Whoa I am so confused...

[Mary]

Can somebody tell me what this statement says:

"God could not love us less."

This is on the church billboard on a PCUSA Church by my house.

I am reading this and thinking of all the times I have said "I couldn't care less" which basically means "why are you bothering me with this information?"

Are they saying God couldn't care less? Did they mean to say God couldn't love us more? Or something completely different?

Am I misreading this, or did they make a terrible mistake or WHAT? Can someone he'p me with this, please? I'm about 2 seconds away from calling them and telling them that if they are going to post signage, they ought to speak the language first, and I HATE to eat humble pie. Am I misinterpreting???

Mary
uzzled:uzzled:uzzled:

 

[Mary]

OK! I see there have been 10 Views! I know you guys are reading it! You're not fooling me!

Is it confusing YOU too?!?!

Mary

 

[sailorswife]

My guess is that they are trying to say that nothing anyone does makes God love them any less. I would call the church if I were you and ask them exactly what they mean. Most of the signs on churches today are ridiculous and offensive to God and Christianity. It amazes me how many "Christians" love to speak for God without believing what his word actually says.

 

[Contra_Mundum]

I think ...

... they mean their nondiscriminating god is incapable of loving [i:c6d41f2891]anybody[/i:c6d41f2891] less than to the nth degree.

 

[JohnV]

It seems to me a way of saying, "Hate the sin, love the sinner, meaning: sin is not bad, just love the sinner and don't worry that he doesn't care to leave his sins in order to worship God." In other words, it seems to me to be universalism rhetoric. People like that can universally obligate us all to accept homosexuality as a legitemate lifestyle, while they freely condemn the Apostle Paul as a woman-hater, and narrow-minded. They can give us their "authoritative" perspective on the Bible, all the while ridiculing the very same Bible.

The only justification I can see, off hand, for such a notion is that it is only technically correct without any particular givens other than that He is God and we are His people. It does not take into account His justice, His mercy, or His plan of salvation. It rather to be a short-hand and simple expression of His unchangeable character alone. But if sin is overlooked, then His unchangeable character becomes meaningless in their signage as well.

OR,

It's just an eye-catching sign, in which content is secondary to intent. And intent is advertizing, not the gospel per se.

 

[Craig]

[quote:f00dad3140]
Am I misreading this, or did they make a terrible mistake or WHAT?
[/quote:f00dad3140]
All I know is that I hope more people misunderstand it and never step foot inside that PCUSA church

 

[alwaysreforming]

Miss Mary:

I think I know what they are saying:
The fact that God loves us because of and "through" Jesus Christ, He does not see us with anything but having Jesus' perfect righteousness and holiness. Therefore, He loves us as if we ourselves obeyed the Law perfectly and are, in fact, perfect. Because of that, there is only one degree of love, that which is appropriate to someone who is perfect and has always loved God and neighbor with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Give them a call and find out what they say. In my humble opinion, I have a feeling it will be the above.

 

[cupotea]

I saw a sign outside a church near my house that read

"Jesus is fo-rizzle"

It was about midnight and the church was on a back road with no cars in sight... it was all I could do to restrain myself from stopping and removing the letters from the sign. As it was, I was left feeling rather nauseated.

 

[Mary]

Thanks for the input, guys! I think I WILL give them a call. I'll try to be nice...[i:9dceb08e62]we'll see.[/i:9dceb08e62]

Fo-rizzle? Since when is Snoop a minister? The Right Reverend Snoop D. Dogg, presiding...I thought AZ was entirely peopled with the elderly...or is that just Sun City?

Maybe this is like that yahoo commercial - have you seen it? Where the dad says to the teenager, "Your moms wants you to square up the crib, yo?"...they THINK they are reaching out to teens (when, in actuality, they are only making them laugh)...Or, for those of us 30somethings, the dad in "Better Off Dead" (Maj. Winchester from MASH) "C'mon, Lane! It's a brand new year. Mellow over!"

Oops. Gotta go. Late.

Have a great night, dawg!

Ma-nizzle

 

[Christopher]

Call em. I am interrested in what they will tell you.

 

[cupotea]

no... to call I would have to drive by again to get the church's number... not going to subject myself the that sign twice.

 

[Christopher]

Kid,
i was actually talking to Mary there.

For-rizzle I was.

 

[Mary]

Okeydokey - I have the phone number. (Love that internet.) I will call them tomorrow on my lunch hour. I'll let you know what they say...

BTW their website is www.gpwpc.org if you wanna check it out...

CalvinistKid, I applaud your restraint. I probably WOULD have stopped to play...the only thing is, I'm terrible at anagrams. I can't think of a way to rearrange those particular letters into something that makes sense...the 2 "z"s really make it tricky...

Any ideas, anybody??

Mary :bs2:

 

[Mary]

OK. Partial success. I tried to call today, and I got a woman who sounded like Chrissy Snow's grandmother's dumber sister. (How's that for a 70s reference?) And she had NO CLUE what I was talking about. She didn't even read the sign, she said...Yes, I bit my tongue. I was VERY polite. She gave me the minister's name and told me to call back later and talk to him. I didn't have time to do that (if you want to know why, check the prayer forum in a few minutes!!!) but I will try again tomorrow.

Nancy Drew still on the case!

Mary :bs2:

 

[king of fools]

You're braver than I am. The last time I made a phone call like that I got called a hyper-Calvinist and was just about hung up on by the minster.

 

[Mary]

[quote:642ab1051c][i:642ab1051c]Originally posted by king of fools[/i:642ab1051c]
You're braver than I am. The last time I made a phone call like that I got called a hyper-Calvinist and was just about hung up on by the minster. [/quote:642ab1051c]

Well, way to scare me!!!!!! Now I don't want to call him.

Actually, I wasn't planning on debating the guy, just explaining that I didn't understand what the sign meant...Let's see if he tries to "convert" me.

You don't know how horribly any attempt to debate this guy would go. I do. I can't DO stuff like that. I can't even talk to people I don't know.

If you don't believe me, go back and read my early posts...I am SUPER shy, until I feel more comfortable around people. It took me several weeks to feel "safe" on the board, but if you look, you can see that I am more comfortable around some people than others...I am much more polite and less tongue in cheek with some people.

Now I seriously am nervous...Sheesh! Thanks a lot!!!

Mary :no: