“In the event of rapture, can I have your car?”
Argh! That was me.
And what about that restaurant chain TGIF? Does the waitress come back and say “I noticed you folks didn’t say grace before you started on those jalepeno poppers. You see those antique torture devices up on the wall among the old railroad lanterns and snowshoes? So Thank God, just like our name says!”
And what happens when they open franchises in non-monotheistic countries?
Thailand’s TBIF? But you really can’t “thank Buddha.” There’s that contrast of Christian “linear” prayer to the godhead VS Buddhist “wholistic” dispersal of the sense of self. I don’t think you can sell breaded shrimp baskets with that concept, though.
How about TOLIF, since, if anyone deserves thanks for getting the weekend off, it’s Organized Labor. Actually, both “Gompers” and “Wobblie’s” do sound kind of like restaurant chains.
Moving this to Great Debates.
Great comparison…except for the small part where Bush isn’t the son of God, a lord or a savior, so even if Jesus did say it, it’s probably still not a great basis for current foreign policy.
Just a slight nitpick. Note these words attributed to Jesus, in Matthew 28:19, 20
Making disciples and teaching them would require more than just living a good life in private. It would require some sort of “witnessing” activity. It seems, though, that some Christian denominations view witnessing as more important than others. I guess it all depends on how much activity you read into this “command” of Christ.
As always, when discussing religious issues, ymmv.
Thank you. That was the point I was trying to make: if you present your beliefs to someone in a way that is frightening to them or doesn’t make sence, then you have accomplished nothing. People who need help or who have gone astray need to know that help is available, but it should be presented in a non-threatening, non-judgemental way. The Howard Stern shock-jock thing only creates defensiveness and conflict.
Vlad/Igor
Yeah, but that doesn’t stop things like…
This is nothing new. Images of Jesus have changed radicallly in almost every era to appeal to different people. You might even call Jesus the first modern advertising campaign: expanding into wider markets and changing the message and approach to fit the targets.
You may not like the bumper sticker route, but it’s basically just using the already established methods and attitudes of in-your-face modernity to spread a message. And as modern advertising shows us, no matter how detestable or irritating people SAY they find advertising, it still brings hella results.
If this were first century C.E. Palestine I would see your point, but it’s not. It’s the very early 21st century North America. Christianity has been infused in our culture for nearly 2000 years. Yet evangelizing Christians go around as if most of us were totally ignorant of Christian beliefs and doctrine. That’s what I find most offensive about Christian witnessing, the attitude that because I’m not Christian I must be totally ignorant of its doctrine. I would bet that you’d be hard pressed to find anyone age 10 or over who wasn’t aware of Christianity and some points of its doctrine.
I’ve spent a long time pondering Christianity, considering its points and message before actively rejecting it. Yet the evangelicals continue to ignore my own personal history and the cultural history I stated above and try to witness. That’s what so damn offensive about them.
I doubt that advertizing about your religion on things like bumper stickers brings “results” the religion would want it to bring.
In my view such things only denegrate the religion (but that is the case with much things surrounding “religion” in the USA).
If you act as if God needs your advertizing to be known this denigrates God to the level of being dependent from humans. This makes you look as someone completely lost in astounishing arrogance. In addition you make it look look as if you are convinced that your religion can’t possibly survive without you advertizing for it.
Salaam. A
It is somewhat weird, or perhaps even “astounishing” to harshly criticize others for “advertizing” their religion, when you end all your posts with “Salaam”. 
Remember, though, that to many (most?) evangelists, most of us are totally ignorant of “Christian beliefs”. God hates homosexuals, interracial marriage, tolerance toward other faiths, and so on- nonevangelist Christians are mostly “ignorant” of this kind of thing, believing as they do that God loves everyone and all that hooey. From a fundamentalist perspective, mainstream America is effectively as ignorant as the poor benighten heathen whom Western Europeans tasked themselves with saving for the last millenium or so.
This is a very interesting topic to me. I’m a believing Catholic, and I’m fairly open as far as talking about my religious beliefs if somebody asks, but I’m very suspicious of people who are right out front about letting you know they’re religious. The only time I make it a point of letting people know up front what my religious beliefs are is if I’m going into a situation where I know there is a high possibility that I may be asked to do something that conflicts with the teachings of my church, when it wouldn’t be considered unethical or immoral by folks who don’t share my beliefs. I would just as soon not be asked to do certain things in the first place than have to defend my reasons for refusing to do them after being asked.
