Church Signs

The church I pass by driving in and out of my neighborhood has a new sign this week.

"Live today as though you will face God tomorrow."

That message pretty much sums up the Christian faith for me...Fear.  You better behave yourself before you end up in front of the ultimate parent figure that will dispense his judgment on you.  On the one hand, eternal life in heaven, on the other, eternal damnation in hell.  It's pretty black and white.  (I'll skip the bits about purgatory and the "age of reason" that excludes children, as those rules seem to vary.)

It always seemed odd to me that a God would create us knowing that the large majority would ultimately end up suffering for all eternity.  He created you with all your flaws, left you in an imperfect world to fend for yourself.  He left you a book that has been translated dozens of times, to be interpreted by these same flawed humans, resulting in thousands of religions with their rituals and rules.

You're on your own to figure out exactly which one might be right (hint...they're all wrong) and what he wants you to do.  If you guess wrong, he will banish you to hell to suffer until the end of time.

But he loves you....the ultimate contradiction.

Christians speak of morals provided by God, but the morals they follow are out of fear.  The retribution of God is harsh, so we better obey.  I see no value in morality from fear.  Why be good to gain a reward?  Seems like a selfish reason.  Why not be good for the value of being good?  Why do I need a God to threaten me into acting well?

I don't.

The Baptist church I pass by going in and out of my neighborhood has a new sign up this week.  It says:

"To get to Heaven:  It's whom you know that counts."

As you can probably guess, I've got a problem with this.  They are referring to the passage in the Bible about Jesus being the only way to heaven.  John 14:6

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:  no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

There's nothing in the book that says you'll go to heaven if you honor the 10 commandments.  In fact, there's very little in the Bible about getting to heaven, so I can understand the religious grasping at this bit of information.

But what this statement implies is that someone who leads the worst possible life can get into heaven with a deathbed conversion...just like the thief on the cross next to Jesus, he's dying and suddenly decides he needs to save his soul (Luke 23:40-43) and sure enough, Jesus accepts him into Heaven.

This is in complete contrast to a person who might have lead a good and selfless life, but doesn't accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  Even if this person saved thousands of lives, lead a moral life and sacrificed their own, by Christian logic, this person would still go to hell.  Makes perfect sense right?  The Christians obviously have no concept of karma.

But this leaves some open questions...like, what about the millions of people who lived and died before Christ came along?  What happened to all of them?  Did they go to hell since God hadn't yet gotten around to knocking up his virgin?

And considering the communication systems of the time after Christ, it took many hundreds of years for the message of Christ, carried by word of mouth, to propagate around the world.  Seems like a terrible way for an omnipotent being to get such an important message out to the world.  I would think He could find a better way to broadcast it to everyone quickly.  I guess you work with what you have or maybe He just doesn't care that much about us.

Basically, I'm left with another message from the church that I just can't understand.  But everything they say raises questions in my mind.  I can't seem to put it together in a way that makes a coherent story.  But in their minds, they know the truth.  However, they only think they know the truth, that's why it's called faith.

"I've never understood how God could expect his creatures to pick the one true religion by faith -- it strikes me as a sloppy way to run a universe." - Jubal Harshaw in Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

The Baptist church I drive by going in and out of my neighborhood has a new sign up this week...it says:

"To enjoy the peace of God; know the God of peace"

My first thought was, what God are they talking about?  It can't be the Christian God.  I mean, do they not read their own sacred book?  From this type of conjecture, I tend to think not.  The easiest reference to a vengeful God is Noah and the ark from the book of Genesis.  God basically killed EVERYONE on the Earth except Noah and his family.  How peaceful.  Well, at least after that incident, he promised not to do it again..whew, I feel better now.

But let's not judge from one minor incident...surely there can't be more things like this in the Bible.  Did I speak too soon? (all references are from the King James Version of the Bible)

God killing children and cattle (maybe he views them as one in the same). Exodus 12: 29-30

"And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharoah that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.  And Pharoah rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead."

God ordering his followers to kill.  Ezekiel 9: 5-7

"And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite:  let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:  Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women:  but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary.  Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.  And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain:  go ye forth.  And they went forth, and slew the city."

God advocating slavery, raping and pillaging.  Deuteronomy 20: 10-14

"When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.  And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall server thee.  And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:  And when the LORD your God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:  But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD your God hath given thee."

You better listen to what God says, even if he asks you to commit murder.  1 Kings 20: 35-36

"And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbor in the word of the LORD, Smite me, I pray thee.  And the man refused to smite him.  Then said he unto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the LORD, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee.  And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him."

God can be angry and self-centered.  Deuteronomy 7: 1-4

"When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:  Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; they daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.  For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may server other gods; so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly."

God destroys entire towns FOREVER.  Deuteronomy 13: 13-18

"Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and server other gods, which ye have not known; Then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you; Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.  And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be a heap for ever, it shall not be built again.  And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers; When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD they God."

There's plenty more where these came from, just open the Bible and begin reading, it won't take long to find a God that is jealous, spiteful, vengeful and just plain full of himself.  If this is the God of peace, I think I'll pass.

The church I pass going in and out of my neighborhood has a new sign this week that says:

"The Ten Commandments are Not Multiple Choice"

Well, this inspires many different thoughts...the first of which has me wondering how many christians actually know all of the ten commandments?  I recall that wonderful segment from The Colbert Report when he was interviewing a US Congressman who was arguing to allow a list of the 10 commandments to be shown in the capitol building and when asked to name all of the commandments, he couldn't.

