Posted on 04/06/2009 7:33:11 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
Passover, Good Friday, Easter and the Bible will be everywhere this week. From retailers selling aisles of chocolate bunnies and marshmallow chicks to Coca-Cola coke drinks Kosher for Passover to networks running The Ten Commandments and Ben Hur to Rugrats Passover. Marketers of religious products bask in the holiday headlines and cash-in on the free media to promote the meanings, characters, and traditions of these special holidays reaping in the huge returns because the Bible has a fan base like no other. Quite simply, the Bible sells.
Inventors know that incorporating biblical themes and stories will attract a groundswell of support from people looking to introduce or keep religious morality and values in their lives without having to introduce backstory, personalities or places. The Bible, the most popular book of all time, continues to play a role in the lives of individuals, families and communities and the people who populate the text and their stories are compelling, real and most importantly, familiar. Without the obstacle of a learning curve for the consumer to contend with -- toy designers and creators who have innovations tied to the Bible “start in the middle” when it comes to consumer introduction and interest.
Steven Kaye, creator of Creation By Design Bible Trading Cards, which launched in late 2008 and is already in its second printing, believes Hollywood has contributed to the Bible as an appealing and current theme.
“Movies like The Ten Commandments or The Passion of the Christ remind us of stories which we already know and allow us to focus on the subtleties of the story telling without being overwhelmed,” says Kaye. “NBC’s Kings and Sci Fi Network’s Battlestar Galactica rely on imagery and references to Samuel II, and the Book of Mormon and the biblical Exodus respectively to provide a direction for the story, allowing the viewer to move forward into character analysis from the first moment. “
Kaye reminds us that the Bible has always been and continues to be everywhere citing the works of Shakespeare to VeggieTales. His Bible trading card series currently focuses on the Old Testament because it crosses into both Judaism and Christianity which increases their appeal.
The Creation By Design bible trading cards document major events and personalities with highly detailed computer generated art, reflecting intense research and a cutting edge technological approach. The cards are backed with insights, trivia and related information which will delight, inform, and even surprise today’s kids, all without straying too far from the central concept of the Bible’s story.
While religious toys are not new – by using a Pokemon approach to trading and collecting while documenting history and keeping faith-based characters present in children’s lives (beyond Sunday mornings), Kaye is confident this holiday season will be tremendous. View slide show of 10 of the Bible trading cards.
Bible trading cards? We now have Pokemon Jesus?
I’ll pass on the Bible trading card idea, but maybe if it helps the kids gain interest in Bible stories maybe its a good thing. A
s for us adults my pastor has a way of keeping me from dozing off during sermons. Throw in a Army Ranger story from time to time.
Here’s one
My Pastor, who makes no secret to the fact that he was an Army Ranger, gave this story leading into a recent sermon. A sermon on the Pharisees challenge to Jesus, which left them asking themselves, “who is this guy?”
Sermon Quote, “ Probably ten years ago Judy and I originally came to the Seattle area to plant a church in Capitol Hill. At some point my best friend, Paul, came from Baltimore to visit. I decided to take him for a tour of the city. Most of the time I took the bus throughout the city. Paul and I eventually wound up in Pioneer Square. We looked around there. As we were getting on the bus to come home, for some reason the bus was incredibly crowded. Of course, with an incredibly crowded bus there always has to be one crazy guy in the midst of the bus. The providence that I seem to experience – as we were standing (standing room only) hanging onto the handles, the crazy guy was standing right next to me. The bus is going back and forth, and he’s basically being belligerent and giving everyone around him a hard time. At some point the bus lurched and it made him bump into me. At that point he started to light into me. I turned around—I’m sure I was completely gracious—and I turned around and said, “Would you rather pick a fight with a Ranger or a preacher?” He said, “What’s a Ranger?” I said, “I’d pick the preacher if I were you.” He was completely quiet. Everyone around was standing there looking and you could tell by their faces they’re thinking, “Who is this guy?”
I Cor. 11:14
Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
For those of you who have trouble with this, think of “Worship as a lifestyle”.
I think it is clever.
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