Faith billboard
A few days ago as I was driving home from my internship on highway 55 north, I spotted this:
At first, I wondered what exactly the billboard was trying to convey. It occurred to me that someone might be angry at Bevo church (Bevo is a St. Louis city neighborhood) and had decided to post this billboard in order to shame or boycott them, except that calling a church "liars" or "drunkards" is a clear case of libel (um, unless they are drunkards and liars, I guess). I suppose "enemies of god" could not be classified as libel – you'd have to prove god existed before you could prove someone was his enemy. Nonetheless, a boycott billboard is not out of the question, given that we have a local laborers union who boycotts a paving company who will not unionize with billboards commanding readers not to use the paving company.
On my way home, I came to the conclusion that the billboard was more than likely a publicity ploy by the Bevo church itself, though I was not sure exactly what it meant. Perhaps I would understand better if I were a Christian?
No matter, everything was cleared up once I went to the aforementioned website. On the website is a picture of the same billboard, but the word "drunkards" is crossed out in red and replaced with "lives of freedom" written in cursive. "Enemies" is crossed out and replaced with "sons & daughters". "Liars" is crossed out and replaced with "speakers of truth". Written above the "Church at be*vo" is the word "REDEFINED" as if stamped in place.
I think ones of the reasons I had so much trouble understanding this billboard is that I see a "church" as an organization of people who come together for community and religious services. I wonder if Christians think of "church" more directly as the people who are members of the church, in the same way I might think of a "class" at a university. Obviously, the point is that people come to Bevo with all of these sins that define them, and they are supposed to be redefined in terms of their relationship to their god.
Flimsy and I clearly need to infiltrate this church.
At first, I wondered what exactly the billboard was trying to convey. It occurred to me that someone might be angry at Bevo church (Bevo is a St. Louis city neighborhood) and had decided to post this billboard in order to shame or boycott them, except that calling a church "liars" or "drunkards" is a clear case of libel (um, unless they are drunkards and liars, I guess). I suppose "enemies of god" could not be classified as libel – you'd have to prove god existed before you could prove someone was his enemy. Nonetheless, a boycott billboard is not out of the question, given that we have a local laborers union who boycotts a paving company who will not unionize with billboards commanding readers not to use the paving company.
On my way home, I came to the conclusion that the billboard was more than likely a publicity ploy by the Bevo church itself, though I was not sure exactly what it meant. Perhaps I would understand better if I were a Christian?
No matter, everything was cleared up once I went to the aforementioned website. On the website is a picture of the same billboard, but the word "drunkards" is crossed out in red and replaced with "lives of freedom" written in cursive. "Enemies" is crossed out and replaced with "sons & daughters". "Liars" is crossed out and replaced with "speakers of truth". Written above the "Church at be*vo" is the word "REDEFINED" as if stamped in place.
I think ones of the reasons I had so much trouble understanding this billboard is that I see a "church" as an organization of people who come together for community and religious services. I wonder if Christians think of "church" more directly as the people who are members of the church, in the same way I might think of a "class" at a university. Obviously, the point is that people come to Bevo with all of these sins that define them, and they are supposed to be redefined in terms of their relationship to their god.
Flimsy and I clearly need to infiltrate this church.
Labels: faith infiltration, just life, local
posted by Ziztur
at
8:00 AM
12 Comments:
Wow...that is incredibly stupid.
I mean...wow.
I think it's trying to say that joining the Church will redefine you, but it does a pretty bad job of it.
I think one of the reasons I had so much trouble understanding this billboard is that I see a "church" as an organization of people who come together for community and religious services. I wonder if Christians think of "church" more directly as the people who are members of the church, in the same way I might think of a "class" at a university. Obviously, the point is that people come to Bevo with all of these sins that define them, and they are supposed to be redefined in terms of their relationship to their god."
I think you got the point they were trying to make exactly. The idea is a tough concept to communicate and it sounds like they did a pretty good job of getting it across. And you did a great job of going the extra mile to understand it. I would love to read an infiltration about that church sometime. Thanks!
I'd argue tyhey did a bad job. I mean I can kind of see what they're going for....but it's still fail.
