Another Nail in the Coffin

Another Nail in the Coffin

Cable television, the window into the winding vice of the secular world. My wife and I have been married for four years now, and have been perfectly happy so far with no cable. Yet due largely to what I’m calling the super-gravitational pull of the Food Network and Discovery Channel, we and by “we” I mean “I,” have given in and installed the little black mind numbing box with blinky green lights much to the chagrin of our monthly entertainment budget. While there is so much that is interesting, and at times even downright wholesome on the tube, there is even more about the box that beckons me to abandon the thing. Not just programs, those can at least be turned off or not watched at all, but mainly the zombie-like – mindroting - timewarpy effect that it has in Bluetooth conjunction with the butt attracting magnet that I’m sure has been secretly planted in the couch.

That all being said, I have recently seen some commercials for Sealy’s 2013 posturepedic mattress line that should be commented on. After images of bed-jumping, child-playing, couples coupling and some other everyday things,  We hear and see the tagline, “Whatever you do in bed, Sealy supports it.” A line which Reuters reports as the brand’s overarching marketing campaign.[1] Now, my goal here is to ask you to think, and to make connections. Look beyond the words to ground they come from. It is beyond obvious that despite the lack of homosexual images (a fact that The Conscious Man[2] calls “close-minded,” “exclusionary,” and even homophobic,” since it should “obviously” include images like these if it were truly on the side of love) that Sealy as a company is taking a firm-mattressy stand on one side of the line. And perhaps at this point in time it is strategic not to include images that would spark controversy so that they can appeal to the homosexual agenda without necessarily upsetting or alienating those who haven’t boarded that ship yet. But that’s the problem I think. It is controversial! It does make it’s case brilliantly clear, and only fails to alienate those who have their brains turned off, despite what unconscious individuals like The Conscious Man (who want what James White has rightly called “Uber rights,” not to be confused with “equal rights”) say about it.

Here’s the main point, I do not believe for one minute that Sealy supports whatever you want to do in bed. Neither do I believe for one millisecond that those who “stand on the side of love” and want “marriage equality” actually support all love or marriage equality. I’m sure that Sealy is completely supportive of women exchanging natural relations for those that are contrary to nature and men giving up natural relations with women and being consumed with passion for one another (Romans 1:26-27), but I doubt they support a man having sexual relations with his dog or a woman sleeping with her twelve year old son or daughter or nephew or neighbor.  Is there equality in rights and marriage for those who want what is called “intergenerational love?[3]” Will they stand on the side of love when a hundred “born this way” men and women stand in the streets with signs declaring their love for their kittens and horses? Certainly not! At least not right now God-forbid that in fifty years we have movie stars taking roles and righting books, as if they were authorities on the subjects, about bestiality. Horseback Mountain hits the screen, and all of a sudden amidst the tear jerking and wide smoky landscapes, a musically moved audience swallows the pill and simply must forever support what is to them a natural and socially progressive expression of passion and humanity.

Is this where Sealy wants to go? It this what they mean when they say, “whatever you do in bed, we support it?” “What if I commit adultery in my bed?” What about Jeffry Dahmer, and all he did in his bed, does Sealy stamp approval on that? Not only is this a morally wrong ad campaign in what it intends to support; it is ignorant and foolish concerning what it supports unintentionally. This campaign has been named a finalist for the 2011 Jay Chiat Awards for Strategic Excellence, and Sleep Retailers Magazine calls it “innovative.[4]” The Futures Company calls it “sensible[5],” and Caledon Virtual places it on their “best of” list.[6] Behold your Cool-Aid. While brilliantly strategic, and certainly a foothold of a certain innovation, it is also foolish and a slope that will drag out and down the already debased immorality of our American culture. When the blind lead the blind, they will both fall into a ditch (Matthew 15:14). The ditch is before our country and us; statements like this one from Sealy are throwing another scoop of coal into the fire of the engine driving this train off the cliff. It is one more nail in the coffin of our judgment.

What does this mean for us who cling to Christ? It certainly means a lot, but one thing I would like to say is that, there is none righteous, no not one. That means you and me along with everyone else in the world including those who pervert marriage. The wrath of God is being revealed, and part of that judgment is the giving over of the culture to its sexual lusts. The growing fluid continuum of sexuality in our culture is a result of judgment since we have not honored God or given thanks to him (Romans 1:18-24), and it will bring further judgment and death. We need the Gospel because of the wrath being revealed. Even as we encounter the atrocities of our godless culture that does not honor God as God or give thanks to him, we should remember that there is severity as well as tenderness in the voice of God.[7] Renew your mind; don’t listen to slippery rhetoric of the world. But as you seek to avoid even passively (like Sealy’s tag line) giving your approval to those who practice evil (Rom. 1:32), remember that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Flee the wrath to come, acknowledge God and believe the word of Truth, the gospel of your salvation and run to Jesus, you will find in him a perfect savior. Be careful, weigh everything even the most innocent of ad campaigns, don’t be lied to. And engage the world with the gospel, which is their and our only hope.

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[1] http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/28/nc-zz-new2013line-idUSnPnCG49646+160+PRN20130128

[2] http://theconsciousman.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/superbowl-homophobia/

[3] http://uryourstory.org/index.php/our-own-stories/133-in-defence-of-intergenerational-love

[4] http://bedroomretailers.com/marketing-update/“whatever-you-do-in-bed-sealy-supports-it”-campaign-nominated-for-prestigious-award/

[5] http://trendandtonic.thefuturescompany.com/whatever-you-do-in-bed-sealy-supports-it/

[6] http://www.caledonvirtual.com/author/calevir

[7] http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/the-wrath-of-god-against-ungodliness-and-unrighteousness