I, for one, am reluctant to accuse someone of not being Christian or saved.
I can say, however, that certain doctrinal beliefs are, or are not, orthodox Christianity or Biblically supported. Most of these are not essential to salvation,
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What about those doctrines that ARE essential to Salvation, such as the person, work and nature of Jesus Christ, and the Trinity. How do you respond to someone who claims to be Christian yet is unorthodox or contrary to the Bible in these areas? Do you still think they are Christians?
After about five hours, somone was offended enough to deface the blasphemeous billboard...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3168791/Church-courts-controversy-with-Christmas-billboard
Church’s bedroom billboard defaced after 5 hours
WRATH: The painted over Mary and Joseph billboard outside St Matthew-in-the-City church in Auckland.
SPIRITUAL QUESTIONING: The St Matthew-in-the-City billboard.
A mischievous bedroom billboard mocking the Christian conception story has been defaced just over five hours after it was erected by a church in downtown Auckland.
The controversial billboard, erected by St Matthew-in-the-City Church about 11am today, showed Joseph looking down dejectedly and Mary looking sad. Underneath is a caption, “Poor Joseph. God is a hard act to follow.”
The image, which the church said was put up to stir debate about the real meaning of Christmas, was seen defaced with brown paint shortly after 4pm.
“When I drove by at 3.30pm it was fine,” St Matthew-in-the-City spokesman Clay Nelson told NZPA.
He said a television cameraman had captured footage of the vandalism and it was likely to be handed to police and a complaint laid.
“We had asked some of the street people to keep an eye on it overnight but it’s taken even less time than that,” Mr Nelson said.
“We knew this would create a little bit of a fuss but I had no idea that my co-religionists had no sense of humour.”
Mr Nelson said the billboard had clearly succeeded in sparking debate, judging by publicity and the number of messages the church had received.
“This is going to be a topic of conversation on dinner tables around the world,” he said.
“Getting people to talk about Christmas in real ways is maybe worth a little bit of paint.”
He said the church would find a way to get the original image back on the billboard.
Archdeacon Glynn Cardy had said the concept was to get people to think what Christmas was all about.
“Is it about a spiritual male God sending down sperm so a child would be born, or is it about the power of love in our midst as seen in Jesus?”
He said the true importance of Christmas “is in the radical hospitality Jesus offered to the poor, the despised, women, children, and the sick, and says: ‘this is the essence of God’. His death was a consequence of the offensive nature of that hospitality and his resurrection a symbolic vindication”.
Archdeacon Cardy said the church had asked an advertising agency to come up with a few ideas in November, and that the billboard they chose wasn’t the most radical one offered up to them.
“One of the options we turned down had a sperm coming down with the words ‘Joy To The World’.”
Catholic Church spokeswoman Lyndsay Freer had described the image as inappropriate and disrespectful, while traditional values group Family First said it was wrong to confront children and families with the image.
Last week a campaign by New Zealand Atheist Bus Campaign raised $20,000 in public donations to fund bus ads which read “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life”.
Those ads created a storm when they ran on the London Underground and British buses this year. Similar ads have run in the United States, Canada, Italy, Spain, Australia, Finland and Germany.
One of the comments...
PiNk iNk #74 11:48 am Dec 17 2009
I think its hilerious, but i honestly dont see the point in it! how is it going to get us thinking about christianity in a good way? its seems to be making more of a mockery than anything. I was extremely surprised to see that it was a church behind the billboard, mocking there own religion. Oh well it will definitly make people laugh thats for sure =)
For some reason, you ignored the next line in my post: "Salvation comes from doing the Father's will, and earnestly repenting when we fail in that."
THAT, and ONLY THAT, is essential for salvation! Christ is our touchstone, that we may know when it is the Father speaking to us, and not the enemy.
I know personally that Jesus is divinely linked in some way; calling him the "Son" of God is a good term, but I also know that confessing that is not essential to salvation; FOLLOWING HIS TEACHINGS IS!
There are many Christians who do not believe that a belief in the Trinity is essential for salvation.
I have no opinion one way or the other on whether Salvation will be denied anyone who doesn’t believe in the Trinity.
But I really DON’T believe that God or Jesus is going to give us a multiple-choice exam on our beliefs at Judgment. We know that because we know precisely what is going to happen. Jesus tells us his criteria.
We will be evaluated on how our beliefs drove our actions toward others. On how much of His character He can see reflected in us. Did we visit the sick, or clothe the poor, or feed the hungry, or visit people in prison. Would Jesus know us, when we were supposed to be following Him? Doing these things for others is as good as doing them for Our Lord.
Beliefs essential for salvation? From what Christ seems to say, our beliefs inform our deeds, and without them it would be difficult or impossible to please Him — the one equips us to do the other.