Disturbing Church Signs

Armitage72

Philosopher
Armitage72
Joined
Mar 15, 2012
Messages
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Location
Rochester, NY
There's a Lutheran church that I drive past on my way to work every day. Today, the sign on their lawn said:

"Our obedience is a gift to Jesus."

That seems just a little creepy to me. This is the same church that I've mentioned a couple times before. Back in 2012 or 2013, their sign said:

"Satan likes to compromise. God demands unconditional victory."

While it wasn't necessarily intended to have political connotations, it could be interpreted that way, and it's disturbing in any case.
 
Sorry, I read the thread title as an instruction. My mistake.
 
The board outside one local church read, "JESUS CHRIST". I can only assume they intended it to say more but ran out of letters.
 
I find those messages outside churches quite amusing, and seem to me a last ditch effort of churches to appear to be relevant.

But yes, those signs with such high emphasis on obedience are a bit disturbing.
 
Armitage72 said:
There's a Lutheran church that I drive past on my way to work every day. Today, the sign on their lawn said:

"Our obedience is a gift to Jesus."
That seems just a little creepy to me. This is the same church that I've mentioned a couple times before. Back in 2012 or 2013, their sign said:

"Satan likes to compromise. God demands unconditional victory."

While it wasn't necessarily intended to have political connotations, it could be interpreted that way, and it's disturbing in any case.
Click to expand...

"I just do what he (He) tells me. It saves me a lot of difficult thinking, uncertainty, and responsibility. Besides- He (or his Dad) will punish me for all eternity if I don't."
 
I used to have to drive through Las Vegas once or twice a month. There was place along I-15 where a church frequently rented billboard space. By accident or deliberation, the billboard they used was located in an area with a lot of adult entertainment venues.

This led to cases where the proximity to the adult entertainment venues let to signs that appeared to say "Jesus Saves Tiffany McBoobs!". Or "Jesus Loves You Totally Nude Dancers!".

Unfortunately, the practicalities of driving on a busy interstate highway prevented me from taking good photos.

More to the OP, The sentiment expressed in the OP does not seem much out of the ordinary. A sermon from our Catholic priest on the need to obey and not question God was one of the things that pretty well drove me from religion. IHMO, if God is all that good, he ought to be able to stand up to some scrutiny, but the churches don't always seem to feel that way.
 
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Giordano said:
"I just do what he (He) tells me. It saves me a lot of difficult thinking, uncertainty, and responsibility. Besides- He (or his Dad) will punish me for all eternity if I don't."
Click to expand...


The theme of not thinking, just believe and obey, is common in most religions. After all ... Thinking is a Faith Hazard.
 
I saw this one a few years ago down south (Dunedin?).

sign-church.jpg


Now, if you don't live in New Zealand or Australia, you might wonder what the story is here...

sign-warehouse.png
 
smartcooky said:
I saw this one a few years ago down south (Dunedin?).

[qimg]https://www.dropbox.com/s/i4eg99sjt4hx9yv/sign-church.jpg?raw=1[/qimg]

Now, if you don't live in New Zealand or Australia, you might wonder what the story is here...

[qimg]https://www.dropbox.com/s/bmjlt4yjqb1vz4m/sign-warehouse.png?raw=1[/qimg]
Click to expand...

:D
 
Norman Alexander said:
It's Lutheran. That's the sort of guy Martin Luther was. You will also be required to hate and exterminate the Jews.
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ahhell said:
Funny, most lutheran's I know are pretty hippy dippy progressives, results may vary.
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There are all sorts of Lutherans. In addition to three large groupings, Wikipedia says "There are at least 20 smaller Lutheran denominations in North America, with some of them being doctrinal offshoots of larger groups through the years, or groups that never merged."

The largest (I think), ELCA, is pretty liberal. Missouri Synod is much stricter. A couple of years ago we attended a funeral in a WELS church, which has a strict rule that women may not participate in any fashion in the running of the church.
 
Until I was in my late teens I honestly thought ... "The Lutheran Churches" were churches of Satan Worshipers.

As one of the biblical names for Satan is Lucifer and it sounds similar to Luther.
 
I disturbed a church sign once when I was young. Kicked the bloody thing over!
 
When I drove home after work this afternoon, I saw that "obedience" has been changed to "faithfulness". There might be an interesting story there.
 
crescent said:
More to the OP, The sentiment expressed in the OP does not seem much out of the ordinary. A sermon from our Catholic priest on the need to obey and not question God was one of the things that pretty well drove me from religion. IHMO, if God is all that good, he ought to be able to stand up to some scrutiny, but the churches don't always seem to feel that way.
Click to expand...

Huh, he should talk to the Pope:

We do not need to be afraid of questions and doubts because they are the beginning of a path of knowledge and going deeper; one who does not ask questions cannot progress either in knowledge or in faith.

Pope Francis
 
crescent said:
The Big Dog said:
Huh, he should talk to the Pope:
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The current Pope has expressed a good many sentiments not shared by his predecessors.
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Nothing you can find in Lumen Fidei or Laudato Si'.

It's just Bergoglio, king of mikes. It's all book example gattopardismo (from "the Leopard" and the statement of Tancredi "If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change", or the way it is used in modern politics: "change everything in order to change nothing")
 
aleCcowaN said:
Then this thread should be moved to Social Issues.
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Mebbe. I'll let the mods worry about that sort of sorting.

