Jesus loves Osama

[clontaago]

JESUS does indeed love Osama bin Laden - it is just that he does not approve of him or his line of work.

The head of the Anglican church in New South Wales has said "there is a truth" to a Baptist parish's billboard declaration that "Jesus loves Osama", but love does not necessarily translate to approval.

The Central Baptist Church on George St in Sydney's CBD yesterday defended the sign - outside its front doors and facing the street - and said it was designed to convey that Jesus Christ taught the importance of loving everyone.

The billboard also includes a quote from the Gospel Book of Matthew: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." It is reported that several other inner city churches have placed similar messages on their billboards.

Archbishop Peter Jensen, the head of the Anglican church, has said "there is a truth" in the parish's message, but stressed that did not mean Jesus Christ approved of bin Laden or terrorist acts.

He has also said he would understand if people were offended by the billboard.

"I'm hesitant about it frankly, it's a bit misleading," Dr Jensen has said on Southern Cross radio.

"If I were a relative of one of the victims of Osama's activities, I might take affront at this."

Dr Jensen has said Jesus Christ did preach universal love, but there is a difference between love and approval.

"There is a truth in it (the message of the billboard)," he said.

"(But) what we've got to say is, Jesus doesn't approve of Osama. It makes it sounds like, 'Oh, Osama's doing the right thing'," he said.

Prime Minister John Howard has said churches displaying such a message might have their priorities askew.

"I understand the Christian motivation of the Baptist church," Mr Howard has said.

"But I hope they will understand that a lot of Australians, including many Australian Christians, will think that the prayer priority of the church on this occasion could have been elsewhere."

Compassion

Yesterday, a spokeswoman for the parish, Hy Lam, said the billboard was merely intended to spread a Biblical message of peace and compassion.

"Osama is the head of terrorism. We are saying that Jesus Christ loves everyone in the world, even this man," she said.

"The Bible says God loves everyone – even Osama bin Laden is included in that. All we are doing is sharing the gospel."

Baptist Church spokeswoman Anne Cameron tried to distance herself from the sign, saying: "They are responsible for their own signage and it's usually not that controversial."

[br][img=200x137]../../AE_files/public/1170306545_10_FT0_0537649400_.jpg[/img][br]

 

[Matabele]

Stpid celebrity clergy getting tied up in knots because they don't understand New Testament Greek.

Should burn down every last one of their vacuous, expensive buildings.

 

[fLIP]

The things religion will do for advertising these days. The days of 10c a litre off of petrol when you go to church are only just around the corner.

 

[Jatz Crackers]

The things religion will do for advertising these days. The days of 10c a litre off of petrol when you go to church are only just around the corner.

:lol:

Offset and subsidised by increased donations to the collection plate !

 

[fLIP]

Gold jatz.

 

[Matabele]

McChurch

 

[Fluffy]

it reminds me of a lateshow sketch with the drivethrough church.

lol

 

[Matabele]

McChurch – Kingdom Corporations:

These days I find it very difficult to attend a “modern church service” without musing about their techniques and comparing them to some of the poorer models of unscrupulous corporates going around.

Maybe growing up as a pastor’s kid has given me a too intimate view of the inner machinations of church motivations and tempered my ability to see the outward appearance without indulging the urge to scratch below the surface to expose the seedy underbelly of church life.

It all stems from the most obvious flaw of the modern church. They have become reliant on sales.

You see, some of the greats of the early clergy were VERY proud of the fact that they earned their own quid – Paul in particular. They had eyes wide open to the pitfalls of being reliant on anyone apart from God for their next meal.

I think we need to stop believing the hype of the “poor suffering pastor”. Modern day human resource divisions have ensured that they have a healthy award wage that sees the amount of dollars flowing to their pocket at around the median wage for the general Western populace.

But that’s not all………

Throw in a rent-free manse, a car and a wealth of other fringe benefits that clergy don’t have to declare as income (and therefore remit a taxation obligation) and you catapult yourself into a fairly comfortable upper middle class scenario. Sure that spacious lounge room gets used for the odd ladies’ dinner but …………

Well, the long and short of it all is that it costs a LOT to employ a shepherd these days. Start thinking about employing a senior pastor and a couple of others to visit the old folk and keep the kiddies in line and you realise you’re going to need to fleece a lot of sheep to keep the show the road.

Yep, if a church is stuck in that strange paradigm where it must earn its keep by passing around the collection plate then you sure as heck are going to need bums on seats and keep them mighty happy and comfy.

So our churches have become not too dissimilar to the old world media of television and radio stations who survive by passing around their collection plate to the advertisers still silly enough to think that throwing $2000 a month on a repetitive and annoying advert is going to magically promote them to millionaire status.

For the media, and the church, ratings are GOD!

Don’t believe me? Try to find a copy of the Queensland Baptist annual and marvel at page after page devoted to tables and graphs tracking congregational size, increases and baptisms.

When ratings rule your life you have to appeal to as broad a base of the population as possible, and there are a few golden rules to follow if you’re going to reach your audiences successfully:

1. Don’t say anything perceived as different or controversial to mainstream thought – people will turn the dial or find a new pew to inhabit.
2. Don’t say anything too intelligent. The large rump of the population prefer light entertainment to documentaries. You’ll lose them if you become too sage or wise.
3. Flatter them. Tell them what a great job they’re doing regardless of reality. Whatever you do, don’t confront them with faults even if they’re doing something terribly wrong.

Now, does any of that sound like Jesus’ earthly ministry?