More T-Shirts

I've done the whole "I don't like Christian T-Shirts" thing before, but these one left a particularly bad taste in my mouth.



I don't like this one on a superficial level. I hate Papyrus as a font. It seems trivial, but the point is that nobody who has studied design or typography would use this font. Why is it that Christians in art settle for mediocre? Why don't we strive towards excellence in all things?




This one is the class 'put a pretty image there, and people will respond' Just throwing in puppies, kittens, little babies in strawberry suits, etc, doesn't make for a good grpahic, or even an impactful one. Again, we can do better in terms of art.



This one harkens to the idea that the USA is like the new promised land. It closely associates Jesus, with concepts like nationalism and that's a dangerous thing to do.





I'm not a fan of ripping off famous logos and putting Jesus in their either. Though arguably this is debateable. It's good design, and doesn't offend. I just don't think it's the best way to go about it.





This one ties Jesus to the concept of military and war. It doesn't offer the latitude in terms of personal belief that Jesus offers his followers in the Bible. Jesus presents a balance. He came to bring both peace and the sword, not just the sword.



This one is ridiculous in how it presents it's point of view. Rather than encouraging one to rethink their notions on being pro-choice or pro-life, it simply cuts off everyone who doesn't think like the t-shirt wearer. Why? It only causes hatered, not love.






This one is the same as above, but even worse. This perpetuates huge division in Christianity. Why are brothers attacking brothers?





Again, over the top, in your face, and completely insensitive to the culture around us. All it does is let people know that the person wearing it believes in hell, and also holds God's knowledge on who gets to go or not. I know many new Christians need this kind of thing, where they must take other people down to build themselves up, but my hope is that people around them would help them though this stage. I know I needed to be helped through it.



Again, taking a very political stance on a very debateable subject. The Bible is clear how those who strive after God should live. It doesn't say whether Christians have to right to impose this law on others, leaving this wide open to discussion. This t-shirt fails to respect that. (For the sake of this post, I'm not going to comment on my own stance on the issue)



"We" win. "You" loose. You are other. We are the privilidged whom God loves more, and you are the loosers in this game of life. This is Christians not respecting the culture God has placed them in at all. This is overtly anti-biblical. We are called to love one another, and encourage people to choose in to Jesus. This simply draws an us vs. them line.



So with all that negativity, here's one I think is actually admerable. For one, it respects the culture around us. It addresses a need that both Christian and non-Christian can work together on (giving blood), it doesn't deminish Christ in any way, but instead lauds his actions on the cross. It's ambiguous enough to spur discussion, not argument, and it points the reader to Scripture. I think it's actually pretty good!

I have to blog you...

Since returning from New York, I got to thinking a lot about the differences in city perceptions. Why is it that New York spawns entire albums of fantastic music? "Take the A Train," "New York New York," "We'll Have Manhattan," etc. Wheras Toronto has next to none.

Then I found this little gem.



Thanks Shuffle Demons!

A little less to do

Just finished my course on Existentialism, which has been keeping me from blogging for a good while.

I've extended my blog readings though! (beyond Fungineer and Sacred Letters!, but check those out too!)

Anyway, I came across this and thought it was worth a read. It's part of a seires on defending conservatives. It's surprisingly balanced.

Aside from that, Quaker Oats pledged to donate food and drink to our camp this year, which is a HUGE bonus. Props to the peeps there! My budget fears are slowly disappearing.

Pop Art Photo

This is Andrew. He's mad cool. We take existentialism together.

The Joy of Being!

Three things last forever, faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love.

First off, congrats to my cousin Janet and Wayne on their marriage! Something was so beautiful in that simple ceremony. The church had some white flowers, and that was about the only clue it was a wedding. The groom wore a nice suit, no tux, best man, likewise. The matron of honour came down in a nice dress that she owned, and the bride an pinkish-red dress, to canon in D played on a piano.

I was reading Ai Rie's live-journal today, and she made a comment about a person very special to her as a friend (I assume it's Jon, and I'm sure he figured it out too, but I gladly put the name to the one who's brought so much goodness to Ai Rei, and vice versa!). That kind of thing is equally beautiful. The person who fits that despcription for me knows who she is, and I pass along the same advice as Ai Rei. Hold on to that at all costs. Many people in this world will leave it without ever having experienced firendship, satisfied with only aquaintencship and drinking buddies.

Kaite (and if you hadn't figured it out, it's her), passed along to me this thought one day: "There are things that God will reveal to us ONLY when we are in community." Which is to say, the solitary life is not the life lived at all.

Stevie V

First off, big congrats to Blake and Erin Bradley! They got married yesterday, and it was beautiful. It was the first wedding of a friend of been to, but I expect many more!

Which brings me to Stevie V! While there are in many Steve's at Licing Hope, and indeed several Seven V's, there is only one Stevie V! And yes, he is getting married to Wendy (whom I'm only mildly aquainted with, but seems to be a dear!)

This is an old photo of him being painted on by his best man!

Congratulations to both couples!

Colour like no other

By now I feel like everyone may have seen this, but I still think it's unreal:

http://www.bravia-advert.com/commercial/braviaextcommhigh.html

(You'll need quicktime 7)

On that site is also the making of the commercial. Don't watch it. It will ruin it for you. There's something just too magical about this commercial, and while I thought I was desperate to know how they filmed it, when I did find out, it really sucked the life out of it.

This reminds me of Christo, and his public art. Ephemeral, and very beautiful.

Also, as much I am aware of what the Sony corperation is trying to do to me (get me to buy their Bravia), I have to say, I really would have no quams about doing so. The fact that Sony had the guts to give this ad the go ahead is really stunning and 'Apple-esque,' However, in light of Apple's less than stellar new ads, I'd say sony now has the upper hand, and will become the bar by which to judge good marketing.