Religion inevitably has social issue components. Street signs and billboards are definitely an example of that.

If every single discussion of religion which had any connection at all with social issues were to be sent to the Social Issues (And Current Events) sub-forum then it might depopulate this one significantly.
 
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quadraginta said:
Mebbe. I'll let the mods worry about that sort of sorting.

Religion inevitably has social issue components. Street signs and billboards are definitely an example of that.

If every single discussion of religion which had any connection at all with social issues were to be sent to the Social Issues (And Current Events) sub-forum then it might depopulate this one significantly.
Click to expand...

But both of us know well that's not what's happening here.

For the umpteenth time one of the guys, self-identified as "atheist", enrages because of what a religious person/group is saying. It's a bull plus red cape thing. It's almost irrational.

People who is not enraged reading about homicides every single day -or avoiding that part of the newspaper- become infuriated when they see a billboard expressing a religious belief, installed in church's property and complying with all the applicable regulations. The whole thing is very telling of ♪ koo-koo, koo-koo ♪ happening in the roof.

Even not being infuriated but remembering to comment of that when visiting the forum is a sign of something not well managed.

[drama queen] The sound of bells calling for mass invades my home!!! The voice of the muezzin calling to pray doesn't allow me to watch television!!! [/drama queen]

Fortunately, I like bells, and the closest minaret is one mile away. When the testículos de Jehova gather in a park nearby using loudspeakers to attract the gullible, I close my windows and don't rush to post here what a pain in the ethics they are.
 
aleCcowaN said:
But both of us know well that's not what's happening here.
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We?

You got a frog in your pocket or something?

For the umpteenth time one of the guys, self-identified as "atheist", enrages because of what a religious person/group is saying. It's a bull plus red cape thing. It's almost irrational.

People who is not enraged reading about homicides every single day -or avoiding that part of the newspaper- become infuriated when they see a billboard expressing a religious belief, installed in church's property and complying with all the applicable regulations. The whole thing is very telling of ♪ koo-koo, koo-koo ♪ happening in the roof.
Click to expand...


I didn't comment on "enraged". I was talking about "amused".

These are not synonyms.

If you have issues with someone who was "enraged" then you need to bring them up with that person.

Even not being infuriated but remembering to comment of that when visiting the forum is a sign of something not well managed.

<snip>
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When someone brings up the subject of vanity license plates I often remember and comment on ones I found amusing.


Is that "a sign of something not well managed"?
 
Armitage72 said:
When I drove home after work this afternoon, I saw that "obedience" has been changed to "faithfulness". There might be an interesting story there.
Click to expand...

The story of the Reformation. Someone remembered it was a Lutheran Church founded on the doctrine of Justification by Faith.
 
I once saw a church which had a sign with a black background and "GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST" in luminous yellow letters. Someone came along and used a black pen to eradicate one of the "es", so that it read "GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGH ST".
 
quadraginta said:
We?

You got a frog in your pocket or something?
Click to expand...

So ... you wouldn't know

I Am The Scum said:
Who in this thread is enraged? (other than yourself)
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Nobody is enraged in this thread. This thread exist just to liberate the tension generated by reading that billboard.

@ both

That's the way a third to a half the threads in Religion and Philosophy work: antitheist become offended when they read of see a manifestation of explicit theism; they come here and post because to them -at least a half of who claim to be atheists- religion is contra natura and an abomination, similarly to what fundamentalist Xians think of abortion and homosexuality.

Antitheism is a religion: the obsessive ritualistic nature of religion but devoted to the god Empty Set.

Of course most of the readers wouldn't know what I'm talking about :rolleyes:. I will think a nice OP during the weekend and start a thread here calling out anthitheists. It's fundamental if this forum is to become one about scepticism.
 
Trebuchet said:
There are all sorts of Lutherans. In addition to three large groupings, Wikipedia says "There are at least 20 smaller Lutheran denominations in North America, with some of them being doctrinal offshoots of larger groups through the years, or groups that never merged."

The largest (I think), ELCA, is pretty liberal. Missouri Synod is much stricter. A couple of years ago we attended a funeral in a WELS church, which has a strict rule that women may not participate in any fashion in the running of the church.
Click to expand...

Missouri Synod Lutherans make the best atheists. They have all the wacky bits of theology with zero room for metaphor or creative interpretations, and fellow congregants who are too sensible for hippy dippy rationalizing and too nice for intimidation. It just takes one critical thought to bring down the whole edifice.
 
aleCcowaN said:
<snip>

Antitheism is a religion: the obsessive ritualistic nature of religion but devoted to the god Empty Set.

<snip>
Click to expand...


What utter nonsense.

That's just another version of the tired old lie about atheists being religious about atheism.

It requires no element of faith to see potential or demonstrated ill-effects resulting from the beliefs and practices of some churches and cults, any more than it does from some street gangs or political groups.

No "obsessive ritualistic nature" is required to be against such negative effects on society.

I can find fault with and be "anti" the practices of (by way of example) the Westboro Baptist Church or the FLDS without even the least obsession or ritual.

I suspect I am not alone in this.
 
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