Victoria's Not So Secret


Revelation 13:17

And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

A buddy and were talking about a myriad of topics and we got in a discussion of how our money votes. Our political system, a participatory democracy, gives us the right to vote for a candidate. Yet, our dollars daily dictate in a very real way what we vote for. I am making it a point these days to eat at independently owner ethnic restaurants. The food is colorful, alive, complex, and beautiful. Not some chicken pulverized and then reconstituted by additives. Waffle House and its ilk are Awful House as far as I am concerned.

As an example, he mentioned that his teen sisters wanted to get some pants from him for Christmas from Victoria's Secret and he declined because of the nature of Victoria's Secret yearly 5 billion dollars in sales empire, online business, and 1,000 stores. It is based on the premise that physical beauty equals worth. This goes far beyond the idea of the objectification of women. It is the message that beauty creates ultimate value. That is no secret. Bad for men, bad for women. What is so secret about women prancing about publicly in lingerie? It is also the destuction of language and meaning.  

So, he told his sisters no. You are not a bright young things.   

I think that is the point of the "Mark of The Beast" in Revelation. Rome branded slaves on the forehead and a man is held captive by what controls him. What John is conveying, actually Christ through him, is that our commercial life decision-making reveals what we value. And, the Roman Empire required a total buy-in and tolerated no other sovereign until it collapsed under the weight of its own sin. Money is a means to some marketplace, much of it idols. We must carefully consider our purchasing in its totality, the effects it sends cascading through our society.

For instance, chain stores like Wal-Mart operate as predators. Much of its goods comes from modern slave states where workers are exploited by political means. And then Wal-Mart now doles out food to those who it has taken captive and removed opportunities for decent employment and advancement.  How freaking generous. Suck the blood out of a community, its assets, its initiative, and then pass out free band-aids. Nice, wonder if such a band-aid staunches the reek of a corporate conscience gone awry?   

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