(LifeSiteNews) — Since the Super Bowl (which I did not watch), X has been buzzing with discussion about an ad run by the campaign “He Gets Us,” which shows a series of twelve foot-washing scenes and ends with the slogan “Jesus Didn’t Teach Hate. He Washed Feet.” It’s one minute long.
The ad is deliberately ambiguous, but the reason it has created so much conversation is that it is clearly intended to rebuke a very specific sort of Christian. The “He Gets Us” website, which is run by the nonprofit organization Come Near, is also very vague. Under the “About Us” section on the LGBT issue and the so-called “LGBTQ+ community,” the site states that they wish to be “clear in our opinion” and then notes: “Many of those who represent Jesus have made people in the LGBTQ+ community feel judged and excluded. And others in the Jesus community have simply ignored their stories and experiences.” They conclude:
Jesus loves gay people [sic] and Jesus loves trans people [sic]. The LGBTQ+ community, like all people, is invited to explore the story of Jesus and consider his example of unconditional love, grace, and forgiveness of others. No matter who you are, YOU are invited to explore the story of Jesus and consider what it means for your life.
READ: No room for ‘inclusion’: Homosexuality and transgenderism are sins against nature itself
Again, that is worded in an intentionally vague way, but it is pretty clear that this is a postmodern, “LGBT-affirming” Christianity. It’s possible that it’s just a “seeker-sensitive” strategy on steroids and attempting to be sensitive to the concerns of LGBT-identifying folks, but I very much doubt it – especially in the context of the rest of the advertisement. In one scene in particular, an older woman is washing the feet of a young woman outside a brick building with a “Family Planning Clinic” sign on the side. The young woman has obviously just had an abortion.
As Aaron Renn observed: “Meanwhile in the background there is a group of anti-abortion protestors (their signs are hard to read in this image but are anti-abortion statements like ‘save the unborn’). They are talking amongst themselves and completely ignoring the girl. In this scene, they are clearly the bad guys.” So: When the advertisement concludes with “Jesus Didn’t Teach Hate,” who do you think the Come Near folks are referring to? The abortion center staff killing babies inside or the pro-life protestors offering women help outside? Or, instead, are the pro-life protestors being portrayed as angry and hateful, just as they are by the mainstream press? Again, the answer here is pretty obvious.
READ: Pro-life pregnancy centers provided nearly $360 million worth of goods and services in 2022: report
Thus, the “He Gets Us Ad” is clever and subversive precisely because it is so ambiguous and thus could understandably create a lot of enthusiasm. The ads – Come Near spent over $14 million for their time slots – can seem simply loving at first glance. Indeed, the ambiguity of the “He Gets Us” campaign has led to critiques coming from both sides – from progressives, for not being openly affirming and using “conservative language” such as “cancel culture” in one ad, and from conservatives, for their refusal to be “clear” in their positions on issues of biblical morality despite their claims to be clear. Thus far, the ads have created plenty of discussion but more division than anything else.
In my view, any ad that affirms the lazy and insidious mainstream media narrative that those standing outside abortion facilities where the most vulnerable and helpless of our neighbors are killed daily offering 11th hour help to those going inside are somehow “hateful” is taking the wrong side of the most important human rights issue of our time. If “He Gets Us” really wanted to make a point about “loving your neighbor,” they could have pointed out that tens of millions of children created in God’s image have been cruelly killed since 1973. That, I suspect, would have been far too counter-cultural.
READ: ‘The Chosen’ faces calls for boycott after director, actors defend LGBT ‘pride’ flags on set
