a sign of the times
Ya know, I’ve been thinking critically lately, and one thing I don’t like is church signs in places where church signs shouldn’t be. For instance, I have some family that lives in East Texas. On the way back into Dallas from visiting them, there’s an “adult giftshop” on the side of the highway. About 200 feet, or a little more, away from it is a giant billboard with some inspirational church message on it. What is this doing? What is this church expecting to happen?
It’s my opinion that the sign shouldn’t be there, as it is most likely doing more harm than good, and here’s why I believe that. First, I feel it’s a deliberate attempt at showing that shop, “Hey, we know you’re here, but we wanna make sure you know we don’t approve.” Second, I think, paired with the first, it’s a gross misuse of funds and resources. And finally, I think it’s an attempt to guilt the patrons of that store to either not go, or to guilt them to Jesus.
Let’s tackle these issues real quick. The first, as if the shop didn’t already know evangelicals don’t approve of that, “let’s make a giant sign just to prove our point and hopefully they’ll get mad and shut the shop down.” This doesn’t work, and obviously only makes the owners mad, again, putting more and more distance between them and potentially coming to know Christ.
The second, come on church. We’re entrusting our tithes and special offerings to be used by the church for the good and advancement of the Gospel of Jesus. This is hurting that advancement and in my opinion WORSE for the glorification of Christ by being good stewards of the He gives us and we offer back to Him.
Finally, and most importantly is the issue of guilt. Do we really need to guilt people to Jesus? Is that the motive He used? Nope. Let’s look at the account of the woman who was caught in adultery, in John 8:1-11. The Pharisees bring a woman caught in adultery. They present her to Jesus and mention the Law of Moses, and it’s mandate to stone her based on her sins. Obviously, Jesus knew it was a trap. He takes a bit of time, writing in the sand, and says, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Obviously, this struck a nerve, and we know that the people begin to leave one by one until only Jesus and the woman are left.
He asks, where are your accusers, has anyone accused you? She replies that no one remains, and that not one person has accused now. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Where is the guilt Jesus used? Oh, yeah, He doesn’t. Church don’t you get it? Guilt tactics elicit responses that aren’t genuine. Guilt only lasts, for a bit, until we feel clean again. Until what’s on the inside has come out only to be filled up by something dirty again. I suggest we present Jesus as Jesus would present Himself. We have an account for every instance why not use it?
The idea for this post, aside from seeing that specific sign, was prompted by visiting a Mexican food restaurant in Tyler, Texas. A few feet down the road, is a giant billboard claiming the best Mexican food in all of East Texas. I found it incredibly poor in taste because of its location. It’s obvious this place wanted to steal customers; a true sign of the times.
Comments (3)