This column is about Bible abuse in public. And I don't mean sermons.

In very large letters, and therefore very publicly, my local war memorial proclaims, "Thanks be unto God who gave us the Victory".

Most of our forefathers in this denomination really did believe that God was on "our" side in World War One, and it is more than likely that it was Christians who committed this Bible abuse.  But the victory that Paul wrote about in 1 Corinthians 15 was not a martial triumph, but victory over death in eternal life.

In fact one of our city's newest war memorials is a grandstand at one of Sydney's Anglican schools.

A Bible verse about sacrifice is used in memory of the fallen. But the lavishness of the grandstand, which looks as though it was built for the Olympic Games, takes this pewsitter's breath away.

Such an extreme flaunting of wealth with a Bible verse plastered on it is tantamount to putting up Scripture to justify extreme privilege. 

We Sydney Anglicans find it easy to knock the slightly more downmarket "name it and claim it" TV evangelism as Bible abuse in the form of materialism. But perhaps we Anglicans look down on it because it is not as polished as our form of materialism.

Thank God we are not like those people, eh? But Bible abuse crosses class barriers.

In politics, one of the saddest Bible abuses is of 2 Chronicles 7:14 where God assures Israel, "if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land".

This pewsitter will gladly go on the record as being in favour of humility and prayer. The problem is that this OT verse is often used to turn God into some sort of ATM and applied to everything from drought to economic stress. It makes God dependent on our work, our prayer and our humility.

Perhaps the issue is that we have lost sight of how to desperately call upon God for help.

Scripture will be in the Sydney spotlight when the Jesus: All About Life campaign airs this September.

Is it Bible abuse to advertise that Jesus is "all about life" and avoid sin and judgment? The idea that Jesus provides "life in abundance' (repeatedly used by Christian marketers) can quickly lose its spiritual meaning and slip into endorsing a soft materialism.

Or perhaps the slogan is fair enough given there is only so much that can be said in a 30-second TV commercial.

We will be able to make our minds up when the Jesus: All About Life campaign airs later this year.

It will be a great opportunity to talk about Jesus. Many Connect09 activities will be planned to make an even bigger splash while the ads run.

The real responsibility for giving a rounded presentation will be ours.

In our everyday conversations the adverts will provide us with opportunities to take things deeper with our workmates and neighbours. This will be our personal chance to commit (or avoid) our very own Bible abuse.