Recently I was at the 4th Avenue Street Fair in Tucson. After I walked around, enjoying my old neck of the woods, I jumped in the car and headed back home. As I was driving home, I noticed a leaflet tucked carefully under my wiper blade. At first I thought it was a ticket for parking in a questionable area. Bummer for me!
When I arrived home I plucked it out of my windshield wiper and was intrigued and slightly amused to read that the end of the world was going to happen very soon, apparently. The title said “Holy God will bring judgment day on May 21, 2011.” I read the back and saw that the leaflet was produced by Family Radio! Anyone scared yet? I began to read. In one short paragraph, I read the words “Holy God” three times. By the way, Family Radio is not to be confused with Family Life Radio.
Throughout this leaflet, God was consistently called “Holy God” over and over again. It seems The Great Flood, “by careful study” happened, per the pamphlet, in 4990 B.C. Then some numbers that people might be likely to ignore out of sheer boredom are manipulated to come up with a date for ...Judgment Day! May 21, 2011.
Hmmm... The leaflet struck me as actually bordering on being venomous; it reminded me just a little bit of Chick tracts (truly venomous!), minus the comic illustration of a huge angel tossing live human beings into a burning pit to suffer forever. Perhaps they should have contracted that guy for some artwork.
When I arrived home I plucked it out of my windshield wiper and was intrigued and slightly amused to read that the end of the world was going to happen very soon, apparently. The title said “Holy God will bring judgment day on May 21, 2011.” I read the back and saw that the leaflet was produced by Family Radio! Anyone scared yet? I began to read. In one short paragraph, I read the words “Holy God” three times. By the way, Family Radio is not to be confused with Family Life Radio.
Throughout this leaflet, God was consistently called “Holy God” over and over again. It seems The Great Flood, “by careful study” happened, per the pamphlet, in 4990 B.C. Then some numbers that people might be likely to ignore out of sheer boredom are manipulated to come up with a date for ...Judgment Day! May 21, 2011.
Hmmm... The leaflet struck me as actually bordering on being venomous; it reminded me just a little bit of Chick tracts (truly venomous!), minus the comic illustration of a huge angel tossing live human beings into a burning pit to suffer forever. Perhaps they should have contracted that guy for some artwork.
The bottom line message was: “Holy God hates you!” I crumpled it up and threw it in the trash. Then I retrieved it just to serve as an example of how why our image of God matters so much. I can’t ever imagine myself loving “Holy God” as described in this leaflet. He’s just waiting to torment his own creatures for all eternity. He obviously needs anger management counseling.
This pamphlet was playing upon people’s fears: the our realization that none of us are perfect before our Creator, an all-knowing being that has never made a mistake, knows everything about us, and, (implied by this pamphlet), is still very angry with all of us!
Let’s take a step back into reality for a moment and see how Jesus, the perfect manifestation of God here on earth, treated imperfect people like us when he was on earth. He ministered to prostitutes, lepers, outcasts. He ate with hated people, drank with them, healed the sick and paralyzed people and liberally forgave them – even when they did not ask for it! We also read of many religious leaders who scowled and seethed with hatred at him.
If we want to know what “Holy God” is really like, look to Jesus and read about how he treated people. Read and consider the parable of the lost sheep and those like it. Read how we are all God’s children, (per Paul’s speech to the Greeks in Acts 17, and elsewhere). Read how the Shepherd will not rest until all his sheep come home, because He loves them.
Nowhere in the leaflet is there anything said about how God is love or how Jesus treated people. In fact, there’s virtually nothing at all in there about Jesus’ example and teachings to love one another and God. Rather, the leaflet is designed to scare the living daylights out of people with a guilty conscience.
Sorry Family Radio, God is in charge of who gets saved not you guys and we are told multiple times that God will have mercy. We are all imperfect but God’s mercy endures forever, His mercy triumphs over judgment and His wrath lasts but a moment.
What a change this should make in our lives on how we treat others when we realize this truth. Remember May 21 and remember everyday that we are loved by a God of mercy, not a god with anger management issues.
This pamphlet was playing upon people’s fears: the our realization that none of us are perfect before our Creator, an all-knowing being that has never made a mistake, knows everything about us, and, (implied by this pamphlet), is still very angry with all of us!
Let’s take a step back into reality for a moment and see how Jesus, the perfect manifestation of God here on earth, treated imperfect people like us when he was on earth. He ministered to prostitutes, lepers, outcasts. He ate with hated people, drank with them, healed the sick and paralyzed people and liberally forgave them – even when they did not ask for it! We also read of many religious leaders who scowled and seethed with hatred at him.
If we want to know what “Holy God” is really like, look to Jesus and read about how he treated people. Read and consider the parable of the lost sheep and those like it. Read how we are all God’s children, (per Paul’s speech to the Greeks in Acts 17, and elsewhere). Read how the Shepherd will not rest until all his sheep come home, because He loves them.
Nowhere in the leaflet is there anything said about how God is love or how Jesus treated people. In fact, there’s virtually nothing at all in there about Jesus’ example and teachings to love one another and God. Rather, the leaflet is designed to scare the living daylights out of people with a guilty conscience.
Sorry Family Radio, God is in charge of who gets saved not you guys and we are told multiple times that God will have mercy. We are all imperfect but God’s mercy endures forever, His mercy triumphs over judgment and His wrath lasts but a moment.
What a change this should make in our lives on how we treat others when we realize this truth. Remember May 21 and remember everyday that we are loved by a God of mercy, not a god with anger management issues.
2 comments:
Enjoyed the blog, Phil. There is alot of radio talk and church talk about May 21 here in Georgia. It seems people think they have God all figured out but forgot the real teachings of Jesus.
I really loved your blog. Here in Ohio they have big billboards warning us about May 21. Seems some guy did the math and came up with this date and actually the exact time which is 6pm. This same man also predicted this for Sept 6th 1994 and when it didn't happen he recalculated the math and came up with this date. I believe that if we have to be scared into faith then it was never there to begin with. Good job Phil.
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