It’s been my experience that people, especially businesspeople who make it a point to tell you they are Christians, whether it be the used car salesman who puts a Bible verse on the sign in front of his lot, or the accountant who plays loud Gospel music in the waiting area of his office, are generally not honest businespeople. I’m not saying that Christians (or any other religious group, for that matter) are dishonest. It does seem from what I’ve observed that people who go out of their way to say, “I’m a Christian” are deliberately trying to create an impression that they will be more honest or ethical than the atheist the next block over or the pagan a mile down the road due to their religious beliefs. Whenever any business person makes it a point to say, “I’m an honest person, I won’t screw you over,” it’s a good idea to leave the premises before any money changes hands, and doubly so if the person states that “I’m (insert name of religion), I won’t screw you over.”
So, the accountant that played the loud Gospel music in his office took my mother’s $200 to file an amended tax return for her, then buried it on his desk, never did the work, never returned Mom’s many phone calls asking about the status of her return. She finally had me go to his office in person (she worked during the hours his office was open) to get her money and tax paperwork back when it became apparent that he had no intention of ever doing her return, but did intend to keep her money. For me, that Gospel music would have been a red flag- trying to create the impression that he was a Christian, and therefore an honest person.
Er… no.
It is somewhat astonishing that anyone on these boards would be ignorant enough to fail to understand what ‘salaam’ means. As-salaam-alaikum is an expression of Muslim faith, used between Muslims. Salaam means ‘peace’. Are you prosetlyzing when you say “peace”?
Jackmannii, “Salaam” simply means “peace.” I don’t see how it’s a witness for Islam as such.
overlyverbose, our local station had Steve & DC on mornings for a year. They’re the most absolutely banal, unfunny, annoying, kick-your-radio morning show on the air. Hated them! Just hated them. When the station finally dumped the show, they ran ads apologizing for airing such a boring, ridiculous show for as long as they did (I’m assuming they signed a 1-year contract with the distributor and couldn’t get out of it until it expired).
My personal feeling is that the people who have to resort to bumper stickers and buttonholing in order to witness their faith are the ones whose faith isn’t strong enough to have an obvious effect on their everyday life that people will actually ask them things like “Why are you always so happy?” and “How do you manage to treat everybody so well, even the annoying infuriating idiots?” and “You just have a glow about you all the time…what are you so happy about?” If people aren’t asking the Christian why s/he’s so happy/at peace/calm/humble then they aren’t really witnessing. If you have to buttonhole people and TELL them that you’re happy/peaceful/humble, well…
Just a little nit-pick, but I thought the Darwin fish is in jest of the original Christian fish symbol. That would make the Truth fish eating the Darwin fish a combination of: Jesus fish, eating Darwin fish, that is making fun of Jesus fish. So, the Darwin fish people started it.
Like you though, I think it is a silly statement.
When I lived in Asheville I would see lots of religious stickers. There were “Goddess bless” and “My other car is a broom stick,” as well as the infamous, red “We Still Pray” stickers.
“as-salaamu-aleikum”, usualy written as “salaam aleikum” in Western languages, means “(may) the peace (be) with you” .
It is a common greating formula between Muslims but one can also as non Muslim great a Muslim like this - or anyone who speaks Arabic for that matter - which shall be appreciated.
“Salaam” means indeed nothing else then “peace” and yes, I prefer to use that word instead of the English one or “peace” in no matter which other language then my own. I use it to end my personal letters and thus my posts on message boards as well.
I’m sorry, but that has nothing to do with “witnessing” and everything with simple politeness by wishing peace and well being to those you address yourself to.
Salaam. A
Muslim. Born. Feeling no need to become the PR executive of God.
To come back to the OP.
I still find it overdoing things because to me it comes across as a little bit hysterical, yet I can’t see anything wrong with stickers who refer to the person himself who displays them.
Like:
“I’m happy because I love God/Jesus”
“Love” (imagine the little red heart) = God/Jesus"
Or whatever, as long as it only refers to what the person himself feels about it = not trying to convince others to “feel” the same.
I don’t think that is “witnessing” in the strict sense of the meaning; there is no difference between that and other stickers of that type and which also only refer to the feelings of the one who displays them.
Salaam. A
Waitaminute! Who says these are Christian beliefs? I know of no major Christian preacher, denomination, or organization nowadays, even the more conservative, that claims God hates interracial marriage—even old Bob Jones U. has lifted its infamous ban on interracial dating. I know of no one more mainstream than Fred Phelps that claims God hates homosexuals (as opposed to homosexuality, at least); far from being a basic Christian belief, one could argue that such things are incompatible with basic Christian beliefs. So you are ignorant of what Christians really believe, and/or I am, and either way it kinda proves the point. Ignorance about Christianity is alive and well—and for this, the bumper sticker stuff may well be doing more harm than good.
I told you so.