I don't believe his situation is unique in this regard.  So for those who are unclear on the list, here they are:

1. You shall have no other Gods before me.
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven or above or that is on the earth beneath....you shall not bow down to them or worship them.
3. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misues his name.
4. Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy.  For 6 days you shall labor and do all your work.  But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work--you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you.
5. Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
6. You shall not kill.
7. Neither shall you commit adultery.
8. Neither shall you steal.
9. Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. Neither shall you covet your neighbor's wife.  Neither shall you desire your neighbors's house, or field, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Where to start....

It's been a while, but the church I drive by to get in and out of my neighborhood has a sign that I don't quite understand.

Prayer doesn't need proof, it needs practice.

I guess that embodies the definition of faith;  No need for proof, you just have to believe.  But I'm not sure that's the message they are trying to convey.  Maybe it's because I'm coming at this from a non-religious perspective, but I never really seem to get the point of these messages.  I don't think my mind is tuned the way theirs was when they thought this was a good message.

After contemplating it for a while, I began to ask myself, why does prayer need practice?  Can it be done incorrectly?  Do we need to go to prayer practice to be coached on the proper way to pray?  And if there is no need for proof that it works, how can we tell if we did it wrong?

Maybe they mean the other definition of practice in that we need to pray more often.  But should we have a set schedule for prayer?  I always thought prayer wasn't for everything, but for moments of need.  Prayer was a deeply personal thing between the individual and God.  Telling me I need to pray more often doesn't make sense.  I should pray when I need to, not just for the sake of prayer.  If we pray when we don't really need to, how can God know to separate the wheat from the chaff?  Yeah, I know, dumb question...God knows everything...but wait...then I don't need to pray...shit...I'm confused.

I've always thought of prayer as kind of silly anyway.  Do we really think God is going to listen to us?  Doesn't he already have a plan that we can't possibly understand?  Why would he change that plan just because we asked him to?  In my view, this gets to a deeper question;  Do we have free will or is everything predestined?  and also, does God care about us as individuals?

I think I've made my feelings on the latter subject pretty clear on this site.  I don't believe in a personal God who watches over us and cares about what happens to us.  There's too much crap in this world to think otherwise.  As for the free will vs. predestination question, that's a bit tougher to answer.  I like to think there is free will.  If not, then according to the Christian faith in which I was raised, God created me to not believe in him, which means I'm going to burn in hell for all eternity.  That would be a pretty crappy God to create me this way knowing I can't change it and that his plan for me is to suffer forever in a hell he created.  So hopefully there is free will so it will be my fault for suffering for all eternity, but then I probably messed up God's plan, or that was God's plan.  Shit, I'm confused again.

Anyway, here's a video about free will that is pretty entertaining and if anyone can help me understand what they're trying to convey with that sign, I would appreciate it.

The Baptist church at the entrance to my neighborhood is at it again.  This week the sign says

"Forgive Your Enemies, It Messes With Their Minds"

I think they are trying to be funny, but is this really the message you want to send out to the community?  That you encourage your members to mess with people's minds?  Why not just post the "turn the other cheek" reference, it's certainly more to the point and more biblical.  After all, isn't the message of Jesus about how all men are equal in the eyes of God and forgiveness is essential along with not judging others.  Maybe that was just the message in my church growing up...I guess times have changed.

The message on the sign reminded me of an old argument the creationists use to explain away fossils.  They say God put them there as a test of our faith.  So in effect, God is messing with our minds to see who really believes in him.  What a nice God that is.  Oh and God put the light from distant galaxies already in motion close to the earth so we would have something pretty to look at.  Frankly, I think that's a load of crap, but that's just me.

Apparently, I'm not the only one who feels this way.  (warning: the video contains some not nice language)

I've posted before about the sign in front of the Baptist church I pass each day as I drive in and out of my neighborhood.  Well this week the sign says

"Don't measure God's mind by your own."

After reading that for nearly a week now, I'm still confused as to what message that phrase is trying to convey.  In fact, I can think of three things that it could mean, one of which might make some sense.

1. God works in mysterious ways
2. We can't comprehend God
3. Shut up and obey

Can you guess which one I might actually agree with?  I think I made it easy enough, but to know why, you'll have to click the link...it's kind of a long explanation.

Or the Lottery...that's what a sign in front of a church I pass at least twice a day going in and out of my neighborhood says.  Each week, they change the phrase on the sign.  This week it says..."God has no Lottery System for Getting to Heaven".  Yes, it's a big sign and yes, obviously it's a Baptist church.  No gambling is the 11th commandment, just before the no dancing one.

I thought about this phrase for a while, then I couldn't help thinking of the old saying..."you don't get to pick your parents".  So in a way, your religion is a kind of lottery.  You could have been born to Muslim parents, or Hindu parents, or Buddhist parents, or..oh well, you get the idea.  And if you were born in ancient Greece, you're gods would have been completely different.  The fact that you were born in recent times and that your parents were Baptist is just dumb luck.  In essence, according to this faction of the Christians, you've won the religious lottery!!  You should feel really lucky.

Speaking of factions...take a look at the video below to get an idea of just how lucky you must be.