What a Stupid Bumper Sticker Can Tell Us About American Christianity

ArmenianJohn said:

Here's a good example of someone that clueless - the person who made this meme:

There are definitely clueless people out there and they're saying things like this which make a mockery of Christ and His Word, His Teachings, and I think they are really that clueless, they're not trying to be funny or "ironic".

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What did the meme-maker think handguns had to do with swords?

bekkilyn said:

But see there is Jesus and there is Republican Jesus...

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And therein lies the problem. Republicans don't adhere to one particular brand of Christianity. There are Christians, nonChristians who call themselves Christian's, and those who profess other or no God. Same goes for Democrats.

This bumper sticker belongs in the trash, right next to the one that claims Jesus is a socialist. Both make a mockery of Christian values and of Christ.

akaDaScribe said:

OR
Someone who is not pro-gun thought it would be funny to mock pro gun Christians. It is highly unlikely that the person who had the bumper sticker was a Christian unless that "Christian" was using it as a satirical statement against guns. The problem is, of course, because there are non-Christians who don't know how ridiculous the comment is, they might actually think it's an actual position of a Christian.

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Sadly, there are Christians who know and understand so little, they may not understand the implications of the line. And there are CINOs who don't care.

akaDaScribe said:

Why would anyone assume that bumper sticker belongs to a Christian? It's mocking Jesus.

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Having met professed Christians who say that out loud....

akaDaScribe said:

OR

Someone is "pretending" to be a dumb "pro gun" Christian.

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A walking, talking example of "Poe's Law?"

I think much of what's coming out of the middle ground to politically right currently is a "back lash" reaction to "political correctness".

For example: why should transgender person have the right to force me to call them by a pronoun they obviously are not?

Or why should conservative minorities not speak the truth about the racist history of the Democratic party?

Or why should gay people be allowed to force Christian business owners to violate their own conscience in the name of "equality". If you're a gay couple who goes into a Muslim bakery asking for a wedding cake for your gay marriage, they won't make you one either; but you never see law suits against Muslim bakeries for such things.

It's a persecution / agenda driven thing and people (even conservatives who aren't Christians) are tired of it, so they are speaking up.

And what is the mantra from the ultra liberal / communist left? "You're just racist!" (No, I'm actually Julius Caesar trapped in the wrong body - shut up!)

Facts matter and as people who claim to stand for truth, we should not hesitate to say this is true and that is not when we are confronted / asked / addressed with the issue; even politically speaking.

RDKirk said:

As I've said before, there is a culture in America for whom Jesus is nothing but a gang sign.

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I have seen them also. But I have also seen the Christians who choose bumper stickers like:

My boss is a Jewish carpenter

and

Christians aren't prefect, just forgiven

Sadly I have not seen either of these for decades.

The Righterzpen said:

I think much of what's coming out of the middle ground to politically right currently is a "back lash" reaction to "political correctness".

For example: why should transgender person have the right to force me to call them by a pronoun they obviously are not?

Or why should conservative minorities not speak the truth about the racist history of the Democratic party?

Or why should gay people be allowed to force Christian business owners to violate their own conscience in the name of "equality". If you're a gay couple who goes into a Muslim bakery asking for a wedding cake for your gay marriage, they won't make you one either; but you never see law suits against Muslim bakeries for such things.

It's a persecution / agenda driven thing and people (even conservatives who aren't Christians) are tired of it, so they are speaking up.

And what is the mantra from the ultra liberal / communist left? "You're just racist!" (No, I'm actually Julius Caesar trapped in the wrong body - shut up!)

Facts matter and as people who claim to stand for truth, we should not hesitate to say this is true and that is not when we are confronted / asked / addressed with the issue; even politically speaking.

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What does anything of this have to do with this bumper sticker?

ArmenianJohn said:

Many who profess to be Christians today mock Jesus and His Teachings (His Word) and I don't think they even realize they're doing it most of the time because they believe the higher ideal is the political message (over Christ's). I'm sure many or most don't think in that way but that's what happens.

A prime example is the fact that many of them use the story of Christ telling the Disciples to get swords when it was near time for Him to be arrested. They use that example from the Bible as a pro-gun argument. They don't realize they are making a mockery of it because the full story involves the fact that only one (or 3?) eventually got swords and the ONE disciple who used it to defend Jesus was rebuked and told by Jesus that "those who live by the sword shall die by the sword".

This bumper sticker and the article about it are a great extrapolation of this phenomena and explain how and why it is not just possible but actually LIKELY that this bumper sticker belongs to someone who professes to be Christian.

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Maybe you’ve identified the problem, it’s those “professing” to be Christians, not Christians. The problem is superficial or surface Christians.

ArmenianJohn said:

I'm glad you see the blasphemous nature of the bumper sticker as well as the inaccuracy and stupidity of it.

However, the article goes beyond the surface stupidity of it and addresses the issue that makes such a bumper sticker possible. He goes into how in this day and age it has become acceptable and even encouraged for professed Christians to say and support things like the message on the bumper sticker because politics has become their religion and is more important to them than the Christianity that they profess.

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Russel Moore is one of the few conservative evangelicals that refuses to bow the knee to political religion.

archer75 said:

What did the meme-maker think handguns had to do with swords?

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Jesus was obviously pro-sword, in the sword-control debate. If you don't at least have a machete in your closet, you aren't much of a Christian, clearly.

Pavel Mosko said:

It's beyond stupid. Jesus had access to arms in the garden, he also could have called in angels with super powers, and He himself showed his might with the "I am" statement made in the garden. If Jesus had a gun, he would have dropped it on the ground, and if his disciples had guns he would have probably raised the Roman solder from the dead, or at least miraculously had to heal up a bullet hole or do a bullet extraction. As a second amendment supporter I find it sacrilegious. I wonder if it was intended as a joke...

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Alrighty, my bumper sticker would read 'If the Word of God is not your Sword then you’re just an unarmed bandit'

ArmenianJohn said:

What a Stupid Bumper Sticker Can Tell Us About American Christianity

I think this writer, a dean at a Southern Baptist Theological School, nails what is the problem in much of American Christianity (particularly the various "evangelical" varieties) because of the politics that has become so enmeshed within it.

This helps to affirm to me that my beliefs are not so alone. I sometimes wonder why so many people are so outraged about things that are less important while ignoring or rejecting those things that are far more important. (I mean all this from a Christian's perspective.)

Good read.

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Absolutely YES. This puts into words things I've been feeling for years but I've never quite had the words to say. AMEN.

We're consistently taught that the way in which Jesus entered the world (and exited it) are deliberately meant to undermine the idea of a political savior that comes to establish an earthly kingdom. That's why He was born in a stable and attended to by shepherds.

The sort of people who preach the sort of "political Christianity" message are more accurately called Christianists - people who have all the appearance and apparent beliefs of Christianity, but the religious message takes a back seat to a political one that just happens to elevate their party and their political beliefs as holy.
Ringo

The political system at the time of Christ reflects American politics in that the fruit they want the people to eat is fear.