A new fashion statement \u2013 crucifixion spike jewelry?
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\nA Reuters article from February 20th says, \u201cMel Gibson\u2019s movie \u201cThe Passion of the Christ\u201d is ringing up sales for tie-in products ranging from \u201cwitness cards\u201d with prayers on them to \u201cnail\u201d pendants that signify the spikes driven through the hands and feet of Jesus Christ\u2026.Along with the cards, [a] company is selling a cross pendant, bracelet and a key ring via the \u201cPassion\u201d Web site and in specialty retailers like Christian bookstores. But it is the nail pendant that is among the best-selling items. \u201cIf you see someone wearing a nail, that is really going to cause someone to ask, \u2018what is that,\u201d Dwight Robinson said. \u201cIt gives the wearer the opportunity to share their faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, what do we think of this? Before any of us start getting too huffy about other traditions merchandising the sacred, let me tell you about a trip I took to Nauvoo during the temple open house period in 2002.<\/p>\n
I traveled from Chicago with some gal pals for a women\u2019s gathering which included attending the temple open house and eating dinner at the Catfish Bend River Boat Casino. An interesting mix. The streets of Nauvoo during that late spring\/early summer were festooned with welcoming banners and sidewalk kiosks selling candy, hot dogs, t-shirts and trinkets. I walked by one storefront and saw something in the window that took my breath away: a T-shirt with a profile of Joseph Smith and some of the historic Nauvoo buildings with this motto across it:
\n I Walked Today Where Joseph Walked.<\/p>\n
Obviously this was a morphing of the famous song, \u201cI Walked Today Where Jesus Walked.\u201d Its lyrics are meant to move us closer to Christ and His, well, passion for us. But here was this outrageous t-shirt doing the very thing other Christians lambaste us for \u2013 nearly deifying Joseph Smith. Why do we give them such fodder!? I\u2019m grateful for the prophet, surely, and I\u2019m beholden to the Restoration. But let\u2019s keep First and Last things first.<\/p>\n
Maybe it\u2019s my Protestant heritage. I was reared on the understanding that God \u2013 The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost – is the ultimate authority. I still believe this. Any humans \u2013 however righteous or called they may be \u2013 are not divine and to treat them as such rubs raw against Commandment #2 \u2013 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.<\/p>\n
I knew I had to do something on the streets of Nauvoo. If I bought it \u2013 as some kind of witness to a crime \u2013 would I in fact be aiding, abetting and funding the (at best) misguided folks who don\u2019t see a problem with the line they have crossed? But could I let something so egregious pass without taking some kind of stand?<\/p>\n
I finally decided to buy the image in canvas bag form. In fact, I determined to buy all of Nauvoo\u2019s most disturbing merchandise. (I turned the bag inside out and use it to store these other items.) This decision was with the promise that I would use them as visual aids to discuss the exploitation of the sacred. Here\u2019s my collection to date:
\nThe canvas bag with \u201cI Walked Today Where Joseph Walked\u201d on it.
\nA key chain with the same motto, including a tiny plastic footprint filled with dirt from Nauvoo
\nFingernail clippers with the Nauvoo Temple on them.
\nTiny toothpick holder in the shame of a beer stein with the Nauvoo Temple on it.
\nA shot glass with the Nauvoo Temple on it.
\nA misting fan with the Nauvoo Temple on it (to cool you in the Mississippi malarial plains?)
\nTemple trading cards.
\nA golf ball with the Nauvoo Temple on it \u2013 (so you can whack it into the wild blue yonder?)<\/p>\n
I have expanded this now to include a Salt Lake Temple shot glass and a battery-operated hamster wearing a missionary suit and \u201cElder Rodent\u201d name tag with a whirling Book of Mormon. It dances to \u201cKung-Fu Fighting.\u201d Someone offered me a \u201cJesus Action Figure\u201d once but that was too far over the line to include in my collection. I have seen the Book of Mormon action figures, the Angel Moroni antenna topper, the CTR faux beanies but somehow they don\u2019t carry the same horrific punch for me.<\/p>\n
So just when you think I\u2019m on some snooty, humorless high horse, I\u2019ll confess that on my nightstand is a glow-in-the-dark cross which I treasure. It reminds me of a similar item given to me by a childhood Sunday School teacher. Each night when I go to sleep in the glow of that goofy little souvenir I associate it with God\u2019s love and a teacher\u2019s care. Call me a hypocrite, but to me that\u2019s pretty sacred.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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