re is from our Church marquee sign. Over the past year's of being in full-time ministry every once-in-a-while I fall right into something that really catches my attention spiritually. Something that is a bit hard to describe and... being a believer of the Trinity I just chalk it up to the Holy Spirit doing something, speaking to me, trying to get my attention over something. I posted this particular pic on my Facebook wall with the statement "amazed at how many phone calls and emails we have received from this sign" and yet another string of comments were received. Here is a bit of a sampling from them. - that's awesome
- lol
- please don't take it down because of those who think God only loves those who are better at hiding their sin
- Eric, It is so nice you have a church that fully accepts you!! LOL...no I read the other day where a church put their info and the phrase..."Give our church a shot!" on shot glasses and hit the bars one night inviting folks to church!!.
- one of the best posts I've seen all day
- Well, I will be driving by asap!
- That sign will probably show up on Leno or something! I look forward to your next sign change!
- Figured you would get some bad stuff from this as most Christians around Brownwood are prudes and do not show the love of Christ! You need to put up Jesus Loves Homosexuals! haha! I like what Gandhi said sometimes..He said I like your Christ...but you Christians I do not like!
- on top of it...and I will never understand this is why "Sunday" Christians think it is some type of sin to have a sense of humor. The word LAUGHTER is in the Bible countless times and besides, JESUS does love strippers. The Bible says nothing can separate you from the love of GOD.
We went ahead and left the sign up for an additional week and this led to some additional feedback not quite as supportive of the sign's utilization with this particular phrase. The sign is coming down today not because a few have had concerns - it's just time. But, I am still trying to wrap my mind around how different Jesus looks within the Christian family of faith community.
I am in a Thursday morning Bible study with a group of guys and one of the men from the group today emailed a link to a blog site here and he quotes Edward Hays "If we are to experience God, we must be open to God, to the mystical, to the divine, appearing in our lives. And we must have an openness that is free of any preconditions about how that will happen. looking for God in the godly form is the great historical mistake."
I do know this - there are so many out there that struggle with some of what I consider some of the simplest concepts of Christianity. They have difficulty believing that people who live by some clearly defined scriptural guidelines would not be judging them as a person regardless of their activity and though...... they are clearly not in favor of the activity itself. I could continue down this road that is certainly winding with divergent exit roads to various scriptural topics but I'll just stop here and say. Jesus loves everyone, regardless! Even strippers!
2 comments:
It's so true -- and therefore not controversial at all -- in my mind. And God loves homosexuals and drug addicts and God loves the current President too! We must pray for him. And we must LOVE all of them. I pray each day for a more open heart for people of all kinds. Thanks for your courage, and for the great blog.
Tamara Evans
Good post. I stumbled across your blog when I discovered the "Next Blog" feature and I'm glad I did.
The statement "Jesus love strippers" could be taken a couple different ways and it's important to differentiate between the two. Christ of course loves everyone ("For God so loved the world...") but he doesn't condone stripping or any form of sin. People reading this sign could interpret your sign as Jesus approves stripping which is horribly wrong. Same with saying Jesus loves homosexuals, etc. He loves people who are homosexuals but he doesn't condone homosexuality.
If Christ accepted sin we wouldn't have any need for the Gospel. Jesus didn't come to earth to make sin ok, but to give us sinners, prostitutes, homosexuals, strippers, etc. a way to be with him and love him and be loved by him. "For Christ didn't come into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." Through HIM, not ourselves. And when we "confess with [our] mouths Jesus is Lord and believe in [our] hearts that God raised him from the dead [we] will be saved" we will experience a life change out of sin (not entirely but significantly).
I'm probably preaching to the choir but signs like these scare me, not because they're not true, but because of the lack of context surrounding the statement that can lead people to misinterpret what you're trying to express. It has to be more than just a good laugh, a witty or bold statement, an "I can't believe they put that up" sign to get people talking - people's eternal lives are on the line and a misconception can lead lost people in the opposite direction or worse, chasing an imaginary God who accepts sin and doesn't require life change.
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