Christian Super Bowl Commercial Outrages Conservatives

[Stevicus]

Christian Super Bowl commercial outrages conservatives

One critic accused the "He Gets Us" commercial as an attempt to "cynically" use Jesus to "sell a political movement."

www.newsweek.com

The commercial, funded by the organization "He Gets Us" showed images of several people, including a woman outside a family planning clinic and a person attending a protest, having their feet washed, a reference to the story of Jesus washing his disciples' feet. The commercial ends with the phrase, "Jesus didn't teach hate. He washed feet."

The images are meant to symbolize "how we should treat one another," while the commercial is meant to call themes of "love and unity" and "love your neighbor" ahead of a deeply divided election, according to the organization in a press release, which says its goal is to "remind everyone, including ourselves, that Jesus' teachings are a warm embrace, not a cold shoulder."

Still, the commercial was met with an icy reception from many conservatives and religious leaders on social media.

The conservatives are firing back and interpret the message as meaning that Jesus is "cool" with sinful behavior.

"The 'he gets us' feet ad about Jesus seems to imply that Jesus was cool with all kinds of sinful behavior. He wasn't. He didn't go hangout with prostitutes or any other sinner because he accepted the choices they made, he did it to inspire them to change," Robby Starbuck, a music video director and former congressional candidate, posted to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Another commenter said that they were either trying to "sell Jesus to leftists" or to cynically use Jesus to sell a political movement.

Joel Berry, editor of conservative satire publication The Babylon Bee, wrote on X that he believes the commercial was "strictly following oppressed v oppressor intersectionality guidelines" and trying to either "sell Jesus to leftists" or "cynically" use Jesus to "sell a political movement."

Another considered the commercial to be a psyop.

"The 'He Gets Us' commercial might seem harmless to some, but it's obviously part of a psyop to trick Christians into thinking Jesus is fine with sin & apostasy. It's the opposite of what our world needs right now," pastor Ryan Visconti wrote.

Another called it "moralistic therapeutic deism."

Pastor Darrell B. Harrison posted to X, "It would take a week — at least — to properly exegete this mission statement by 'He Gets Us.' At best, it is moralistic therapeutic deism. At worst, it is gnostic heresy that posits Jesus as a divine social worker."

The producers of the commercial responded to the criticism:

A spokesperson for "He Gets Us" responded to the criticism in a statement to Newsweek on Monday, writing that "our intent is to share the authentic love Jesus showed with anyone and everyone."

"Our ads this year this year kick off a year-long focus on loving your neighbors, which will come to life through service events, art, advertising and engaging content, and experiences that bring people together. While we may use different words or methods than others, we hope that it compels people to be curious and explore Jesus' story," the spokesperson wrote.

Here is the commercial, for those who didn't watch the Super Bowl (like me):

What do you think about this?

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

I see it, not as a polemic against the Christian right but, rather, as an appeal to the alienated. I'm not a big fan of Christian proselytizing.

 

[Firenze]

Seeing as how this ad was funded in part by the great people (and art thieves) who own Hobby Lobby, I think a more parsimonious view is that it was intended to appeal to young people and attract converts to a failing religion with an increasingly bad reputation. Young people are sick of the transphobia and general hateful bigotry of the religious right. This bald pretense of actually heeding the teachings of Jesus could work. We'll see.

 

[Wandering Monk]

It boggles the mind that people who claim to be Christian would be offended by this.

It also shows that those people have rejected Jesus in order to sustain their hatreds. They have been co-opted, a not uncommon occurrence in religious history.

 

[Father Heathen]

If conservative Christians have reached a point to where their own messiah is considered "too woke", then it's time for them to reevaluate their faith.

 

[Firenze]

"If you paid $100 million for Superbowl ads to convert people to Jesus instead of housing the homeless, you read the wrong book."

 

[Soandso]

I understand what the ad was trying to accomplish, though I'm not sure the message will convert folks who don't know the context of what it meant to wash people's feet in those days. Still, this is a win for folks with foot fetishes. There's that

 

[Subduction Zone]

Seeing as how this ad was funded in part by the great people (and art thieves) who own Hobby Lobby, I think a more parsimonious view is that it was intended to appeal to young people and attract converts to a failing religion with an increasingly bad reputation. Young people are sick of the transphobia and general hateful bigotry of the religious right. This bald pretense of actually heeding the teachings of Jesus could work. We'll see.

