Plenty of people have tried to sell their soul on eBay, but as the Wall Street Journal reports, DePaul University student Hemant Mehta gave this old saw a twist:  he offered to sell his salvation.  For every ten dollars of the winning bid, Mehta, an atheist, would attend an hour of church.

Mehta's creative bid for attention has given rise to a fascinating blog.  It turns out that the winning bidder, Jim Henderson, is a Christian & a former Christian minister, but rather than trying to save this admitted atheist Henderson is using Mehta to help save Christianity.  In exchange for the winning bid of $504, Mehta is attending a range of churches, then offering his critiques on the web.

Why would Henderson make what some Christians think is a Faustian bargain?  In short, he thinks that mainstream evangelism is ineffective and offputting.  Instead of getting evanga-blingy with WWJD or Round Tuits (don't ask), Henderson is focusing on how Christians can "be more real, more aware and generally less weird." 

Here at the BofG we respect Henderson & Mehta's mission of mutual understanding & heartily wish them the best, but we must also admit to some degree of reservation.  After all, if purchasing a soul for God succeeds in eliminating evangelistic weirdness, we're going to have a devil of a time coming up with ideas for this blog!