Castiel233 Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Average sized church with a bill board outside, usually with stuff like this "If you have a long standing problem, try kneeling" "God is 24/7 Wi-fi" And my favourite..... "The time to be happy is now, the place to be happy is hear", a quote from Robert Ingersoll, the church has "borrowed" to entice people...... Another local church uses stuff, such as "Without God you are snookered" (with a picture of a snooker ball) What is very noticeable they don't use Bible quotes as often as I think they should. The Bible should be all they need, yet they search out and use secular language more often than not. Why is that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llwellyn Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 It's the "Alpha Course" approach -- bait and switch. Speak in reasonable, relevant, obvious, agreeable language, and then smuggle in the crazy after people are already hooked. This was also the method of C.S. Lewis. What parts are the crazy? Exhibit A is the economy of the cross. Exhibit B is Nicene Creed Trinitarianism. Exhibit C is Divine Revelation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castiel233 Posted March 1, 2015 Author Share Posted March 1, 2015 It's the "Alpha Course" approach -- bait and switch. Speak in reasonable, relevant, obvious, agreeable language, and then smuggle in the crazy after people are already hooked. This was also the method of C.S. Lewis. What parts are the crazy? Exhibit A is the economy of the cross. Exhibit B is Nicene Creed Trinitarianism. Exhibit C is Divine Revelation. I think you have a good point....hide the crazy until they are fully committed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llwellyn Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 If the expression "Without God you are Snookered" can be considered polite speech, proper to public spaces, then the expression "If you believe in God you are snookered" can also be considered polite speech, proper to public places. I actually think both of these statements are crass and nasty, which just goes to show that there is a double standard where Christians claim more entitlements than they recognize for others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castiel233 Posted March 1, 2015 Author Share Posted March 1, 2015 The fact that Christians churches use secular language and non Biblical sources to promote the faith, shows in part what a hard sell the Christian faith can be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StJeffTheIncomprehensible Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Average sized church with a bill board outside, usually with stuff like this "If you have a long standing problem, try kneeling" "God is 24/7 Wi-fi" And my favourite..... "The time to be happy is now, the place to be happy is hear", a quote from Robert Ingersoll, the church has "borrowed" to entice people...... Another local church uses stuff, such as "Without God you are snookered" (with a picture of a snooker ball) What is very noticeable they don't use Bible quotes as often as I think they should. The Bible should be all they need, yet they search out and use secular language more often than not. Why is that? The church on the corner close to my house often has misspelled words, grammatical mistakes, and always, without fail, misused quotation marks. For instance, one message earlier this year read "WHAT IF" JESUS REATURNED IN "2015?" This isn't unusual--one can find this kind of thing on church signs all over town-- and has led me to form a theory that the church member who most often volunteers to keep up the moveable-letter sign is the least qualified to do so. Also close to my house and on my way to work is a moveable-letter sign that does have bible verses. It's not attached to a church--it just sits off the highway in a little clearing in the middle of the woods. In the past, whoever kept it up would put the usual verses of encouragement, such as John 3:16 or Romans 8:28. I think someone new took over the maintenance of the sign, and now it often just has random partial verses, such as SAYING MASTER, MOSES SAID, IF A MAN DIE, HAVING NO CHILDREN. What the hell?! And lately they've taken to posting stuff other than bible verses. The most recent one was a message reading: GAY MARRIAGE AT THE ALTER OF GOD. Most days I can't wait to drive to work to see what they come up with next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disillusioned Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 It's the "Alpha Course" approach -- bait and switch. Speak in reasonable, relevant, obvious, agreeable language, and then smuggle in the crazy after people are already hooked. This was also the method of C.S. Lewis. What parts are the crazy? Exhibit A is the economy of the cross. Exhibit B is Nicene Creed Trinitarianism. Exhibit C is Divine Revelation. This is very insightful. I used to be a big fan of CS Lewis. What he did brilliantly was to present simple things in reasonable terms, and to simply gloss over all of the rest. Once you've accepted the worldview, the inconsistencies are easy to dismiss as merely the result of our poor understanding. We're only humans, after all. How can we be expected to understand God? Don't even get me started on Nicky Gumbel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 I've noticed for years the signs local churches put up. It's often quotes that could be applied to any religion, or more often than not, no religion. It's secular as many have already stated because churches are too afraid to put the BS that's in the bible on their church signs. Putting up the story of Lot giving the crowd his daughters to rape or the one about God killing that guy because he shot his load on the ground instead of in his sister in law just wouldn't bring in the influx of people knocking down church doors wanting membership I don't think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarGazer Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Well, they have to bring in the young people. In their out of touch minds, using more modern language will entice people. Well, it will more than your standard 'Doom and Gloom' Bible verse, so I'll give them that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Furball Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 They will use whatever bait to try and catch us fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts