37. The He Gets Us Campaign: Why Its Portrayal of Jesus is Still a Problem
Feb 7, 2024
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The podcast discusses the problematic aspects of the 'He Gets Us' campaign, a $100 million advertising campaign aimed at rescuing Jesus's reputation. They evaluate the campaign's portrayal of Jesus in progressive terminology, analyze various Bible reading plans presented by the campaign, and express concerns about the lack of theological accuracy and vetting in the campaign.
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Quick takeaways
The He Gets Us campaign fails to accurately portray Jesus, emphasizing relatability and social justice without highlighting his divinity and role as the Savior, potentially perpetuating a distorted view of Christianity.
The Bible reading plans offered by the He Gets Us campaign lack consistency and theological depth, hindering participants from developing a comprehensive understanding of Jesus beyond the campaign's initial appeal.
Deep dives
The He Gets Us campaign aims to generate interest in Jesus among skeptics
The He Gets Us campaign, which includes a $100 million advertising campaign, billboards, a book, and Super Bowl ads, is specifically targeted at skeptics. The goal is to get these skeptics interested in Jesus and encourage them to visit the campaign's website, sign up for Bible reading plans, and connect with churches. According to campaign consultant Ed Stetzer, hundreds of thousands of people have been referred to churches and over 600,000 have signed up for the reading plans. While the campaign has successfully generated interest, its effectiveness in reaching skeptics and promoting a full understanding of Jesus is questionable.
The He Gets Us campaign presents an incomplete and inaccurate view of Jesus
Despite its aim to promote Jesus, the He Gets Us campaign falls short in accurately portraying him. The campaign mainly emphasizes Jesus' relatability, care for societal issues, and social justice language, appealing primarily to progressive skeptics. However, it fails to present the full gospel message or highlight Jesus' divinity and his role as the Savior. This one-sided portrayal may reinforce misconceptions about Jesus and perpetuate a distorted view of Christianity. Additionally, the campaign's focus on progressive ideals raises concerns about its theological alignment and potential endorsement of theologically progressive Christianity.
The He Gets Us campaign's Bible reading plans lack theological depth
The He Gets Us campaign offers several Bible reading plans, ranging from four to nine days in length. While some plans touch on important biblical themes like joy and forgiveness, they often fall short of providing a comprehensive understanding of Jesus. Plans one to three predominantly reinforce the campaign's surface-level portrayal of Jesus as a relatable human figure. It is only in the later plans, specifically plans four and five, that a more theologically accurate picture of Jesus emerges, emphasizing his supernatural nature and the gospel message. The lack of consistency and theological depth in the reading plans may hinder participants from developing a robust understanding of Jesus beyond the campaign's initial appeal.
Super Bowl Sunday is in a few days, and He Gets Us will once again be running ads as part of their $100 million advertising campaign intended to "rescue Jesus's reputation." Last year, I wrote a viral article on 7 key problems with it. Since people will be talking about it all over again this week, I've done an updated evaluation of the campaign, including reviewing all 43 days of their Bible reading plans. Today I walk through my case that the campaign continues to be very problematic.
Mentioned in the show:
A written version of this podcast is available here: https://natashacrain.com/here-comes-the-he-gets-us-campaign-again-why-its-portrayal-of-jesus-is-still-a-problem/
Last year's article is here: https://natashacrain.com/7-problems-with-the-he-gets-us-campaign/
My Unshaken Faith episode with Alisa Childers on how Jesus never claimed that it was bad to be "religious": https://blubrry.com/1470671/96136650/17-myth-of-the-modern-day-pharisee/
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