Last year in the United States, advertisers spent 422 billion dollars trying to convince you to buy stuff you probably don’t need. In many cases, their ads make you feel an artificial need and then sell you the solution.
In his new book, “Reflecting the Son: How to Mirror Jesus,” author and professor Dr. Thaddeus Williams points out that the message of the cross doesn’t need a slick ad campaign.
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We live in a consumer culture, largely the legacy of a Chicago adman named Leo Burnett, whom Time magazine branded “the Sultan of Sell,” ranking him among the top 100 most influential people of the twentieth century. According to Time, Burnett “was obsessed with finding visual triggers that could effectively circumvent consumers’ critical thought.” This mastermind behind the Jolly Green Giant, the Pillsbury Doughboy, the Marlboro Man and Tony the Tiger hailed the triumph of “visual form” over “carefully reasoned argument.” Advertising has been famously defined as “the science of arresting human intelligence long enough to get money from it.” Leo Burnett was the Isaac Newton of that science.
To grasp the scope of Burnett’s legacy on our culture, take a guess at how many advertisements the average American is exposed to within a typical 24-hour period. 100? 1000? 10,000? In the late 1990s, researchers found the number — 16,000! That was nearly 6 million simple, memorable, inviting, and fun things each year clamoring over the voice of reason. And that was before the global explosion of social media and the smartphone revolution. Today, you can hardly check in on your friends without being bombarded by ads for magical supplements that promise an Olympian body without the inconvenience of exercise.
Jesus, by contrast, does not arrest the intelligence of his challengers or circumvent the critical thought. He was not the Leo Burnett of the first century. When Jesus says “love God with all of your mind,” he is not only history’s greatest Giver of that great commandment, he is also history’s greatest Keeper of the great commandment.
When the Pharisees accuse him of casting out devils by Satan’s power, he uses the logic of reductio ad absurdum to reduce their charges to absurdity in Matthew 22:41-46. He uses argumentum a fortiori (“argument from the stronger [reason]”) to prove that it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath in John 7:21-24. He uses modus ponens (“the way of affirmation”) to vindicate his messianic claims in Matthew 11:3-6. Unlike the 6-million-plus ads we face each year, the teachings of Jesus are full of mind-engaging, meaningful content. Logic is part of how a mind that fully loves God functions.
We get our word “logic” from the Greek word logos. It is no accident we find logos as one of the famous titles for Jesus in the New Testament (Jn. 1:1-3). In being logical, Jesus was simply being himself. As Dallas Willard concludes, “We can learn from Jesus to use logical reasoning at its best.” Willard adds, “‘Jesus is Lord’ can mean little in practice for anyone who has to hesitate before saying ‘Jesus is smart.’ He is not just nice, he is brilliant.”
Jesus doesn’t demand a blind leap but invites a reasonable step. By an empty tomb, He became the walking, talking case that he is, in fact, all of the extraordinary things he claimed to be. He presents his resurrected body to the scrutiny of a crowd of more than five hundred eyewitnesses whom Paul encouraged his Corinthian readers to consult for a fact-check (1 Cor. 15). One eyewitness testifies, “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2 Pt. 1:16). Jesus cares about facts and evidence. So should we.
In a Leo Burnett culture, a consumer culture constructed to bypass and stupefy our God-given intellects to maximize profits, we must be countercultural. Don’t succumb to the brain rot of mindless scrolling. Don’t binge on media until your brain turns to mush. Don’t post conspiracy content devoid of solid facts. Instead, read good books. Think deep thoughts to the glory of God. Learn to spot bad arguments and build good arguments. Maybe consider joining the Colson Fellows program to upgrade your theological and worldview training. Love God with all your mind like Jesus did. It’s not a divine suggestion. It’s a command.
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That was author and professor Dr. Thaddeus Williams. For more on how to love God with your mind, see his new book, Reflecting the Son: How to Mirror Jesus.
Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/AnthonyRosset
John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.
BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can’t find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today’s news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.
