Knockoffs

You’ve seen these kind of t-shirts, right? They mimic other logos and brands while promoting a Christian message. It seems they gained popularity when I was in junior high and high school, and I have to admit I had my fair share of them.

A “Solid Rock Café” t-shirt that looked just like a Hard Rock Café shirt.

A “1 Corinthians 6:10” shirt made to look like a Corona shirt.

A “Jesus is the Real Thing” shirt that sort of almost resembled something like a Coca-Cola shirt.

I could go on, but I’ve embarrassed myself enough. I mean, back then I thought I was puttin’ the “Kool” in Kool-Aid with those shirts. Now? – I’m not sure I would mow my yard in one.

I suppose like all things, those knockoff t-shirts have their place. Tim Ellsworth wrote the following article back in November about Christian knockoffs. I found it again this morning and thought it was worth sharing…


A little girl recites Psalm 23. A squirrel sings "I Will Always Love You." A man beats the tar out of a computer when he accidentally stumbles across a pornographic Web site.

These are just some of the videos you'll find on Internet sites like GodTube, an obvious knockoff of the popular YouTube.

GodTube is one of the fastest growing Web sites around. It had 1.7 million unique visitors in August, a 973 percent increase from the previous month. A number of major Christian retailers and ministries have signed on as partners with the venture.

The site has company among others aping YouTube, like ChristianUTube and Xianz. While I'm sure there are some decent videos on these sites, from my limited experience, they tend to be bastions of bad theology with a lot of material that's downright silly.

Take, for instance, the video of Ray Comfort calling the banana "the atheist's nightmare." He proceeds to demonstrate that the banana disproves evolution - because it's obvious that the banana with its no-slip grip has been designed to fit in the human hand. It's also "just the right shape for the human mouth," Comfort says.

If this is true, then what are we to make of the kiwi?

The popular GodTube doesn't stop at offering Christian videos. On a recent visit, I saw an ad on the site advertising the "GodTube Social Network: The best way to connect with other believers."

The best way to connect with other believers? I thought that's what local churches were for.

The video sites like GodTube aren't alone, however, as Christian knockoffs like this are everywhere.

Want a Christian version of "American Idol"? We've got it.

How about a Christian energy drink ("Fused with the fruit of the Spirit" - and no, I'm not kidding). We've got that too.

Christian breath mints? Yep.

We've even got the social networking knockoffs. Myspace? No, it's got to be HisHolySpace or Your Christian Space instead. I mean, on Myspace, an unbeliever might try to add me as a friend or something. We can't have that.

While there's certainly a place for Christian versions of various products - like books - do we really need Christian breath mints? Am I more like Jesus after consuming a Testamint than I am after sucking on a Tic Tac?

The Christian subculture is robust and growing, and its success indicates that far too many Christians are perfectly content to surround themselves with "Christian" copies of everything, in the process isolating themselves entirely from a lost world that desperately needs the Gospel.

Wouldn't the videos posted on sites like GodTube be far more effective on mainstream sites like YouTube, where non-Christians might actually see them? There probably aren't a lot of unbelievers who have GodTube bookmarked on their browsers.

Or, better yet, what if the energies that go into making "Christian" videos - or "Christian" products of any kind - were used instead to produce high-quality work that isn't explicitly "Christian"? Look at J.R.R. Tolkein. His books are so good that everyone enjoys them - Christians and non-Christians alike.

While Tolkein's beliefs may have spilled out into Middle Earth, his books were not written primarily as tools to proselytize. They were written to be great books. Christians would do well to follow his example, and would be far more effective in transforming culture by doing so.

Of course, the Christian knockoffs aren't all bad, and I'm sure those who make them and use them have the best of intentions. I even fall into that category of users myself from time to time.

But Christians have seemingly forgotten what God said through the prophet Jeremiah to the Israelites who were captive in Babylon: "But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare" (Jeremiah 29:6).

Taken as a whole, this impulse to "Christianize" everything in our culture reflects poorly on evangelical Christianity. It indicates that we are not interested in engaging the broader culture, or in trying to transform and redeem it to the glory of God. Instead, we want to build our own "Christian" fortresses where we can feel safe and secure and good, far removed from the evil and sin and worldliness of the culture around us.

That mentality surely doesn't play well among those that we as Christians should be trying to influence the most.