Not really my cup of tea – but interesting.
I’ve been toying with the idea of how Christians can use emerging technologies and the public sphere to conduct “guerrilla evangelism” (not to be confused with gorilla evangelism).
I know gospel proclamation occurs best in the context of an actual person to person relationship – but that doesn’t discount the idea of keeping Christianity in the public eye.
Here are five ideas I think are perhaps worth considering if you’ve got some time on your hands:
Any other ideas?
“Under new management” signs make a pretty clear statement of discontinuity with the past. I suggest that the more prominent the sign, or the longer it’s shown – the greater the intended discontinuity.
One of the Pizza Hut restaurants in Townsville (one of the few remaining dine-in Pizza Huts in Queensland) has had a large “Under New Management” sign on its roof for a couple of months now.
Turns out when it comes to Transformers peripherals there’s more than initially meets the eye. Not only can you get the awesome transformers thumb drive I put up the other day – you can get a matching USB hub – or a mouse… from here.
The Hub goes from this:
… to this
Then there are two mice to choose from:
And this one:
It’s 2009 AD – that’s Anno Domini – the year of our Lord. You probably know this, others may need constant reminding – which is why you should install this calendar in your office cubicle. It’ll no doubt be a great tool for office evangelism – or for ruling right angles/architectural drawings.
Human Rights activists spend far too much time sitting in cages in public spaces and doing things that are too easy to ignore. Largely because they’re so obnoxiously offensive that we immediately shield ourselves from the horrors they describe. Their campaigns aren’t generally “sticky” for this reason.
Stickiness is an important part of any marketing campaign – finding a message that is memorable is vital if your product isn’t something that involves an immediate and spontaneous purchasing decision (like a bottle of Coke).
Stickiness was particularly important to this UNICEF anti-landmine campaign, in a more literal sense.
Adhesive stickers with bottom side simulating a detonator for explosive were placed on the pavements in Zurich. When the passers by checked their shoes, they saw the message from Unicef: In many other countries you would now be mutilated! Help the victims of landmines!
Lif e is full of redundancies – nowhere moreso than the humble cutlery drawer. I grew up with splayds (and other cutlery too) – and regret not receiving any as wedding presents.
For those not familiar with splayds or the myriad other food consuming implements I present this Venn Diagram…
Welcome to an all new high in cultural sophistication – a beat boxing flautist…
Super Mario Bros Theme
Sesame Street Theme
Inspector Gadget Theme (with Axel F thrown in for good measure)
My employer has committed to raising funds to save an iconic North Queensland wetland. Until recently I thought wetland meant swamp. I was apparently mistaken.
I went there yesterday with some film crews. And took some photos. Check them out here… or if you’re too lazy, here are some highlights…
That’s the name of a Darren Hanlon song – and after a bit of news today I feel like picking up the phone and saying just that.
I like Sweden. And I like the Swedish. But this is ridiculous…
“Swedish women will be permitted to abort their children based on the sex of the fetus, according to a ruling by Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare.”
According to this article.
Nasty.
It seems to me that any time Christians (or theists) are critical of the nasty side of atheism we get shouted down as hypocrites. How can we pick on Dawkins, for how can we caricature them all on account of his vitriol when we had George W Bush as the public face of Christianity justifying unpopular wars with terribly out of context Bible passages? Or indeed or the televangelists et al who are a public bastardisation of the Christian message.
Is this a log v speck issue? Should we be trying to clear up the Christian brand (ie what the public think Christianity is) before we go charging at the bastion of angry atheism – namely Richard Dawkins and co.
Probably. Those loony fringes of Christianity are much better at garnering publicity than the mainstream evangelical orthodoxy. Like the woman in the US who kidnapped her kid because he has cancer and the State wanted to force him to undergo life saving medical treatment.
So long as that’s the public understanding of “Christianity” pushed by the media we’re going to have troubles criticising atheism because the public understanding of atheism is angry intellectual criticism of religious belief.
I actually started writing this post because there’s been a pretty angry response to that article in the LA Times the other day – and I wanted to talk about how angry atheists are, and how Dawkins seems to epitomise atheism, rather than being at its fringe.
That is all. For now.
It occurs to me that introducing any piece of communication with “if you google…” or “according to google…” – it’s as big a no-no as introducing anything by saying “the Oxford English Dictionary defines… as…”.
If you don’t know why this is a problematic way to enter dialogue (or indeed a monologue) – then please, begin your comment with either a dictionary definition or a reference to google search results on the matter.
