devoted1.com

So being that I have an anonymous reader, which probably means that I don't know the person, and that I was requested to post in regard to www.devoted1.com, I thought that I'd take this chance to appease that request and to once again attack mainstream society.

First, it's really hard to tell whether or not devoted1.com is a legitimate thing. There is practically no information on the website at all. And, it seems almost unlikely that the site will enlarge. On taking a first look, I thought it was a hoax, which I'm still not sure that it isn't, but for all I know it could be legit. Who knows. I guess that you'd have to buy whatever they're selling to really find out.

I want to get to one last thing before I post the rest of this. I really don't know that much about I-pods. I don't really know what they are selling. So I'm going to do my best to interpret it with what little information is on the website. But, enough criticism, let's get to the good stuff.

In trying to bring Christ into the world, we do have to be creative. Standing on a soapbox in the middle of your cafeteria and reading the 6th chapter of the Gospel of John (what else would be more appropriate at lunch that to talk about eating the Bread of Life - Jesus Christ truly present in the Eucharist?), won't always bring in the most converts. Granted, you might get someone to Mass that way, but not in all or probably even most cases. So we do need to be creative in out approach to evangelization. For this, the cross I-pod thing might be good.

As far as being just like anything else that you wear around your neck (excluding holy medals, which are most likely blessed, or a Scapular, which is a saving grace to wear), this lanyard probably won't do much good in today's culture. In a society where people think that it's a good thing to wear a Rosary around your neck, a sign of devotion such as a cross means nothing. I'm not saying that I don't advocate wearing crosses around your neck. In fact, I myself wear a Pardon Cross, which has a devotion to forgive sinners and ask for forgiveness from them and from God. But, what I do want to point out is that just because someone wears something around their neck does not mean a whole lot. It is the internal disposition that makes it worth it to wear the outer statements describing the internal vision of your soul. In other words, just because you walk the walk doesn't always mean that you will talk the talk. For the average person, for the average Christian for that matter, wearing a cross around your neck is not significant of too much. If someone thinks it's cool that you are wearing it, what difference does it make if you don't then use that situation to evangelize about Christ's Passion, Death, and Resurrection? It means nothing.

This is what I worry about with this new I-pod lanyard. People will buy it because they will think that it'll be cool to have a religious I-pod. But what does that mean if most of those people won't really use it to evangelize? If you don't take the chance to evangelize when wearing something religious, then what's the point of wearing it at all? Now, I can't say that there will be no one who will buy it with the intention of directly evangelizing someone who brings up a conversation about it. I'm sure there will be a handful of those people. But, I honestly can say that most people who will buy it will probably just wear it and nothing else. What is the point of spending your money then. If there was more information on the website about using it as an evangelization tool, then I think that I could throw it more support, but because there isn't enough information, and no mention of it as a means to evangelize, then I don't know that I can fully support it right now.

I do support its efforts to be different and evangelize through pop-culture, but how much real evangelization is actually being done through this? To that I can't say.

Finally, I would change one thing about the design itself. I would put Jesus on the Cross. What is a Cross without Jesus? A bunch of pieces of wood, or in this case, plastic.