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| Pasadena |
Seriously, where do these people come from? Is there some sort of secret Sign People society that I’m unaware of? I never really paid much attention to it before. I usually just tuned them out. But now that I’m on this subject I realize that
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| Chinatown |
I see them just about everywhere I go. Especially if it is an event where people are trying to have any kind of fun. You can be certain there will be someone with a ginormous yellow and black sign to inform you that you are either going to Hell or that Jesus loves you. Well, which is it because I’m pretty sure that it can’t be both. I’m really beginning to wonder if the word “Christian” is synonymous with “buzzkill”. I’ll
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| Downtown L.A. |
often engage them just to see what they have to say. You never know, someone might have some great wisdom to impart. But the conversation always ends in disappointment. Everything they say is such a line.
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| Santa Monica |
I can practically write script at this point. First, some weird quote from their mystic book that never makes any sense. Then they’ll claim to be praying for me which I assume to be some sort of Christian slang for “Enjoy your stay in Hell, Heathen!”. Where is all of the knowledge? Where are the revolutionary ideas? Is a person that decides to become a Christian doomed to follow single file down the same footsteps forever?
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For some people fear is a great motivator for change. I, personally, don't choose to evangelize that way. I try to show Jesus to people by the way I live my life. But, since I'm a regular human being that makes mistakes and sometimes cusses, I don't know how good of a job I'm doing.
ReplyDeleteBetter than most I'm sure. Regular human is a good place to start.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, "sign people" usually make me cringe too. Sorry you're having so many bad experiences. There's more of value in Christianity than what you're seeing here though, and we don't have to be carbon copies of each other. As a matter of fact, we shouldn't be carbon copies.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I wonder.. Especially when I keep hearing the same lines over and over. It's almost as if it turns people into robots. Now that's a thought that makes me cringe.
ReplyDeleteHi Nowehere man,
ReplyDeleteI hope everything's going OK! :)
I can indeed sympathise with some of your concerns. Although there may
indeed be many good intentions, a major problem with the short slogan
style of the signs is that it, as you have pointed out, provides very
little explanation of what the message means, thus perhaps causing
misunderstanding. The sign phenomenon must be something more prevalent
in the USA than the UK, since I rarely, if at all, see signs such as
those in the pictures anywhere here. The vast majority of Christians, as
such, are not really sign people, and it certainly is not comething
that every Christian ends up doing.
The whole essence of Jesus' message includes one of inclusion of
marginalised members of society, and of unconditionally loving others.
As such, any desire or wish expressed for another person to 'go to Hell'
is utterly against the message of Christ, even if many Christians seem
to create this impression. Prayer is supposed to me a means by which a
person empathises and sympathises with the concerns of the person,
starting to love them with the affection with which God loves them.
Although it so often has poor intentions, it ought to be based only on
love
This is a major feature of the revolutionary ideas of Jesus' message.
The idea of unconditional love and grace towards others, even to those
who may seem like your worst enemy, is a message that has the potential
to completely revolutionise society, even though no Christian properly
fits this. Biblical data and passages, for example, ultimately follow
the background a large portion of Jesus teaching about this issue! In
fact, the very 'Gospel' of Christianity literally means 'good news' -
the self-giving love shown by Jesus in dying for others is a central
idea of Jesus' message. It is centrally incredible optimistic! :-)
All kind wishes to you,
Elliot :-)
Perhaps if more people upheld the "spirit" of this message as you suggest, then maybe the words would have a little more impact.
ReplyDelete