Ukrainians continue to be blown to bits by Russian bombs. Palestinian children continue to starve amidst a genocide. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”
Gasp.
In case you’ve been living under a Dwayne Johnson, a controversy has erupted over an ad for jeans. The ad features 27-year-old white, blue-eyed, blonde-headed actress Sweeney wearing denim pants and shirt. So far, this looks like an improvement over 15-year-old Brooke Shields being sexualized in a 1980s jeans ad seemingly tailored for one of Jeffrey Epstein’s events.
But the current ad delivers that tagline: “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”
Brad Bull
Critics exploded, claiming an ad campaign showing a white, blue-eyed blonde making a pun on “genes” is a eugenic dog whistle to Nazis. In a Fortune article, University of Michigan marketing professor Marcus Collins said the ads would not have been controversial if they featured models of differing races. “You can either say this was ignorance, or this was laziness or say that this is intentional,” Collins said. “Either one of the three aren’t good.”
Conservative pundits fulminated their objection to the objection. Megyn Kelly charged the “lunatic left” is reading too much into the tagline — asserting the allusion to great genes referenced Sweeney’s sex-symbol body and not her skin color. She suggested taking the line at face value without adding meaning.
The fact we’re talking about it means the ad created buzz, which, of course, is what advertisers seek. As publicity hound P.T. Barnum said, “Say anything you like about me, but spell my name right.”
So, as long as it’s raining, let’s gather water.
First, I agree with Collins: In our current context of fascist race-driven deportations, the advertiser could try to be provocative in a way that doesn’t risk the appearance of racism. However, we don’t know the company’s big-picture intent. Maybe their advertising budget and marketing research indicated that — like Michael Jordan for Nike — Sweeney was the A-lister whose one-person price tag was better than paying several folks.
Apart from social context and the advertiser’s intent, there is nothing inherently problematic about saying someone has great genes.
On the other hand — and this is hard to say, since Megyn Kelly recently and grotesquely said Palestinians allow their children to starve to create negative propaganda against Israel — I agree with her to one extent. Apart from social context and the advertiser’s intent, there is nothing inherently problematic about saying someone has great genes.
When I was 30 and finally got tested for allergies, my allergist said, “Dear God, how do you get out of bed?” Allergy shots changed my life, but I will never be 100%. Trust me, whatever gene made me susceptible to allergies, I would love to have drawn a better hand — even while being glad for the genes that, with good nutrition and sleep, helped me grow to a height that makes it easy for my family to find me in a crowd.
To say someone has great genes is not to say all of his or her genes are great. Nor does it say other people’s different genes are bad. The statement only says what it says: This person has great genes. Put another way, if I say I’m good at Scrabble, it can’t be inferred that other people aren’t good at Scrabble.
This has implications for how Christianity — by expanding biblical statements too much — has inadvertently driven a wedge in humanity.
Many folks reject Christianity over the brutally dogmatic assertion the vast majority of the population — even devoutly spiritual non-Christians — will be sent to hell for the crime of being in the wrong religion. Unlike a squabble over a blue jeans ad, this wedge literally leads to death and destruction by creating fear and hatred.
Maybe there is another perspective that prevents throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
Maybe there is another perspective that prevents throwing out the baby with the bathwater. When it comes to dealing with the wedge created by dogmatic Christianity, perhaps we would do well to read the Bible the way Megyn Kelly wants us to read “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”
Wait. What?
People’s fear of going to hell drives a great deal of human conflict. If we believe anyone who doesn’t believe what we believe is going to hell, we insist on strict conformity.
This has happened in the way Christians overgeneralize their most popular Bible verse — the one further popularized by its appearance behind football goalposts. John 3:16 straightforwardly says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
So, what about Native Americans who never got to hear about the historical Jesus? John 3:16 only says everyone who believes in Jesus will have eternal life. But many, if not most, Christians extend its meaning to say everyone who does not believe in Jesus is not going to have eternal life. However, despite this common belief, that’s not what the text says; it simply says people who believe in Jesus will have eternal life.
Imagine someone saying, “All children who believe in Santa Claus will be excited about Christmas morning.” This does not mean children who don’t believe in Santa Claus will not be excited about Christmas morning. While this comparison might be upsetting to traditional dogma, it comes off as either weak or arrogant for Christians to think the rules of logic don’t apply to us.
Some will already be reaching for John 14:6: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” The very folks who insist on a literal reading of the Bible do not read these two passages literally. They take this passage and say, “See? People have to believe in Jesus in this life, or they are going to hell.” However, this passage only describes Jesus’s connection to God; it says nothing about what we have to believe.
What does that mean? In The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis’ description makes the Calormene people strikingly similar to Ottoman Muslims. The Calormenes worship a god named Tash — not the divinity worshipped by Narnians. In the final book — spoiler alert — the children find themselves in heaven. They are surprised to discover a Calormen soldier named Emeth there with them. Emeth explains he had the following exchange with Aslan — the Christ figure, who welcomed him:
… I said, “Alas, Lord, I am no son of Thine but the servant of Tash.” He answered, “Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash I account as service done to me. … Therefore, if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, although he know it not, and it is I who reward him.”
During his lifetime, Emeth never knew Aslan, but Aslan knew Emeth’s overarching faithfulness to pursue righteousness. Likewise, to say Jesus is “the way” is a statement about Jesus and not about our particular beliefs during life on Earth.
Someone will say, “But John 3:16 says everyone who believes in Jesus will have eternal life.” Yes, and that’s all it says.
What does it mean to believe in Jesus?
Let me explain. First, what does it mean to believe in Jesus? A child can believe a cell phone connects them to others long before they know or understand cell towers exist and how they work. Surely, a person can believe in the truth of spiritual connection without knowing the facts about a person named Jesus. Second, saying, “Everyone wearing an orange shirt will be admitted to the game” is not to say, “No one wearing another color will be admitted.”
Now here comes someone with 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8, which refers to the time “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in a fiery flame, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”
Exactly! First, this passage says, “know God” not “know Jesus.” Second, the word “know” in this verse is the same word used in the Septuagint — the Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures — in Genesis when Adam “knew” Eve. It’s about intimacy with righteousness, not informational knowledge of the historical Jesus. Third, I’ve known many non-Christians who obeyed the gospel of Jesus — caring for the least of these — far better than those who thought merely believing gave them a pass. Finally, according to the Mercer Dictionary of the Bible, “gospel” literally means a “good story,” indicating “an announcement of a highly favorable experience or event.”
I don’t know about you, but “Most everyone is going to hell” does not sound favorable. “Let me tell you about a spiritual path to abundant life.” Now, that’s great news.
Sydney Sweeney has great genes. So do I. So do you.
We also have frailties and hunger. Our hunger will be better fed if we work together for spiritual food without getting bogged down by perverting statements of hope into dogmas of imagined exclusion.
Some Christians twist Scripture to proclaim hell for all others but themselves. If this has got you vomiting your spirituality, consider a different meal. Don’t stop searching for spiritual food just because some say hot dogs and apple pie are the only way to communion.
Brad Bull read The Chronicles of Narnia while he was in college. In seminary, he was assigned James Michener’s The Source. Both works of fiction proclaimed great truths about faith. When headed to Florida, he sometimes goes through Georgia and sometimes through the Carolinas. The owner of the condo welcomes him, regardless of his path.
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