I actually was googling this church and stumbled upon this website. I love logical blogs! I was attending the festival of nations a couple months ago, I was just there to eat and see all the beautiful cultures. I was minding my own business and this younger guy approached me and said hello to me. His name was Nick. We talked for a while and he was really cool (on top of that he was extremely attractive.) Like I could’ve actually seen us hooking up. Then to ruin everything he said that he was at the event for his church. :( I hate Christianity, and he wanted to invite me. I was totally turned off. He could sense that I wasn’t very happy and I just wanted to get away after that. He said the most random thing ever. He said oh i see how it is you don't want to talk to me now because I invited you to church. And i was like um yeah. My parents before i was born got kicked out of there church because my mom got pregnant with me. I know that really hurt my parents and i just grew a hate for it. And of course many other things that go along with ChristianityHe asked me how I relieved my anger... First off weird.... So, I told him I smoke and hit things. (I swear i'm not violent :D) Nick told me that he understood why I was mad at church and Christianity, and then proceeded to say that he would let me hit him until I got over my anger with church then we'd smoke a cig together... I was sooooo taken back i was like wtf. I thought that this guy was crazy. Then he said that if i beat him up and he smoked a cig with me that he would get to pray for me. What took me back so much was this guy really cared that i hate Christians and he wanted to find a way for me to not hate them. I have always thought that Christians are the ones who judged everyone and i hate that about them. But i found myself judging this guy just because he's a Christian. HMMMMMM. This is against everything i believe. Gay rights, animal rights treating people equally seeing ourselves as people not a color or religion, just as people. He stumped me. I told him i wouldn't hit him but i would let him pray for me. So he did and he was speaking in tongues. I started getting light headed and felt a warm sensation over my body. Fing crazy. He wasn't touching me and didn't drug me up. I stopped him because if i was going to have an "experience" i wanted to have my friends with me. So, I pulled them over and asked Nick to pray over them as well for me. Once again he was speaking in tongues. I thought he was speaking a different language but it was this tongues thing. My friend stared crying uncontrollable and i was like shut up! But she couldn't stop. She made me start crying and i was shaking. I felt "God". It was incredible it was like doing a line of coke for the first time. Nick or "God" changed me and my friends view on Christianity for that day on. I can't explain it. I feel at peace. I have been baffled since that day. I haven't gone to that church but i want to know when you infiltrate it. I would like to read your experience. I'm still an atheist, but i had an experience that day. I was not high and i'm intelligent enough to know when there’s something fishy going on. Is this church the real deal? I'm not sure i don't really want to go there but Nick really changed my view that day. And he prayed for things that i didn't even mention to him. Like, my grandma being sick, it was crazy and my friends were with me to see everything. Anyone have a clue wtf happened that day. Remember i am quite emotionless and strong-willed. Anyways i'm rambling on, but i think this church is quite possibly the real deal, i look forward to your blog on it.
@ Anon: The enter key is your friend.
It was great meeting you guys Sunday. Your blog design is sweet...
As to the Church at Bevo, we don't have a clue as to what we are doing half the time. It's just about a story.
And hopefully we can help a few people along the way.
Thank you for joining us Sunday. The door is always open to come to our Life Group as we throw out different discussion questions. Everyone is free to voice their opinions.
Thanks guys! My review of your church will be posted on 10/17.
We would all like to think that we are good as opposed to being drunkards, liars or enemies of God. I do believe that making such definitions as to what a church is might be a bit crude. I will not deny that I am a sinner, but to be categorized as a liar or a drunkard is insulting. I do not mind expressing my guilt to those who are worth expressing it to, but I find this billboard extreme. The attention of such a sign has proven effective, but I believe it could have gotten it's point across much better than expressed.
THE BILLBOARD IS DISTURBING AND DISTRACTING AND SENDS A BAD MESSAGE ABOUT WHAT A CHURCH THAT IS OPEN TO ALL REPRESENTS. SHAME ON YOU- FIND A NEW AD AGENCY.----JT
Dear ANONYMOUS
Hey Girl, What's Up My Name Is Marvin, I really hope U come by and check out our church. It's awesome how God chooses to reveal Himself in our lives, and I think that day u met with Nick was just that, God showing you that He was real and that He does exist and no matter how you been treated by Christians or how they judged you God loves you!:) God Bless Look forward to seein U there!!
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