Nevada Jack's Rant on Religion

While Sage struggles with his sanity and multiple deadlines, and folks not getting things done on time and all kind of other headaches, I thought I’d help the old boy out and write a post for him. This is Nevada Jack reporting…



I "borrowed" this photo from another blogger. I can kick myself for not stopping on one of my trips south and snapping a photo of an icon that's now just scorched metal framing..
One of the funniest things I’ve heard about lately is the demise of the oversized “touchdown” Jesus whose shadow nearly fell across I-75 in Southern Ohio. I know Sage tries to follow Jesus (and between me and you some days he does a better job than others) but thankfully Sage hasn’t fallen for the belief that a bigger Jesus will bring bigger or better blessings. It seems a true follower of Jesus would try to show their allegiance in other ways than building statues that seem to be a total disregard of at least two of the Ten Commandments. That might be okay if keeping 80% was a passing grade, but I don’t think it works that way. A better method of showing allegiance is to spread a little kindness and gentleness. Even Jesus tried not to draw too much attention to him, traveling around on foot, doing good and often telling people not to tell others of the good he did. I’m sure such secrecy drove the early church’s PR folks crazy, but once Jesus ascended into the heavens and was no longer there to keep then straight, generations of do-gooder PR folk have tried to outdo one another, giving rise to what the world didn’t need, another kitsch industry. But a few days ago, in a sign that God does have a sense of humor, that monstrosity rising over the freeway just north of Cincinnati, was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. Or maybe God is just doesn’t have the stomach for tacky statues of his Son. There must be an 11th commandment? It’s unwritten, of course, but goes, “Thou shall avoid kitsch.” If you missed the news of this event, check out this yahoo news report.

On a similar subject, Sage was telling me recently about his conversation with some Zondervan publishing executive that he sat across from at a dinner. He asked this guru of the Christian publishing world about their printing presses and was shocked to learn that they don’t have any. They outsource all their printing. Their smaller runs are still published in the United States, but their larger runs, like Bibles, are all published in China. Sage found this interesting as just a few days later he was talking to two friends of his who are heading for China. They were talking how each of them were going to smuggle 5 Bibles into China. Ironically, having more than five Bibles seem to raise the eyebrows of Chinese customs. There is something strange about smuggling in Bibles (5 or less at a time) that were printed there to start with, but like so many things religious (including that Commandment-breaking monument), money and pride often top piety.