Over lunch today, a friend and I were talking about how Christians (especially us charismatics) love all things Apple. Why is that? What is it that attracts us to those shiny macbooks and thin iphones? Why? Why are we shouting “GO FEED THE HUNGRY” and secretly saving our money for the newest apple development? (Just know, I’m 100% guilty.. i’m currently typing this post on my macbook.)
I’ve come up with a few reasons for this huge question: (disclaimer: from now on know that the tone is sarcasm. take nothing to heart. you have been warned.)
1) We can’t resist that pesky apple.
I mean.. just think about it. It all started with an apple, so we might as well go with it, you know? Let’s embrace this reminder. Maybe if we stare at that apple that glows on the surface of our laptop long enough, we will be reminded of how far God has brought us from the fall. As we see how it is missing a small chunk, we can call forth that memory of that first bite and how God has redeemed us since. We can turn this love of $1000 laptops into something “spiritual”…. as we can everything.
2) It’s sleek and smooth.
As we all know those two words do not seem to describe this rocky road that we take as Christians. The path of Christianity is not an easy one, so any chance we get to go with something “smooth” and “easy” we jump on like the crazed persecuted Christians we are.
3) The iphone’s thinness symbolizes that the Way is NARROW.
The iphone, little did you know, actually can remind us that narrow and slim is the path that leads to life. I mean, come on…every time you slip that thing into your pocket you are reminded that it is not the bulging and thick flip phone that symbolizes the way of eternity, no, it is that new iphone 4. Bless those people at apple, they were just trying to send us a godly subliminal message ;).
4) The ipod touch brings us back to Steven Curtis Chapman.
“And I can see the fingerprints of God…when I look at you.” Now come on, surely you see where I’m going with this one. The ipod touch reminds us that just with a touch of his finger, God can create the most wonderful things. All it takes is for us to touch one little button on that precious ipod touch and music rings forth throughout our ears (and those ears were crafted by the finger of God). We’re just trying to remind ourselves of how the earth was created and now all creation sings to God… we just want to touch something and hear it sing.. it’s a good reminder of Genesis, okay?
5) The ipad.
Well thankfully, this is like “The Message” for apple. It kind of embodies the “ideas” of all that is apple. It makes everything right there all in one place for you and it’s “easy”, you know? I mean…it’s a computer, it’s thin/slim, it’s touch, there are plenty of cases that put that bitten apple right there to remind you of eve… I mean, it’s everything we’re talking about in one place.
Then..well, then there’s the “i” issue. Most people would say, “now how do you justify the fact that it puts “i” in front of everything? Isn’t that whole Christianity supposed to be about others and not self?!”
HA! Well, aren’t you in for a treat when I tell you this?
Although it may appear “in front” you must see that it is LOWERCASE… so that’s got to count for something, right? It reminds us Christians that… self, although you cannot escape it is not more important than whatever else is being talked about, because you don’t capitalize it. All the best Christians know that you capitalize the most important stuff. When we put up our slide shows we always capitalize Him and sometimes we go crazy and put LORD in all caps. We understand the importance of capitalization, it’s taught in basic Christianity 101…all the unimportant stuff (like references to self), you just leave lowercase, okay?
ASHLIN BOYLES 