I may have to rethink my feelings on Hobby Lobby. I always thought that they were more of the Christian Dominion, pro Trump sort.

 

[HonestJoe]

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I understand what the ad was trying to accomplish, though I'm not sure the message will convert folks who don't know the context of what it meant to wash people's feet in those days. Still, this is a win for folks with foot fetishes. There's that

I'm not sure I understand what it was going for. I'm really not sure if the intended audience was non-Christians ("come be a Christian! You're welcome here!") or Christians ("remember Jesus's example and reach out to everyone!")

Something that does strike me as odd in the commercial is the subtext that comes from the Gospel story.

In the Bible, Jesus washed his disciples' feet. There was already an established hierarchy with Jesus as leader and the disciples as followers. Foot-washing was about turning that dynamic on its head: the leader becomes the servant; the "high" person lowers himself.

... but the commercial depicts all sorts of situations with random Christians (presumably Christians) washing the feet of random people. Mostly, there's no established hierarchy that the washer and the washee fit into.

From the Bible story, the implicit message of foot-washing is something like "normally, people would think that I'm above you and you're my servant, but by washing your feet, I lower myself and serve you instead."

IOW, to overturn an established hierarchy, you first need to establish a hierarchy. This means there's a weird message in the ad of "I the Christian may be expressing leadership in a new way, but I still acknowledge a hierarchy where you, woman at a family planning clinic/alcoholic/random person in an alley/etc., should acknowledge me as your leader and your better. Serving you means lowering myself."

 

[Soandso]

I'm not sure I understand what it was going for. I'm really not sure if the intended audience was non-Christians ("come be a Christian! You're welcome here!") or Christians ("remember Jesus's example and reach out to everyone!")

Something that does strike me as odd in the commercial is the subtext that comes from the Gospel story.

In the Bible, Jesus washed his disciples' feet. There was already an established hierarchy with Jesus as leader and the disciples as followers. Foot-washing was about turning that dynamic on its head: the leader becomes the servant; the "high" person lowers himself.

... but the commercial depicts all sorts of situations with random Christians (presumably Christians) washing the feet of random people. Mostly, there's no established hierarchy that the washer and the washee fit into.

From the Bible story, the implicit message of foot-washing is something like "normally, people would think that I'm above you and you're my servant, but by washing your feet, I lower myself and serve you instead."

IOW, to overturn an established hierarchy, you first need to establish a hierarchy. This means there's a weird message in the ad of "I the Christian may be expressing leadership in a new way, but I still acknowledge a hierarchy where you, woman at a family planning clinic/alcoholic/random person in an alley/etc., should acknowledge me as your leader and your better. Serving you means lowering myself."

Interesting. That wasn't my initial take, but I can see how that would be the takeaway for folks. To me it was about trying to heal the divide between Christians and folks that certain Christians have been demonizing while also trying to proselytize to them by referencing an act of "humbling themselves" via Jesus' example

Honestly, the more I think about it the more confusing the message of the commercial becomes. There could be a lot of interpretations given the commercial is just so vague. It feels more like an attempt for some Christians to distance themselves from other Christians by trying to appeal to the "wokes" by using tactics that rainbow capitalism uses in trying to appeal to the youth. The whole thing is weird

Still, free feet pics

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

This means there's a weird message in the ad of "I the Christian may be expressing leadership in a new way, but I still acknowledge a hierarchy where you, woman at a family planning clinic/alcoholic/random person in an alley/etc., should acknowledge me as your leader and your better. Serving you means lowering myself."

Unfortunately, this seems to be what I see and hear mostly from evangelical christians...and certainly when I had my born-again experience lo these many decades ago, that seemed to be the common assumption of most of the newly converted I was interacting with.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I'm not sure I understand what it was going for. I'm really not sure if the intended audience was non-Christians ("come be a Christian! You're welcome here!") or Christians ("remember Jesus's example and reach out to everyone!")

Something that does strike me as odd in the commercial is the subtext that comes from the Gospel story.

