Sometimes, I hesitate to answer reporters' questions. You never know the agenda.
Some reporters have just made up their mind when the call. They are looking for you to be the caricature they need. Good ones take the time to get it right. I have seen both.
So, when they call, you hope that you get a good one. You hope that the question they asked will relate to the answer you gave. It is a bit more labor intensive to pull this off, yes; but I'm also more likely to go out of my way to respond the next time they call.
Anyway, the Los Angeles Times contacted me last week to talk about alcohol. Since I don’t drink, they must consider me an expert. Grin.
Or, perhaps it had to do with the recent alcohol study we posted at LifeWay Research.
But, I thought the angle was funny: someone putting Jesus on a wine label. That seems odd. Now, if Jesus actually made the wine, perhaps that would be a better connection. But, the last time he turned water into wine was 2000 years ago.
Click here to read the article as it is now.
Yesterday, it had the paragraph involving me stated this way:
Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research, an arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, said Christians should be offended: "Jesus chased people out of the temple for selling products in God's name. He did not put his name on the label to pump up sales."
Today, for what I think it an obvious reason, the editor changed it to:
Some denominations might think that the Grapes of Galilee isn't kosher. "Jesus chased people out of the temple for selling products in God's name," said Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research, an arm of the teetotaling Southern Baptist Convention. "He did not put his name on the label to pump up sales."
If you want to see the story closer to the original, you have to go to Austratia where it has a new headline, "Sour grapes over Jesus-brand wine."
And, for the record, I think it would be a dumb idea to put Jesus on grape juice bottles, too. Jesus does not have a brand and he does not need a label.
Here are the questions and my answers.
>>Does it violate Christian principles in any way to sell wine with Jesus on the label? Part of the label reads, "The region of galilee, historically renowned for its vineyards and wines, is where Jesus lived, gathered his disciples, and ministered. Galilee was witness to Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River (Matthew: 3:13-17), and his miracles on the Sea of Galilee where he walked on water and calmed the storm (Matthew 14:23-32)."
I am not sure Jesus would be happy with his label on any product except the Bible and His people-- He didn't come to set up a commercial enterprise, He came to save mankind and set up His Kingdom.
>>Do the majority of Christians drink wine?
No, in a recent survey by LifeWay Research, the majority of over 1000 Protestants we surveyed indicated they did not drink alcohol. Thirty nine percent indicated they personally consumed alcohol.
>>Do you think this will be largely accepted by the Christian community, or do you see potential for backlash?
Jesus chased people out of the temple for selling products in God's name; he did not put his name on the label to pump up sales.
>>Is there any problem with using Jesus as a way to market a product? Do others do it?
I think that Jesus is a little more concerned with the spiritual and physical needs of hurting people than he is interested in selling fermented grapes.
Such is life.
-Ed, Southern Baptists Are Offended, Stetzer
P.S. I am pretty sure LifeWay will not be carrying this product.
Comments (6)
funny stuff. i will testify that they twisted up some things. so is life. keep doing your thing ed. great hanging with ya last week.
Posted by Rob Wilton | October 13, 2007 10:03 PM
Posted on October 13, 2007 22:03
C'mon, with all the other Jesus Junk they sell at Lifeway, why not? So, do you teetotal from conviction, or as a job requirement?
Posted by G F McDowell | October 13, 2007 11:04 PM
Posted on October 13, 2007 23:04
It was both a conviction and a job requirement before Lifeway.
The churches I started had a "no alcohol" policy for the staff. So, I guess it was my conviction that became a job requirement.
Posted by Ed Stetzer | October 14, 2007 3:45 PM
Posted on October 14, 2007 15:45
Hey Ed... way to go for focusing on the exploitation of Jesus' name as you objected to the product, rather than the fact that it is alcoholic. Although you found that the majority of Protestants do not drink, it is certainly not an overwhelming majority. I agree that the best way to portend to speak for all Christians is to attack the merchandising, not the contents.
But having said that, I actually don't believe that Jesus' main point in clearing the Temple was to make a statement about their marketing practices. In fact, he didn't really even say anything about "selling products in God's name." Jesus' explicit complaint is that the Temple was meant to be a house of prayer, but they were making it a den of thieves. So it's a lack of prayer / presence of thievery that riled him up, not necessarily a claim of God's endorsement on the merchandise (although this may have been implicit.)
But I will take it a step beyond that to say that his true message transcended a demand for more prayer and less theft. When he shouts his rebuke, he is actually quoting passages from Jeremiah and Isaiah, which command Israel to welcome the Gentiles and outsiders into the Temple. What the Jews had done was fill up the Gentiles' court of the Temple with merchants' booths, making it impossible for them to worship. Jesus was citing the prophets to warn Israel that if they continued to crowd out the nations, that God would remove them from their land. I wrote about this in more detail in my post on The Core Blog called "The Inclusive Jesus". You can click on my name at the top of this comment to read it for yourself.
Sorry for the long comment. Keep up the good work, Ed!
Posted by Ryan Wiksell | October 15, 2007 10:21 AM
Posted on October 15, 2007 10:21
As if my last comment wasn't long enough, one more thing...
If we Christians are truly going to be against the concept of marketing in God's name, we have plenty of targets for that already. We can't wait until somebody comes out with a product we find offensive to start pushing back, if we expect people to believe that the marketing and packaging are truly a problem.
And if LifeWay choose not to carry the wine, it will obviously be because it is wine, and not because it has Jesus' "picture" on it. Perhaps LifeWay should listen to your words carefully, Ed, and take a hard look at what kind of petty junk is being peddled with the supposed endorsement of God.
Posted by Ryan Wiksell | October 15, 2007 10:25 AM
Posted on October 15, 2007 10:25
Ryan,
You do know your "temple cleaning." Grin.
The only problem is that I only get one sentence. I think Jesus clearing out the temple is a good example of the focus Jesus would want: not sales but prayer.
As to what is sold in bookstores, that is always a tough call. If you knew the things we did not sell, and the profit we lose by not selling it, you would be surprised. They walk a hard balance.
But, LifeWay Stores was not really the point I was making in this thread, so let me move off that and get back to the topic.
I am not happy being the caricature of the day!
Posted by Ed Stetzer | October 15, 2007 10:51 AM
Posted on October 15, 2007 10:51