15 March 2006

Ahhhhhhhhhhh


I prayed for the woman in the car in front of me this morning based solely on the message I got from her bumper. No...it wasn't because she had one of those Darwin fish with legs eating the Christian fish. Rather, it was because she had a bumper sticker that read:

Dear God,
Why do you allow so much violence in the public schools?
-Concerned Student

Dear Concerned Student,
I'm not allowed in the public schools.
-God

First, to even suggest that violence in schools is somehow tied to God's absence therefrom is absurd. It essentially presupposes that God sits in Heaven and plays games -- protecting the christian schools, while letting bedlam run free in the public schools. Further, to suggest that God is not present in public schools is even more absurd. These same Christians will quote all kinds of "God is everywhere" verses to help another Christian through a trial, but totally blow it out the door to make some clever evangelistic statment to the "corrupt sinners" of this World. Lord, save us all.

Second, we need to be so careful about speaking for God at anytime, but especially these days after the whole GodSpeaks.com billboard campaign. He gave us the Spirit-breathed Word of Life centuries ago. Why do we now feel the need to prostitute His sacred message with flippant doses of "holier-than-thou" contempt? Did Jesus love sinners or did he scorn them?

3 comments:

miller said...

YEAH BUDDY!

if there's anything that makes me want to do violence, its trite and thoughtless "bumper-sticker christianity"!

i'm with you, Lord help us.

Anonymous said...

Well stated! God has not been removed from the schools, but rather God has called us to love deeply. And from my perspective it's not the schools but the homes and the children that need the love of Christ and we are commanded to love our neighbors.

troy. said...

And from my perspective it's not the schools but the homes and the children that need the love of Christ

Great thought. This is totally the key -- fix the root of the problem and the problem disappears. Even if we can't imagine seeing a solution this side of Heaven, we are still instructed to follow through on His command to love.