In the Bible, Jesus washed his disciples' feet. There was already an established hierarchy with Jesus as leader and the disciples as followers. Foot-washing was about turning that dynamic on its head: the leader becomes the servant; the "high" person lowers himself.

... but the commercial depicts all sorts of situations with random Christians (presumably Christians) washing the feet of random people. Mostly, there's no established hierarchy that the washer and the washee fit into.

From the Bible story, the implicit message of foot-washing is something like "normally, people would think that I'm above you and you're my servant, but by washing your feet, I lower myself and serve you instead."

IOW, to overturn an established hierarchy, you first need to establish a hierarchy. This means there's a weird message in the ad of "I the Christian may be expressing leadership in a new way, but I still acknowledge a hierarchy where you, woman at a family planning clinic/alcoholic/random person in an alley/etc., should acknowledge me as your leader and your better. Serving you means lowering myself."

That's not lost on them (at least it wasn't in mine) and without the established hierarchy it would still be understood (I'm sure by even many whi have never been Christian) as an act of lowering yourself before another.

 

[Firenze]

I may have to rethink my feelings on Hobby Lobby. I always thought that they were more of the Christian Dominion, pro Trump sort.

Well, they are still the company that denies their employees family planning options in their medical benefits, and piously whines about the tragedy of abortion while getting most of their cheap crap from China - a leader in forced abortion. So…. Your initial instincts are likely correct.

 

[Shaul]

Imagine if people spent more time practicing their religion instead of wrangling over a television commercial.

 

[PureX]

Spending millions of dollars to tell as many people as possible about how righteous and holy these Christians imagine themselves to be ... didn't Jesus himself have something to say about that sort of thing? And I don't think it was "good job!".

As for the "Christians" whining about a message of universal love and forgiveness, there'll be a special door in hell waiting just for you!

 

[ImmortalFlame]

Imagine if people spent more time practicing their religion instead of wrangling over a television commercial.

Maybe there should be a Superbowl of religious practice; then people might give it a go. "The Praxisbowl"? "The Superpraxis"?

Eh, but then maybe some football association would take out an ad about how we should be putting all this effort we're spending on religious practice into perfecting the perfect field goal, and the whole thing would become circular.

 

[crossfire]

I'm not sure I understand what it was going for. I'm really not sure if the intended audience was non-Christians ("come be a Christian! You're welcome here!") or Christians ("remember Jesus's example and reach out to everyone!")

Something that does strike me as odd in the commercial is the subtext that comes from the Gospel story.

In the Bible, Jesus washed his disciples' feet. There was already an established hierarchy with Jesus as leader and the disciples as followers. Foot-washing was about turning that dynamic on its head: the leader becomes the servant; the "high" person lowers himself.

... but the commercial depicts all sorts of situations with random Christians (presumably Christians) washing the feet of random people. Mostly, there's no established hierarchy that the washer and the washee fit into.

From the Bible story, the implicit message of foot-washing is something like "normally, people would think that I'm above you and you're my servant, but by washing your feet, I lower myself and serve you instead."

IOW, to overturn an established hierarchy, you first need to establish a hierarchy. This means there's a weird message in the ad of "I the Christian may be expressing leadership in a new way, but I still acknowledge a hierarchy where you, woman at a family planning clinic/alcoholic/random person in an alley/etc., should acknowledge me as your leader and your better. Serving you means lowering myself."

Perhaps the triggered ones like the seeking power part, but dislike the part about what holding power entails?

 

[Subduction Zone]

Well, they are still the company that denies their employees family planning options in their medical benefits, and piously whines about the tragedy of abortion while getting most of their cheap crap from China - a leader in forced abortion. So…. Your initial instincts are likely correct.

So unfortunately it might be just a huge publicity stunt. They are trying to portray themselves as the sort of Christians that they are not.

 

[crossfire]

Luke 10:25-37

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The Parable of the Good Samaritan​

25 And behold, a certain [a]lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”​

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26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”​

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27 So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ”​

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28 And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”​

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29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”​

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30 Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among [b]thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 On the next day, [c]when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ 36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”​

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37 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”​

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Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”​

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Just too woke!

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