Chapter and Verse

Suddenly Biblical quotes are all the rage. First it was the discovery that a Christian company that manufactures weapons (rather a strange combination, that) had been putting Biblical references on its gun sights for years. Until now no-one noticed but now all of a sudden people are up in arms about it, if you’ll excuse the pun. My message to them is Isaiah 2:4

He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more.

Next thing we know one of the players in the American Super Bowl has made  an anti-abortion advert. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jan/25/super-bowl-advertising-row The player, Tim Tebow, appears in the article with a Biblical reference painted on his cheeks. It is Hebrews 12: 1-2 which for the benefit of those who do not have their Bibles to hand reads

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Now the people who organise the adverts during the Superbowl are facing criticism for letting this advert through. Apparently the adverts at the Superbowl are of greater importance than the game itself, and they have to be on light-hearted subjects. Rejected topics in the past have included promotion of vegetables, opposition to child labour and tolerance of gay marriage.

I think this tells us more about people’s attitudes to advertisements than it does about their attitude to the Bible, or to gay marriage or vegetarianism. Do adverts really matter all that much? Aren’t they just a bit of fun, a small diversion, a side-track to real life?

For a future post I will try to compile a list of Bible quotes for every day use. The book of Proverbs might be a good place to start, so here is something by way of an appetiser. I think of it as good advice to those who take too much notice of adverts. Proverbs 25:27 which, in the Jerusalem Bible version reads

It is not good to eat too much honey, or to be taken in by fawning words.