Trust Jesus?

So, I’ve traveled in maybe half the US states, and in every one, on some overpass, I’ve seen spray painted the words “Trust Jesus.” Fine. I can get behind that. But, it always seems to be written in the same style handwriting, one word on top of the other. And why only Trust Jesus. There are a lot of short, graffiti-worthy sayings about God you could spray paint on an overpass. I’ve seen “Jesus Saves” once or twice, but nowhere near as often.

What gives? Is this a cult? Some particular denomination that took the Great Commission to refer to vandalism?

It used to be ‘Jesus saves’ in England, but then someone added ‘but Keegan* nets the rebound!’.

*A former centre-forward at Liverpool football club…

I have always taken it as a pithy proselytization, highly unlikely to be effective except to give the vandal a sense that he has discharged a duty to bring in any stray sheaves.

I cannot rule out that it is D_r T___s using reverse psychology to damage the Religion. :wink:

Think of it as a building tattoo for Christ. http://teachmedad.files.wordpress.com/2006/11/trust-jesus.jpg I never figured out why tattooees copy cheap and shabby designs, either.

Ha, my favorite band has a song about this:

http://www.slobberbone.com/lyrics_eytwrwwt.html#trust

You will note that those who spray paint such slogans are, in effect, defacing public property. They fail to see the irony of proselytizing in this case is to commit a violation of the secular law, as well as one of the Ten Commandments. Or are some more holier than thou?

Which of the Ten Commandments does it violate?

Perhaps he/she meant the one against idols ?

Many years ago I met a couple of Americans in a pub in Stratford.

They had noticed the legend Take Courage which featured on many hoardings thereabouts. They told me how heartened they were that we British were being urged to be brave and steadfast in the face of the many problems that life threw at us in our daily grind.

I broke it to them as diplomatically as I could that Courage was and is a well known brand of beer.

I don’t suppose Jesus is a particularly reliable alcoholic beverage of some kind, is it?

Perhaps, but I was also thinking of coveting someone else’s property for your own use.

no…but is sure as hell should be. the only question is what kind of beverage. I am kinda thinking an alcoholic version of Jones sodas stuffing, because that crap would certainly get a “JESUS CHRIST WTF IS THIS CRAP” outta me if I had no warning.

Well, to get to the good spots to spray paint, you often have to crawl through drainage ditches, and there is a commandment, I believe, that goes “Thou shalt not culvert.”

The whole thing doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. It seems like belief in Jesus would be a prerequisite to trusting him. If you do believe in him I think trusting him would kind of going without saying. And if you don’t believe in him, it doesn’t make sense to try to convince people to trust a fictional character.

Apparently these graffiti were prominent in the 1980s. See this link

The above was written in 2000. The implication is that the graffiti have long disappeared from his area; clearly they’re still going strong in other places.

I think it’s bottom-shelf whiskey. There’s a guy at my bar who always asks for a double of the stuff, downs it at a go, and then exclaims “Sweet JESUS!”

Quite. The vandals involved are not the brightest candles burning on the evangelization altar.

I used to see this graffiti all the time in my earlier travels (late 80s, Midwest) and it always seemed to be in the same handwriting.

Once I saw one where someone else had written “Don’t” above and “freaks” below the graffito. :smiley:

I recall an article in Spy magazine in the 1980’s about a similar phenomenon. Someone was scratching the words “Jesus Saves,” “Jesus Is Lord,” “Trust Jesus,” or something of that sort into every doorway over a huge proportion of Manhattan. It was scratched vertically into the wall next to the exterior door of nearly every building over much of Manhattan. There must have been tens of thousands of these inscriptions. Does anyone else remember seeing this article or seeing the scratchings themselves?