Engadget put out a story about a Jews for Jesus' tract entiteld "What's Next for the iPod guy." It has made its way to being mentioned on Digg, Gizmodo and a few other tech sites...I'm positive if this is real, but it looks to be from what I am able to ascertain.
Perhaps this is a great example of a bad attempt at contextualization...
Here is why this sort of evangelistic tool is not a helpful strategy in my opinion:
- It clearly will be perceived as being aimed at an individual - in this case Steve Jobs
- It appears to be an invasion of tech space by outsiders...rather than a wise move to share Jesus with tech people from tech people
- It is cheesy looking and a bit silly (the ole byte of the apple line)
- By sharing the gospel story this way, being techie-cute, it trivializes the transcendent importance of the message.
- It is funny - yes, it is pretty stinking funny. But would it dull people to actually talking about the Messiah in the future?
- It may be easily dismissed by those who actually know the Apple story and the tech world. The apple story has a bit of mythological feel to those who are computer industry insiders.