Nov 01 2008
How will this bring people to Jesus?
[News4Jax]
“God Loves You, Allah Hates,” reads a sign posted outside a Mandarin church. The marquee has grabbed the attention of some and offended others. One woman said the sign in front of First Conservative Baptist Church is a display of hatred right in her neighborhood.
Channel 4 tried to talk with the pastor to get his side of the story, but reporter Karin Hirschey said he basically hung up on her. The Muslim community said it too is being shut out. The sign has raised controversy in the Muslim community, especially for one mother who asked not to be identified.
“What have I done? What have I done to deserve that kind of hatred in my neighborhood?” she asked.
The woman said she was driving down Old St. Augustine Road with her children when the sign immediately grabbed her attention.
“The thing that bothers me so much is that this is in my neighborhood, where I live with my children. To know that people that feel this way are in my neighborhood is scary,” the woman said.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said the sign is offensive and wrong.
Read more here.
[From me]
What does the church hope to gain from this sign? What person who is not a believer would actually be attracted to this church or any church for that matter? I’m no fan of Islam and know that is a false religion. However, I don’t think you can have good dialogue when you offend on purpose. All the more reason that church signs should be limited to advertising service times and events. Church signs that try to be cute, funny and preachy only turn off those who they are trying to reach.
What do you think?
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7 responses so far
Brother Kevin,
First, that sign is rude. Second, it is even offensive to Arabic-speaking Christians as “Allah” is the word the Arabic Bible uses for God. I wonder if this church realizes they are insulting God, just in another language?
Peace to you brother,
From the Middle East
from the middle east’s last blog post..being available
from the Middle East,
Thanks for pointing that out.
I’m with you Kevin. I just don’t understand why Christians think this type of behavior furthers the Kingdom of God. Just this morning I was reading a facebook post by a friend of mine. Someone had approached her and asked her about her relationship with God. When my friend did not give her the answer she wanted, the lady replied with “Shame on you. You’re life is worthless.” While I agree that life without Christ is worthless, how does using that language make my friend want to follow Christ?
Michael’s last blog post..Texas vs. Texas Tech
The name of the church says it all…
“First Conservative Baptist Church”
There is a church in Winston-Salem that has a radio station broadcasting throughout the region. They like to boast that they are “conservative”. In fact, they are SO “conservative” that they seem to worship their conservatism more than they worship Jesus Christ.
No, I’m not a “liberal”. But I am someone who believes that Christ alone is sufficient to define us. And that temporal appellations like “conservative” and “liberal” indicate that we worship worldly power - in whatever form - more than we worship God.
In the case of First Conservative Baptist Church, they seem to be a congregation that worships their IDEA of Christ, without bothering to seek after what Christ truly is at all.
To follow after Christ is to be subject to constant change and death of self, and growth into the new life that only He can provide. For a church to style itself as “conservative” means that it a church of “Christians” who have STOPPED growing, and found contentment in petty earthly identity.
That’s all I got.
Chris Knight’s last blog post..The BIOSHOCK Big Daddy Jack-o’-Lantern
If we would stop focusing so much energy on telling people what we are against and focus on telling what/who we are for, we would win a lot more souls.
Well, Allah is on record in His Holy Book for hating quite a lot of human beings. He urges his followers to slay them without pity, just like mad Jehovah in the Old Testament. I do wish Muslims would read their Quran!
I was going to point out that “Allah” was another language for God, but someone else already did that.