Tuesday, December 06, 2005

What's in a Name

Steve Camp has a post
On Evangelicals Boycotting Undesirable Activity in the World... Again.
The big debate in the media these days involving evangelicals is over the phrase "Merry Christmas" vs. "Happy Holidays." This is a distraction at best, but, can be used for good to bring people's attention to "the reason for the season." Why not try, as one on this blog suggested, calling this day, "Merry Incarnation Day"? I like that. You'll surely get people asking questions as to what you mean and in turn, you will have the providential opportunity to explain yourself. That means telling about the Virgin Birth (which you'll have to biblically explain its importance); which means you'll have to also tell about His sinless life, atoning death and bodily resurrection from the grave. In short, you'll have to proclaim the gospel message itself.

Camp includes 2 quotes on the issue of boycotting
"IMHO, part of our Christmas cheer should be: boycott the boycotters. :-) The todo list would include: shop at Target, wear Levi jeans, brush with P & G, drive a Volkswagen, fly American Airlines, eat Kraft foods, vacation at Disney (oh... that was last year), play with American Girl dolls, watch Harry Potter, read Reader's Digest, and drink Starbucks." Chad Bresson, The Vossed World

& I really like this quote:
"I strongly favor true, biblical boycotting of all evil all the time." John H. Gerstner: The Early Writings Volume One. 'Christians and Boycotting' Morgan PA: Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 1997

Celebrate the Incarnation

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

christians (and I spell that small 'c' on purpose) take boycotting far too frivolously. They boycot just about anything without any reason. Just like the way that they spit out their damning clichés to the very people they are supposed to convince that the Christmas story is true.

Anyway, if you're going to boycot something, give a good reason for it.

My personal boycots:

- Moxie's; horrible overpriced underserved restaurant that has failed me personally 8 times in 7 locations (the eigth visit was not my choice, I predicted it would be bad, and it exceeded my expectations)

- ketchup

- Future Shop, Home Depot, Wal-Mart ... heck, any of those big box mega corporation chain stores; they're all a sham and they destroy free market enterprise by suffocating competition

- the Liberal Party of Canada; no need to make any comment here: but I will; they're all loopy! they must be suffering from gomeria.

Anonymous said...

gomeria, that's horrible...

as far as boycotting goes, if people wanted to be thorough, they would knit all their own sweaters, construct all their own furniture, and grow all their own food. After all, the factory worker who made their sweater might be an atheist, the carpenter might be an adulterer, and the grocer might be a Satanist.

Boycotts can be a good idea sometimes, but other times it can be just plain silly.

Anonymous said...

So call me stunned but I don't get it. Is Steve Camp saying we should or shouldn't shop at Target? (Not that it matters as there's no Target stores in Canada anyway).

IS the idea that Target says happy holidays (instead of Christmas) and we should avoid them or the opposite.

Would someone please "Shake Me to Wake Me" and help me clue in to Steve's comments. After all "I've been living to long in the fantasy"

Oh well, even if I don't entirely understand the article, at least I know what Steve's up to this days....

oncoffee said...

Steve Camp is saying
most of the boygotting that Christians do is pretty lame. We fight over secondary issues.
My reading of Steve Camp is... let's celebrate Jesus, lets stand for what is good and right and pure [hmmm... sounds like Paul in Phil]
As Mark says "Boycotts can be a good idea sometimes, but other times it can be just plain silly."

Anonymous said...

I get it, boycott the boycott.

Thanks for enlightening me. Now to find a Target Store...