the fold, but it sure played a part.

Even when I was a christian i thought contemporary christian music was not only lame but a cheap imitation of secular music with the words “I love Jesus” added in.

I usually enjoy christian music because it has a more positive feel than a lot of the heartbreak/drug addiction songs that are usually popular but It totally agree that it’s basically the same music with some Jesus thrown in here and there.