Riverwood Presbyterian Church

Christian Chaff

Jesus on the Beach

by Tim Lien

For the past 9 or 10 years, I have been collecting novelties and trinkets that I have found mostly in Christian bookstores. These items have earned themselves the title: “Christian Crap.” These useless, cheap parodies of our secular culture have provided me with hours of sad, sad entertainment. If they are to be taken seriously, they are no less horrible than the indulgences of the 16th century.
But woefully, my Big Box O’ Crap has run out of space. And due to my new position as head pastor, people will grimace at my usage of the aforementioned synonym for excrement. So I have retooled the moniker and have come up with “Christian Chaff.” Yay, it even sounds more biblical.

All that to say, I hope to begin to build a virtual museum of some of the truly bad examples of the Christian sub-culture. If you come across a particularly bad/good example, please email me swiftly. You may even want to apply the Tri-Test:

• Does the item simply copy pop-culture, thereby lacking original creativity?

• Does the item take a bible verse out of context, or is it blatantly heretical/blasphemous?

• And finally, would you personally, use it, wear it, display it, or derive true spiritual encouragement from said object? If not, you have a winner.

Today’s Christian Chaff comes to us from Shoes of the Fisherman (SotF). SotF sells a line of Beach Sandals that leave an imprint on the sand that says, “Jesus Loves You.”