This sign says it all. My heart grieves because of this sign. Not because of the content but because of the spirit behind it.
I look at this sign and shake my head in disgust. I am not disgusted however at the sign or the people behind the sign, I am disgusted with christians. Christians have let this world down. This sign proves it.
The secular community believes this world would be better without Christians in it. God grieves at this reality because his original intention for his people was that the world would be better because of his people.
Paul said it best in his stark remarks to the Pharisees in Romans 2:17-24:
17But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God 18and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; 19and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? 22You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. 24For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
Wow. This is crazy to me. Good thoughts Ben…
I usually don’t respond much to blogs, but I had to this time. This sign is utterly ridiculous, but I have to say, Ben, your response is just as ridiculous. Perhaps I’m missing some sort of satire, and if so I apologize, but it appears to be straight forward. Your scripture passage is completely out of context, and even if it was relevant to a modern day situation, I’m not sure how it would apply to this particular situation at all. To say that this sign proves that Christians have let the world down is 1) inaccurate and 2) irresponsible. The verses that come before the ones you quoted might be a good starting point for understanding the condition of the world and why the world might just be hostile to Christianity and post signs such as these.
So right.
As someone who doesn’t embrace religion, I an tired of religious extremists of all denominations not knowing the difference between having faith and knowing, trying to forcie their beliefs on everyone.
I hope you can tell, Bob, not only from this post but many others around this blog (for starters, this one), that I have no more patience for forcing religion (or, for that matter, secular or other non-religious philosophy) down others’ throats than you do. Thanks for stopping by!
Brian, I appreciate your comment and your thoughts. I of course disagree.
I fully understand the historical context of the passage I mentioned. I fully understand what the world was like during Paul’s day as well as the poetical, religious and cultural landscape of first century Rome as well.
My point is that when you survey Barna’s research and survey the plus of the united states secular thoughts on Christians you are left wondering how in the world did these people get these distorted ideas about Christians and Jesus.
Whenever I have conversations with strict atheists and they describe to me what they think God is like they give me a very different description than the God we see in Jesus.
The bottom line is that God created humans to reflect to the world what He is like. The mission of Christians is to show the world what Jesus is like with our lives.
When the people believe that Christians make this world worse and not better, generally speaking, then Christian’s have failed at the mission Christ gave us.
Except that we are told numerous times in the Bible that the world will hate us and reject Christ even when – and especially when – we are faithful.
I also seriously doubt that you fully understand what the world was like during Paul’s day – no one does, I’m not questioning your intelligence in general – but that’s neither here nor there.
My main problem, though, is that you have no facts whatsoever to base your claims on in regards to the supposed Christian experience the maker of this sign may have had. Now, if the context had been some obnoxious right-winger protesting the public school for not allowing prayer in the classroom, then I’d agree with you, but this is not the case. The fact that this sign is obnoxious and perverse in nature only tells me something about it’s creator and tells me nothing about the Christians he has interacted with. I believe that as a fellow Christian, it is your duty – especially in this case – to give the benefit of the doubt to your Christian brothers and sisters.
Bashing of the church seems to be a popular blog subject nowadays – not without merit – and while there is plenty of fodder for this type of thing, it often goes way too far, and I would consider this an instance of it going way too far. You say you are “disgusted” with Christians (in general non-the-less), and as a fellow brother in Christ, I feel it’s my duty to call you out on this attitude – especially when it’s a public forum and has the potential to impact others – especially young Christians and non-Christians.
BTW, while I am concerned with this post, I have no ill intention toward you and have enjoyed a lot of what I’ve read on here. Blessings to you.
Now those comments I don’t disagree with. I was trying to make a point and perhaps not too well as I didn’t have the time to write out a lengthy editorial.
You and I are on the same page of the fact that the church is in desperate need of a reform overwhelming of church leaders hearts and minds. Although they have good intention as do most CHristians they have lost touch with why the Gospel actually is.
Now that is not to say that even if we had the gospel right right and all Christians were out there loving on the public self sacrificially simply because that is our call not because we hope for conversion. There will always be those who simply want to reject kindness and love.
However in general Gospel culture is lost and because of it we get signs like these and we get research results like Barna’s that prove Christians have given the world a distorted picture of God by their actions.
Now of course their are plenty of Christians doing Kingdom work I am not dismissing those facts. What I was attempting to do however was to use this picture of the sign to hopefully wake people up to the fact that we have let these people down because we have lost sight of what the Gospel actually is and what it means to bear and STEWARD the image of God.
Alright, first off: this sign does not specifically state Christians. It does not say, “Christianity is like a penis,” it says religion. I see that this post is old but if someone else happens to discover this I want them to see this. It means all religion. Atheism, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, etc. All religion. It is wonderful to be proud of your religion. It is beautiful to be passionate about it, to love it, to embrace and to tell others of your love. What is NOT acceptable is trying to force someone to view things your way, trying to make someone change their views instead of letting them hear you speak of your love of it and change their mind on their. Just because you believe a certain way does NOT mean everyone else will as well and you shouldn’t try to force them. That said, there are wonderful Christians in the world, kind beautiful ones. But their are also assholes who hide behind the title of Christianity. It’s the same with every religion just as it is the same with every gender, race, sexuality. People are people.
All true Sabrina. I don’t know if you’ve looked at the “Apologetics” series (see the index bar to the right side of the page), but if you do I think you’ll see some stuff to resonate with.
This sign means that not everyone believes in your religion. Some people don’t believe in any religion and that’s ok. Stay in your lane.
True enough, Jen. However this post was directed at believers who are too readily to “wave it around” in way that are just as inappropriate as indecent exposure. If you poke around a little more on this blog, you may see that our point here is to challenge Christians to better, more Christ-like behavior, not to get in the face of unbelievers.