The Sixteenth Judicial Circuit Court sent us a very nice letter. It included three crisp photos of our Malibu. And a time stamp to let us know that I was the lucky winner. But that wasn’t all, a flashy insert announced I could review a video of the whole event! Our court system really does care… at least about the fine I owe for running a red light.
In my defense, I was on my way for a church meeting. It was also very early and I was very late… (later than I even realized looking at the time stamp)… This is a poor defense. I deserve the ticket. But the whole letter felt like an advertisement. An infomercial to convince me to pay the ticket. I half expected to hear, “But wait there is more…” I might, if I ever watched the video.
Flashy ads convince us to buy Snuggies, but it felt wrong, at least weird, from the government. As though they were selling me my own guilt. But maybe that is what must be done. Wrapped up in our warm, cozy reality – do we ever believe we are wrong?
PLUNGE47 
I despise those cameras.
Sean, yes, I believe most people realize their wrong at least some of the time… and probably more often than we might think. But in a culture of masks and idols, we fear others learning the truth because our culture doesn’t honor truth but instead an “Image”.
So… in a culture obsessed with Image, the keen ad agency knows they can feed that thirst as a means to an end. And it probably works most of the time.
Hey Grant! Thanks for the comment.
You are exactly right. We are more concerned with the image we portray to others – rather than who we are in reality. Of course we want to be good people. But we are more affected by people realizing that we are not good, than we are by our actual actions. (By good, I mean wise, brave, compassionate, etc.)
The church accepts, even encourages, this behavior. We expect people to wear masks at church, rather than deal with reality. People feign holiness, because the judgment of the church. But behind masks there is no healing of the self.
I would say the church needs to start advertising campaign to convince us of our sin. But really we need to find the balance of grace and truth that Christ lived (John 1). In His love we not be so scared to lower the mask. And this would bring His healing…