Surprise, Surprise, CGI Medina Didn’t Like the Jesus Super Bowl Ad Either!
Lonnie Hendrix
The February 24 Sabbath service in Medina, Ohio echoed the disgust of their Canadian brethren with the “He Gets Us” Super Bowl Ad which featured antagonists washing each other’s feet. Medina member Jeff Flanick delivered the broadside against the commercial. Predictably, he insisted that the ad was not Bible-based, and that it presented a “nicey, nicey” Jesus. Flanick said that the ad doesn’t get folks interested in the “right” Jesus, and it looks at Christ through a “progressive/social justice” lens – portraying a Jesus that is too inclusive!
Indeed, as I listened to the ad, I began to understand the fierce reaction of these men to this sixty second Super Bowl commercial. In short, they perceive the ad as the embodiment of “false” Christianity – that it represents all of the things that they find so objectionable about traditional Christianity. Mr. Flanick didn’t like the non-denominational bent of the advertisement. He even quoted the Armstrong standard proof-text of John 6:44 to demonstrate that “God is NOT trying to save the world now.” Flanick went on to insist that Matthew 15:22 dealt a “fatal blow” to passive inclusivity. In other words, for these CGI members, the commercial is an assault on their view of themselves as God’s chosen people – the only “true” Christians. For them, those other folks are presenting a “false” Jesus and are NOT “real” Christians.
They ignore, of course, that favorite passage of more traditional Christians: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17, ESV) For Jeff and his associates, traditional Christians have interpreted this statement by Jesus too literally. From their perspective, truly believing in Jesus is a much more labor intensive exercise than simply accepting the fact that Jesus was the Messiah/Savior promised in the Old Testament. They ignore that Jesus pointed to himself as “the way, and the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6, ESV) For them, there little unique package of doctrines is “the truth.”
For Mr. Flanick, the “He Gets Us” ad presented things like abortion, illegal immigration, homosexuality, and transgenderism in a positive light. For him, the ad portrayed righteous folks bowing down to sinners and washing them (their feet) while they are still in a fallen state. Once again, Mr. Flanick rejects the traditional understanding that Jesus kept company with sinners, and that he came here to minister to those who were in the grips of sin. According to him, most Christians do NOT understand passages like Matthew 9:10-13. That Jesus was only around those folks to insist that they repent and start keeping the Law. Of course, to arrive at this conclusion, he has to ignore Paul’s words to the believers at Rome: “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8, ESV) They simply do not get that God’s love intervenes where we are – immersed in sin!
More particularly, Jeff didn’t like some of the images portrayed in the advertisement. He didn’t like the woman getting her feet washed in front of a Planned Parenthood Clinic. He also didn’t like the woman in a hijab having her feet washed. Likewise, he didn’t like the “amorphous” gay/transgender person having his/her feet washed. Mr. Flanick would have preferred seeing those people portrayed as repenting of their sins. He wants to see folks conforming to Christ. He doesn’t like seeing Christians serve and accept sinners where they are – none of that reaching out to those fallen folks! Indeed, when he dealt with the story of the woman taken in adultery about to be stoned (see John 8:1-11), Jeff focused on Christ’s instructions to her to “go, and from now on sin no more.” Predictably, he barely mentioned that her accusers had been forced to drop their stones, and that Christ had told her “Neither do I condemn you.”
Of course, this is all consistent with the Armstrong Church of God view that Christians are obligated to observe/keep some of the precepts in Torah/Law of Moses. In support of that view, he quoted the traditional Armstrongism proof-texts about Jesus not coming to destroy the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:19-18). For Jeff, there is no “New” Testament or Covenant. In his view, Christ simply “repaired” or “renewed” the covenant which was already in existence. Moreover, because of their rejection of the Trinity, Jeff insisted that Jesus was the source of Torah/Law, NOT God the Father. In effect, Christ is implementing his own will, not the will of his Father. Once again, there is no recognition of Christ’s summary and condensation of the Law into two Great commandments for his followers (Matthew 22:34-40). There is no recognition of Paul’s insistence that love fulfills the requirements of the Law (Romans 13:8-14).
Jeff then returned to one of CGI’s favorite themes – bashing gay people. To demonstrate his point about sinners, he recalled how his former church (United Church of Christ) had ordained a gay person in clear violation of God’s standards. Unfortunately, CGI itself seems to ignore Paul’s instruction to Timothy that Church leaders must be the husband of ONE wife and manage his own household well (see I Timothy 3:2-5). No awareness or recognition of removing the beam from your own eye before trying to remove the speck from your brother’s eye (Matthew 7:3-5). Without compunction, however, Mr. Flanick went on to quote some of the “clobber” passages which have been used to condemn homosexuals.
Interestingly, Mr. Flanick did reference (in passing) two of the passages which challenge Armstrongism’s theology about a Christian’s obligation to observe Torah. For example, he mentioned James 2:10, but I prefer to quote the entire passage: “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:8-13, ESV) Likewise, he referenced Romans 3:23. Once again, however, I prefer to quote the entire passage: “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:21-26, ESV)
Mr. Flanick sees no irony or hypocrisy inherent in referencing these passages to prove his point. There is no awareness or recognition of the fact that the Armstrong Churches of God have ignored or modified numerous commandments of Torah. For him, grace is a thing that covers past sins. In speaking of believers, John said: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (I John 1:8-10, ESV) Sorry, Jeff. I still like the ad and its message: Jesus does get us, and that’s important. Because he gets us, he was able to offer himself as a sacrifice for our sins and help us when we are tempted to sin (Hebrews 2:14-18). All we have to do is ask!
Lonnie Hendrix