This is a picture of an actual church sign I saw in Fort Wayne the the other day:
No doubt someone simply thought this would be kind of funny, but it reinforces so many of the pre-conceived notions people have about God that keep them away from the church. It was probably meant in fun, but this is an epic FAIL. On so many levels.
- It paints God as essentially ticked-off; a frustrated parent pulling his hair out over the misbehavior of his children. The implication is “If I have to get involved, it won’t be a pretty sight!” This is a god who threatens us with his presence.
- It paints God as essentially absent; a uninterested parent who wishes he could just have some peace and quiet, mostly annoyed by the need to intervene in human affairs. This is a god who would rather be reading the newspaper.
- Plus, the central message of Christianity is that God did come down here. That’s why we call the birth of Jesus the Incarnation; it was the en-fleshing of God. And we found, to our surprise and delight, that God was not a distant, ticked-off deity, but a Father who cares and loves more deeply than we can fathom. We found God was not looking to dish out punishment but actually took all the punishment upon himself, providing a way for us to be forgiven and restored to be the kind of people that reflect the same goodness and self-sacrificing love we see in God himself.
Frankly the god who would say the words on this sign has nothing to do with the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is moral therapeutic deism without the therapeutic part.
So much of how we frame and live out the Christian life comes back to our view of God. This is why it is so important to, in the words of Dallas Willard, “enthrall the mind with God.” To bring his revealed character before our minds often, to soak ourselves in the reality of who he is, meditating on what he has done, what he is like.
The missional church will never get a lot of traction until people have a view of God that differs radically from the one who would say “Don’t make me come down there!” We have to be converted to the God who did come down there, not to dish out punishment, but to take it, not to scold but to seek and save the lost, the God who conquered death through his own death (“trampling down death by death” in the words of St. Chrysostom), the God who is always working (John 5:17) to renew everything (Rev 21:5).
Great post! I’ve been quietly enjoying (and sometimes forwarding) your posts since you started your plant – great stuff. I have also despaired in the past at what churches choose to put on their signs. Really astonishing!
Thanks for commenting. Glad it’s been helpful.
maybe the very definition of blasphemy is when we present God in a way that is false (untrue)???? An old Webster dictionary says “Blasphemy is an injury offered to God,by denying that which is due and belonging to Him, or attributing to Him that which is not agreeable to His nature.” I like this.
But then I wonder if, by labeling that sign “blasphemous”, I am being critical and judgmental toward those who have not yet seen Him as the father who loves them so much. And then will I be one who is not presenting Him as He really is? And yet, Jesus spoke harsh words to those misrepresenting Him and the Father!!
How hard it is to present the truth about such an awesome Father from a pure heart!!!!
So true, clara. I do think there is a place to lovingly label things “blasphemous,” actually. But to do so without a hint of condemnation is where it gets tricky, which is what Jesus did so beautifully. It’s interesting to think that Jesus loved the Pharisees just as much as he loved the tax collectors, but that love expressed itself very differently toward those two groups of people.
Now I don’t have to write this post. I have a picture of the same sign and have been planning all week to write an apology. Now I don’t have to.
You have captured the key challenges of the sign well. The irony of this sign less that two months before our celebration of the Incarnation made be want to run weeping to my friends saying, “no, no, please ignore that view.”
Thanks for the comment, Jon. It is ironic to think that this sign actually makes the Incarnation a very threatening idea!
Would you get sued if you didn’t blur the church’s name?
Probably not, but I didn’t want to do any public shaming 😉 Plus, this post is from 8 years ago!