phony

If you play games on your phone you may share a couple of the frustrations I experience. Some games are free to install but they make their money by selling upgrades within the game or getting you to watch adverts (for which they get paid per viewing). They get you interested in the game, but then it becomes clear that without investing (time watching adverts or money) you can’t progress as far as you’d like. In one game I have played it started off making me watch 1 advert to gain the reward. Then it went to 2. Now it’s at 3! It’s really frustrating.

Adverts will often conclude with a tiny tiny ‘x’ in the corner of the screen for you to tap to finish and go back to the game. But they’re inconsistent. Some seem to behave as you’d expect and go back when my fingertip taps over the ‘x’. But some seem to require a high level of precision to hit exactly the centre of the ‘x’, and if I miss it by even a tiny fraction of a millimetre then I am catapulted to another page so I can download the app or buy the product. I guess I don’t object to the adverts, but I do object to the ‘x’ marks the spot precision required.

The third frustration (do you get the impression that these things have got under my skin?) is that some of the ads are for games or apps that promise ‘no annoying adverts’. Then they proceed to run an advert for a minute before ‘x’ appears. Don’t they understand the irony? Or are they deliberately being annoying so I will select their game that promises not to annoy me like that?

It all leaves a nasty taste in my mouth. What none of these seem to understand is that their trickery is not going to make me want their product. If anything, it makes me even more determined not to like that product / brand. It’s counterproductive.

I think churches have managed the same feat of attracting people and then letting them down.

For example, some churches sell a version of Christianity that says that ‘if you join us your life will be wonderful, you’ll be blessed with good health and wealth, and you will be successful.’ Who wouldn’t want that? Except that life is not like that, is it? And that’s not what Jesus promised his followers. In fact he promised them persecution, danger and difficulty! So you join with hope and then get let down, or worse still are told that things that go wrong are because you didn’t have enough faith. That’s bordering on spiritual abuse.

It happens in other ways too. Some churches promote themselves as being welcoming communities. But some who attend find out that it’s a conditional welcome because of something about them (gender, sexuality, marital status…). ‘You’re welcome to attend, but…’ you can attend but not participate in some way; or you can participate, but not fully. Rejection of a part of who someone is is rejection of the whole person. Contrast that with Jesus who welcomed and embraced everyone. His inner group of followers included people who were rejected by the religious fanatics of his day.

Some churches are a bit like the precise ‘x’ marks the spot. Unless you agree with every aspect of their statement of faith and follow their rules precisely you can’t belong: I was once told by a minister of another church (not in Plymouth) that I am not a proper Christian because I am more inclusive than he is. Jesus told us to love one another (his prime directive) and not to judge one another (and I recognise that I am making a judgment here).

Jesus never invited people under false pretences. He never offered what he couldn’t give. He never put limits on participation. He didn’t require anyone to sign a statement of faith.

“Follow me.”

“Come and see.”

“Come and find rest.”

“Drink.”

“Eat.”

Be blessed, be a blessing