One of the hymns we Anglicans like to sing goes like this:
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s ear!
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear.
It makes the wounded spirit whole, and calms the troubled breast;
‘tis manna to the hungry soul, and to the weary rest.
Dear Name! the rock on which I build, my shield and hiding place,
My never-failing treasury, filled with boundless stores of grace.
Jesus, my Shepherd, Brother, Friend, my Prophet, Priest and King,
My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, accept the praise I bring.
Weak is the effort of my heart, and cold my warmest thought;
But when I see thee as thou art, I’ll praise thee as I ought.
When John Newton wrote that, he could not have foreseen that 250 years later the sweetness of Jesus’ name would no longer be thought of as manna to the hungry soul, but ice-cream to the greedy stomach. The Sweet Jesus ice-cream company, we are told, was born out of a love for experimentation. Experimenting with shabbily belittling what Christians regard as the most important event in human history: God becoming man.
Christians have so little influence on Canadian society today that not only can an ice-cream merchant name his sticky wares “Sweet Jesus” without fear of losing his profit, but the free advertising generated by gratuitously irritating Christians will probably result in increasing it.
Had the owners been less astute in their assessment of the cultural zeitgeist and named their obesity inducing, artery clogging sugar laden junk confection “Munchable Mohammed”, they would not only have lost their profits but been prosecuted under Bill 59; assuming they hadn’t lost their heads first.
It doesn’t help that the “t” in “Sweet” is an inverted cross and the “s” in “Jesus” is a lightning bolt, both obliquely tied to Satanism.
Adding to the odious miasma that wafts effortlessly like mist from a B grade horror film are these advertisements that feature what some have called “creepy” looking children:
There are some online petitions urging a name change, something that the owner is not willing to do, and there are numerous expressions of outrage on both sides.
None of this surprises me. In Canada, the ridiculing of Christianity and Christians is a national sport; I am surprised that it is not worse than it is. It’s futile to blame the world: it knows no better. If anyone is to blame, we – Christians and our pathetic, impotent mainline churches – are. If our church doesn’t take Christ seriously, and we continue to support it, why should we expect anyone else to?
From here:
There are few things that feel more care-free than enjoying an ice cream cone, and Toronto-based chain Sweet Jesus serves up gigantic, Instagram-worthy soft serve cones — or blasphemy, depending on who you ask.
The brand, founded in 2015 by Andrew Richmond and Amin Todai, has received attention from some in the Christian community for the religious imagery in their logo and advertising. Richmond told the Star in 2016 that the name stuck after an employee would often declare “sweet Jesus,” after tasting the ice cream and says the brand has nothing to do with religion.
The backlash has followed Sweet Jesus’ expansion south of the border, where they have opened up shop in Baltimore and the Mall of America. Petitions began popping up in January, after right-wing blog Activist Mommy posted an article analyzing the “blasphemous” use of religious imagery in the brand’s logo.
A petition hosted on CitizenGO, a site that bills itself as a conservative advocacy group, calls Sweet Jesus “offensive and revolting,” and accuses the ice cream parlour of hate speech towards Christians. The petition calls for a public apology for “openly (attacking) the Christian community,” and God. The petition further asks for a name change to “eliminate mockery toward our Lord Jesus.”
