"One-of-a-kind spiritual accessory"

[Smoke]

I saw a commercial for the Prayer Cross tonight. If you haven't seen it, it's a silver and crystal cross with a "secret center stone," which is one of those little windows you can look into and see a tiny Lord's Prayer inside.



What caught my attention wasn't the necklace itself, but the advertising. This is, you see, a one-of-a-kind spiritual accessory.

While I was looking for a picture of it online, I stumbled across this:


YouTube - "What's Hot: Unity Cross" segment

Although I'm not usually a great fan of Christianity, I can't help regretting the supersession of Christianity by what might best be called "consumer spirituality."

[Father Heathen]

What would Jesus do? Why, hawk gaudy merchandise to capitalize off of people's faith, of course. Open your wallets to get closer to god.

[ChristineES]

People will use anything to make a buck, including God.

[Smoke]

Originally Posted by Father Heathen

What would Jesus do? Why, hawk gaudy merchandise to capitalize off of people's faith, of course. Open your wallets to get closer to god.

Why is this stuff always so tacky? I'll grant you that there's some god-awful "Buddhist" stuff out there, but for the most part it's being sold as "decorative," and not as religious paraphernalia.

[Mister Emu]

Why is this stuff always so tacky?

There are a lot of people who like tacky things?

I don't like this the littlest bit either...

[Odion]

I don't get how people can turn their faith into something so crude and tacky to make a quick buck.

What makes that necklace so one-of-a-kind? The Lord's Prayer in the middle?

If it was made from smelting the nails used to nail Jesus to the cross and cooled in the River Jordan where he was baptised, then yes, it probably would be one-of-a-kind, but this seems to just be an ordinary piece of jewellery, and a rather... ugly one at that.

[Tiapan]

God gave us America so it makes sense that many make billions from the naive poor using the god angle. Its good business remember Greed is good Its the American way!

Cheers

[LuisDantas]

People are people. Buying things makes them feel special.

[angellous_evangellous]

I suspect that the folks who came up with this aren't religious - they just want to sell a product that they think may appeal to religious folks.

[angellous_evangellous]

... it's like people who don't know a thing about music or guitars who buy a lease on a Chinese guitar factory and put their name on it. The cheap guitars won't look or sound good, but the advertizing would be agressive - in an attempt to sell the guitars to an unsuspecting public.