WorldNetDaily reports that AOL’s “I AM” marketing campaign for its instant messenger service is causing howls of protest by some on the far Right:
America Online is now acting like God – using what some consider to be His very name in a marketing pitch for e-mail, voice chat, video chat, instant messaging, text messaging and other forms of communication.
AIM’s new slogan is “I AM.”
Millar wonders if any of AOL’s marketing and planning directors ever went to Christian Sunday school or attended Jewish services.
He points out to AOL executives that “I AM” is the English translation of YaHWeH, the self-proclaimed name of God.
“He is the Creator and Savior of the world,” explains Millar. “He alone is to be worshipped. To take His name in vain, or use as a common thing is blasphemy, a vulgar sin of offense. Perhaps you have not read the Third Commandment, since they have removed it from so many public monuments in the last decade. But breaking it as a means of marketing your products offends the mind of everyone who worships Him.”
The key scripture used to support the sacred name of God is Exodus 3:13-15: “And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.”
“I AM” are the words God used to answer Moses’ question about His name.
Jesus, too, used the phrase in John 8:58, when he said, “Before Abraham was, I am.”
I am continually shocked at how stupid some people are. I am pretty sure that it never would have occured to the vast majority of Christians that AOL was claiming to be Yahweh. I am pretty sure that they understand that “I AM” is a play on “I.M.”
Yet, here we have a major conservative publication flaming the fans of outrage over something so incredibly stupid as to make Pat Robertson look like a P.R. genius. I am not sure what these people are thinking.
