My friend Camille sent me this picture that she found.
While I do believe that homosexuality is a sin, and that Christ can set people free, I don't know that holding a sign is the best way to get that message across. In
Lord, Save Us From Your Followers: Why is the Gospel of Love Dividing America?, Dan Merchant seeks to study these signs and what people really think of them.
The book is hilarious at times, but it also makes you want to punch a wall in disgust at other times. To be honest, if I punched a wall every time a well meaning, but poorly thinking, Christian did something like hold up this sign, my walls would be windows.
One of the biggest things Merchant tries to get across in his book is that bumper stickers, or in this case signs, don't really get the message across as well as we would hope. They are one way communication, and they are poor even at that. This sign comes across offensive to the homosexual and accomplishes little to nothing.
It doesn't answer how Jesus can set the homosexual free, or why He would. Nothing of Christ's love is portrayed in this sign. Pointing out someone's sin without offering them the hope found in Christ is pointless and offensive. While Christians aren't called to stay out of controversy we also shouldn't needlessly offend someone if we aren't offering them hope as well.
What do you think of Christians holding signs? How about bumper stickers? Is there a better way to get our message across that seems less hateful?
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Comments (22)
I am glad that they are out there at least trying; however I agree that holding a sign like that is a really bad idea-- because it usually just makes people mad. Now, having said that, the Gospel itself is offensive; but "Homosexuality is a sin" is not the gospel.
What would be more desirable would be if they were greeting people, and actually talking to them about the gospel.
Amen. The American Family Association and other groups like that make me wince.
HAHHHHHHHHHHHHH THAT HAPPENED AT MY SCHOOL!! i saw it happen lol
@deepestrecesses - Agreed.
Jesus said "go into the world and preach the Gospel to every creature" not "go stand around sporting printed things declaring your stance on specific moral behaviors and throw my name in there".
Signs, bumper stickers, t-shirts etc are terrible ways of initiating a conversation that leads to confession of sins and repentance. It leads to arguments and truth telling but what's the point in being right (and loud) if nobody TRULY hears you? These sorts of methods deafen the audience before the true message can be sufficiently shared.
If they're going to stand there with signs about homosexuality being a sin, then that's picking and choosing! They need a bigger sign listing ALL the sins of the world...lying, cheating, stealing, lusting...
I have never seen a person fall to their knees and get saved as a result of me talking to them, but I really do think that one-on-one sharing your faith in an open and non-condescending way is the best way to go. If people disagree with the message of the Gospel, fine. It's not our job to change them. At the very least, we can show them that not all Christians are arrogant jerks.
@subSacred@xanga - I believe you're right. If you're not going to take responsibility for helping them (or trying to; sometimes people wont accept your help), then there's no purpose in putting it on a sign.
Signs are ineffective. Tracts are ineffective too, but that's a different topic for a different day.
Honestly, living in the light is the only effective way. Show them. Don't preach at them.
I'd like a copy of that picture!! That is a flipping scream! I'll take a roomful of gay people over that one person holding the sign.
The unspoken, subconscious reasoning for holding such signs is not to draw people to Christ. The real unacknowledged truth is that Christians who carry such signs don't want to deal with gay people at all. There is no danger of any kind of relationship between the woman holding the sign, and any LGBT person. AND THAT IS THE REAL POINT!
Lonnie
@Such_Were_You@xanga - Yes, you're 100% right. I wouldn't even speak to her, much less want any kind of relationship with her. There are several people posting on this site who have done much to restore my hope for some reasonable Christians. People become selectively deaf when people are screaming how sinful they are, and very much blind to these kinds of slogans on signs and bumper stickers.
I also agree that such slogans are ignoring the fact that there are many other things that are sinful.
Divorce is an abomination, but the church lets divorcees--even remarried ones--through the doors, without so much as a raised eyebrow these days. Eating shrimp, rabbits, etc all are listed in Leviticus as sinful--the fact is, those kinds of signs and slogans are part of the 'smorgasbord' Christianity that is so rife today. People take a verse or six out of context to beat others up with, and ignore the ones that might point out their own shortcomings.
Homosexuals are no more or less sinful than the next person. They just happen to be a convenient 'whipping boy' that will take the attention off of the beam in the eye of the sign carrier.
oooh, i want the corduroy skirt sign! hahaha i want to hang it up in my room! maybe it'd get me in a better mood in the mornings..
