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| Wal-Mart Knows the Church |
Yesterday, my wife and I spent a fun-filled (fuń fild adj. full of or tending to induce stress and exhaustion) day shopping. I came home, having had my fill of fun for a good, long time, more grateful than ever that my home address is eighty miles away from the nearest shopping mall and that segment of the population that enjoys living near them. We even went to Wal-Mart, which I avoid as diligently as possible. Anyway, we got the job done and returned home late last evening, our net worth substantially reduced.
I made a stop at Wal-Mart’s “inspirational” book section. The only real Bible they had was a fake leather NKJV. The rest were NLT and the like, ranging from cutesy Precious Moments junk to the Refuel and Revolve biblezine abominations. They did have a KJV New Testament on CD read by James Earl Jones, which would be cool—probably too cool, actually. That was the best of the selection. Other attempts at inspiration were offerings from Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, Billy Graham, Gary Smalley, Frank Peretti, and the like.
I wasn’t really surprised. After all, why should Wal-Mart be any better than the average Christian book store? What really did surprise me a little was that, among all those “inspirational” books, I found absolutely nothing of any real value at all. It was all junk. I left the inspirational section uninspired. I don’t blame Wal-Mart, though. Wal-Mart is not a Christian retailer. Wal-Mart does not stock its shelves with truth in mind. It is not concerned with the souls of its customers.
Wal-Mart just wants your money, and that is not a pejorative statement. That is why retailers exist. But what strategy do they use to get your money? They stock what you want, “you” being the generic customer, and in this case, the Christian customer. That is why Wal-Mart’s shelves are stocked with very few KJVs and NKJVs, and no NASBs or ESVs. That is why Wal-Mart stocks Warren and Osteen, and not MacArthur or Piper. Wal-Mart sells what the market demands, and the market demands ice cream rather than prime rib. And the market can’t even discern good ice cream from bad. It can’t even tell when the ice cream is laced with cyanide.
Wal-Mart doesn’t stock the truth because the church isn’t buying it.
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6 Comments:
Daniel
I read an article wherein someone did stress tests on the average male Christmas shopper, then compared the stress levels with various other stress level tests...
Apparently it is more stressful than a military pilot engaging in combat...
It was an interesting thing I thought - and no doubt very accurate.
Brian @ voiceofthesheep
They stock what you want, “you” being the generic customer, and in this case, the Christian customer.
Might it be appropriate to put the word 'Christian' in the above sentence in quotation marks? One would hope the true church would be more discerning than the group that is driving sales at the Wal-Mart "inspirational" section.
Scott
When you described the Wal-Mart section I thought to myself that it doesn't seem too much different than most Lifeway's or other Christian bookstores that I have been in.
David
Brian, one would hope the true church was more discening than that, but I don't believe it is. I would like to think that true believers aren't buying that junk, but I know too many personally who love Joyce Meyer and raved about The Prayer of Jabez. The only church in town here to do 40 Days of Purpose is a SBC church. I know the pastor personally. I had a lot more repect for him before he did the 40 Days, but I have no doubt that he knows and loves the Lord.
The true church is buying this junk. At the same time, authors like John MacArthur sell a fraction of the books of Rick Warren. He is too dogmatic and uncompromising. He doesn't allow room for opposing views to be equally valid. His writing actually requires readers to think, an exercise the intellectually flabby church has little more desire for than the world in general.
I would like to believe that Wal-Mart's inspirational section is not a reflection of the true church, but the true church that I know--the one that believes the Bible and understands and preaches the true Gospel--is fat, lazy, sloppy, and stupid.
JenIG
what is really depressing is browsing thru the offerings at the national CBA (Christian Booksellers Association) convention. The most popular attractions were the Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer types. One of the christian clothing companies there were featuring (i kid you not) a t-shirt that read: I Love Jesus (And Cute Boys). I pretty much puked my pants off thru the whole convention.
Sadly, the Christian market is right in step with Walmart's view of 'the church'.
Don Fields
You are right on target. Having spent time in a number of Christian bookstores I usually find NOTHING I am interested in reading! I was just at a Christian Bookstore closeout sale and found ONE MacArthur book and NO Piper. The good news is they had the MacArthur study Bible (unfortunately only the large print editions were left) and one NKJV Reformation study Bible which I bought at half-price!
To be fair I got to the sale late, but having been in that store before the good stuff that was left was probably only left because it was the good stuff. I do almost all my book shopping online.
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