There are many times when I want to just crawl in a hole and hide the fact that I'm a Christian. No, none of them have been the result of persecution of any type. Rather, its the Christian subculture doing its thing. As proud as I am of what the Church can and many times does stand for, there are an equal if not larger number of times I just want to throw a blanket over an issue and hope noone notices.
For example, a church in my area that I drive by frequently has a sign** in the yard that not only has the name of the church, but a few lines for interchangable letters designed for cute messages which ultimately are designed to give non Christians even more reason to stay away! Today's message? Something along the line of "Don't be tricked. Try the real treat - Jesus." Gee, I bet the masses are just lining up at the doors, hungry for more.
Or one of my personal faves, "God may not be on the internet, but he answers his knee-mail." I can't for the life of me understand why that message didn't communicate to our cynical culture "Hey...God matters! He has something that can connect to your life!" Come to think of it, THAT might be a good slogan!
SO, a new feature on Drivel - I'll make note of ridiculous church sign slogans, make fun of them, and will collect through the comments your additions to the list. I know, there's probably some Internet list floating around. That doesn't count...you have to drive by and see it...and feel some level of disgust and/or cheese about it.
But on the title of this entry, "Not Sure What To Think," you absolutely must see this link. Unless you are a church/God skeptic, then please, look away. This would be embarrassing if it weren't so sad. Unfortunately, I think its a real product, but I'm hoping eventually we'll all get an email that will say "Surprise! Just kidding! Just a reject SNL skit! (actually, this would be better than some of the recent stuff on SNL).
**(FYI...we had a sign for many, many years. I lobbied hard for its removal and subswquent replacement with a sign that simply had our name. Mission accomplished. No room for any slogans, like "You can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the apples in a seed," etc. OK, so maybe our church sign is a tad on the gi-normous side... not sure, but I think NASA can pick it up from space...)
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There's a great church in the small town I'm from. My favorite one it's ever said is "CH--CH...What's missing? UR!" It made me laugh. I'm picking up what you're puting down about the rediculous signs.
ReplyDeleteLarry,
ReplyDeleteI passed that SAME sign and made a similar comment to my passenger.
"Try the real treat - Jesus".
It's dangerous when CHURCHES treat Jesus as a flavor...something to try to see if you like it. The appeal of Christianity is not to individual preference, but instead to truth.
Agreed. And glad to have you back in the comment section. 'Tis been a while...
ReplyDeleteIt's sad that churches, in an honest effort to spread the faith, have become ad agencies--and bad ones at that. When you present something as trivial, the people who view it will not be swayed or impressed, but cynical and mocking. Thus, the exact opposite of the intended outcome will result and people will be turned off by Christianity. Warmth and love are core tenets of the faith and if an "angle" is called for, what better way to attract people than by doing what is already asked of us as Christians?
ReplyDeleteI honestly don't know whether to laugh or cry half the time any more.
ReplyDeleteIs it bad to just want to grab people at times, shaking them and screaming "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!"?
I keep picturing "Buddy Christ" from the movie Dogma, with a big "thumbs-up," cheesy grin, and winking eye.
Sue me, but there's a lot to the whole subculture that seriously makes my flesh crawl at times ... and I'm part of it just as well at times.
"Faith ... try it!" was the one I just passed yesterday. I wonder if it tastes anything like McChicken?
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