When I was in my early 20s I had already grasped a lot. I was as I told you a strong seeker. Actually I was a powerful seeker. I didn't take anything at face value. One evening I was sitting on the floor of Penn Station in NYC waiting for a train to Long Island. Two guys about my age wearing white shirts and ties approached me and asked me if I had heard of Jesus. I thought to myself, 'hear we go'. I don't care what corner of the globe one lives on. Everyone has heard of Jesus. Anyway I listened to their pitch and engaged them in dialog. They tried unsuccessfully to pin me down as needing to be saved by using their talking points. After a few minutes one of them said to the other, "He's already been saved." They continued on and it couldn't have been more than a minute later that one of them said I was the devil and they left. Meanwhile I was just sitting there minding my own business when these two Born Agains approached me and then went through a cycle of thinking that went from assuming I was ignorant, which I wasn't, to assuming I had been saved, which I hadn't been, at least not in the way they thought of being saved, to thinking I was the devil or at least an agent of the devil, which I wasn't. The one thing I remember from that conversation is when I said that I believe God is in everyone their answer was, "So you think God was in Hitler? Then you think God killed all of those people?" I answered no, Hitler did. It went something like that. Seems trite now but if I remember correctly that was the point at which one of them said to the other he's been saved already. Then one of them said, "So you're telling us you've been saved already" to which I responded that I didn't say that. They did. Anyway soon after that moment I became the devil in their eyes, which they clearly stated to me and walked away. The bottom line is they didn't have a clue and only had their own shallow agenda to go by and subsequently I'd never before nor since gone through more promotions and demotions in such a short time in my life.
And seriously, why are corduroy skirts a sin now?
@TheSutraDude@xanga - And seriously, why are corduroy skirts a sin now?
Story behind that is found here. I still chuckle.
For more background on the picture (from a pro-gay perspective but very well worth reading) try this link.
@deepestrecesses said it very well indeed: We're called to preach a potentially offensive Gospel, but "Homosexuality is a sin" is not the Gospel. The Bible makes the point (1 Peter 4 I think) that it's one thing if you suffer for righteousness, but another thing altogether if you suffer for being a jerk!
That picture is an epic win...enough said.
@CyanideNGunpowder@xanga - LOL! That's a great story. I forwarded the link along to a cable news network. Who knows? They might do a little segment on it.
@deepestrecesses - Agreed with everything you said. I couldn't imagine a sign big enough to properly share the Gospel. And then it would still lack any real love to it.
@railfan@xanga - I agree, although I feel like punching walls at times because of them, and any attempt to legislate Christian morality onto people.
@sarahzthoughts@xanga - If you are sharing your faith with people you'll eventually get to see it. Maybe not dropping to their knees, but you'll see people truly converted on the spot on occasion. But, not heard about it happening so much with a "Homosexuality is a sin" sign.
@subSacred@xanga - "Jesus said "go into the world and preach the
Gospel to every creature" not "go stand around sporting printed things
declaring your stance on specific moral behaviors and throw my name in
there"."
Can I title my book from your quote? That is if I ever write a book. Well, it would work in the days when people named books based on the content and used really long titles. Anyway, I love that quote.
@myfanwe@xanga - What is wrong with eating shrimp or rabbit? In Acts there are several occasions where it is made clear that Gentile Christians are allowed to eat such things, and aren't under the OT Levitical code.
@TrumvilleOrbison@xanga - I'm seriously considering printing it and showing my Sunday school class. Maybe we'll decide to make it a permanent addition to our bulletin board.
@CyanideNGunpowder@xanga - Is that site where the picture came from? A friend found it on another blog and sent it to me, I had no clue on the source.
@Pass_the_Aura@xanga - I wish people would read, and try to understand, more of the Bible before they out and did stupid things like this.
@hopethatitglows@xanga - I wish I would have thought to make it, or had the opportunity to take the picture myself. A friend sent it to me and I loved it at first site.
@MagisterTom@xanga - There's nothing wrong with eating shrimp or rabbit. You missed my point. Gentile Christians are free of the Levitical code, but people still use that Old Covenant book to bash homosexuals with. Notwithstanding the NT passages that speak of homosexual rituals with shrine prostitutes, if the Old Covenant doesn't apply in relation to shrimp and rabbit, it can't be trotted out to condemn homosexuals either.
i just don't see why homosexuality is so singled out by Christians. it makes the whole religion seem homophobic.
To be honest, I'm surprised (and perplexed) to see adults in 2009 who are still anti-homosexuality, so I would tackle homophobia and scripture-driven hate before wondering whether or not writing said subjects on signs is a good idea or not.
The only way to come off less hateful is to stop trying to run someone elses life.
As you said, christ can set people free....so let him do it. Unless your name is christ, you'll come off as nothing BUT hateful.