Can You Trademark Jesus? Italian “Jesus Jeans” maker says YES!

I am not surprised that some company would put the name of Jesus on their product. I am not even surprised that someone would come up with the idea of Jesus Jeans. That’s actually pretty clever, even though Jesus never actually wore jeans.

What I am surprised at is the fact that the Italian clothing company was able to trademark the name of Jesus, yes, that’s right–trademark “Jesus” IN THE US! How on earth can you restrict the use of the name of the Son of God in a country wich was touted to have been founded on religious freedom? What happened to Hallowed be thy name?

See the article at: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/02/26/italian-jeans-maker-with-trademark-on-jesus-cracking-down-on-us-apparel/

What were the trademark officers thinking? This reminds me of an All Star United song called Smash Hit. The chorus goes:

This Jesus thing is a smash hit. It’s packaged right, all stocks have split. It’s a smash hit. It’s gone worldwide.

Now realistically, I guess all they’re really concerned about is clothing manufacturers creating some kind of Jesus brand knock-off, but  it still gives me pause to think that an Italian company could have any sway over an American’s use of the name of Jesus.

I gotta go pray.

For a great little book on the Lord’s Prayer, go see:

www.therealprayer.org

Hallowed be Thy Name

Years ago I became interested, like many other believers, in the original languages used to record the stories in the Bible.  Sometimes the original languages can be more colorful than our occasionally terse translation. One of the most surprising words I searched was  holy. It comes from an old Hebrew word that means other.

To say something is holy is to say it is special, set apart from the rest, unique. Of course these terms barely scratch the surface of the attributes of God, but it drives home a point I tried to make earlier: God is not like us–God is different. We throw the word holy around as if we really know what it means, but we really don’t grasp how important it is to acknowledge our creator as so different that we should even consider the name itself as hallowed, reverenced, sacred.

To begin our prayers by calling God our father, creator, sustainer, and then admitting how different that creator sustainer is, puts us in the right frame of mind to believe with the kind of faith it takes to recieve. We are not rewarded for doubt, only for faith. And that faith best begins with our verbal confession of how special and “other” or God really is.

A new prayer workbook is available at: www.therealprayer.com