I was visiting a family friend in Lebanon one day and in her living room I noticed a John Wesley
bobble head. I found this super funny because back in my home church we have the same
bobble head on our pulpit. She was telling me that all women in her mom’s United Methodist
Women group have these bobble heads. They were gifts from their new pastor when he joined
the church.
John Wesley is the founder of the United Methodist Faith. He, along with his brother Charles Wesley, saw the church in a slightly different way from the churches they grew up knowing. So they set out to make a progressive church for all people. This bobble head is a joke for Methodists. It is something funny to have in their houses. It is something to talk about when visitors come to their house. It does not poke fun of the religion or belittle it. It is just a funny bobble head of a famous Methodist figure. It would be just like if you had a bobble head from your favorite baseball team. It is not making fun of your favorite player in a vindictive way it is just using humor to sell the product. These bobble heads are obviously massproduced to make a profit but at the same time someone could buy these bobble heads as a funny and gentle reminder of the doctrine of their church. A Methodist would not pay tribute to this bobble head and it would not replace their doctrine or God. To me this serves the same purpose that a statue of the Virgin Mary would in a Catholic household.
This shows the commercialization of religion. This specific bobble head was bought at the United Methodist Church Annual Conference. Churches need to make money. They are businesses with pastors that need a salary and bills that need to be paid to keep their church afloat. Tithes are the donations or offerings that members of the church pay to their church to help in their ministries. This alone cannot help a church in a enormous time of need. The global Methodist church has funds to help churches in need and funds for many other important matters. Commercial objects are a good way to “spread the religion” and also help these funds grow so that the church can go out and help the world.
John Wesley is the founder of the United Methodist Faith. He, along with his brother Charles Wesley, saw the church in a slightly different way from the churches they grew up knowing. So they set out to make a progressive church for all people. This bobble head is a joke for Methodists. It is something funny to have in their houses. It is something to talk about when visitors come to their house. It does not poke fun of the religion or belittle it. It is just a funny bobble head of a famous Methodist figure. It would be just like if you had a bobble head from your favorite baseball team. It is not making fun of your favorite player in a vindictive way it is just using humor to sell the product. These bobble heads are obviously massproduced to make a profit but at the same time someone could buy these bobble heads as a funny and gentle reminder of the doctrine of their church. A Methodist would not pay tribute to this bobble head and it would not replace their doctrine or God. To me this serves the same purpose that a statue of the Virgin Mary would in a Catholic household.
This shows the commercialization of religion. This specific bobble head was bought at the United Methodist Church Annual Conference. Churches need to make money. They are businesses with pastors that need a salary and bills that need to be paid to keep their church afloat. Tithes are the donations or offerings that members of the church pay to their church to help in their ministries. This alone cannot help a church in a enormous time of need. The global Methodist church has funds to help churches in need and funds for many other important matters. Commercial objects are a good way to “spread the religion” and also help these funds grow so that the church can go out and help the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment