False Advertising

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  --2 Timothy 3:14-15

Last week I mentioned a desk calendar I have that has some fun facts and weird wackiness, each day a different entry.  One day I learned that the Parker Pen Company, trying to write an advertisement in the Spanish market, said that their pens "are guaranteed not to leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."  What they intended to say was that you would not be embarrassed by having an ink-stained dress shirt in which your fountain pen decided to release its black contents.

Cognates are words that are similarly spelled or pronounced in both languages that both mean the same thing.  The advertising agency for Parker mistakenly thought that the Spanish word embarazada was a cognate for the English word "embarrassed."  It is not.  It actually means "pregnant" in Spanish.

That calendar entry reminded me of a time when General Motors Corporation was trying to sell the Chevrolet Nova car in the Mexican market.  They could not figure out why sales were so low until one of the line workers advised the marketing team that in Spanish, no va means "it doesn't go."  They had to rename that car model for the Spanish market.

Both of these are examples of people trying to communicate an idea when they don't know enough about either the product they are selling, or the language and culture of the buyers.  We all know enough about advertising to not believe everything the advertiser says.  Advertisers may distort the truth a little bit, by leaving out key facts or by making false claims about their product.  Consumers learn this by experience, and that knowledge is spread by word of mouth.

I think those of us who are trying to live out the Great Commission need to keep this in mind.  Jesus told us to "go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation." (Mark 16:15).  What He does not want us to do is market a product we do not fully understand or appreciate.  When a hurting world hears a very famous televangelist say, "God wants you to live your best life now," they tend to shut off all others who are trying to share the good news of Jesus with them.  The advertisement they heard was a distortion of the gospel.

Paul gave Timothy this charge:

Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.  For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.  As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.  --2 Timothy 4:2-4

People truly want to hear something good, something true, something that will lift them out of the muck and mire they are in.  What a shame it is that they hear a prosperity gospel that promises abundance always.  Those who reject that message may also reject the true message of Christ, by associating it with the false gospel.  Those who buy into that doctrine miss the message of Paul.

You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra--which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me.  Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.  --2 Timothy 3:10-13 

In truth, life is full of of hardships and persecutions.  The good news is that Jesus walks through the hard times with us.  He will see us through to the other side.  That message, unfortunately, is drowned out by the false gospel.  People respond to it like they respond to false advertising claims.  They don't buy it because they have been hurt too often.