You can buy a fine art print of this cartoon here as a nice reminder.
I knew it was a lie the moment I first heard it. My life experience confirmed it. Canadian poet and singer/ song-writer Leonard Cohen once said in an interview:
Mankind must rediscover the crucifixion as a universal symbol, not just an experiment in sadism or masochism or arrogance. It will have to be rediscovered because that’s where man is at… on the cross.
That pretty much sums it up.
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My name is David Hayward, and I am the nakedpastor. I am a graffiti artist on the walls of religion.
Are you trying to teach the world to sing?
Add on the line, ‘And if they don’t, it’s YOUR fault!
God accepts whatever we bring to the God/person relationship – our physical and spiritual condition, personality, connection to reality, our participation in relationships, talents, inabilities, cognition, knowledge, ignorance, life journey, spiritual journey, walk about, wandering, seeking, questioning, questing, acceptance of God, rejection of God – and our emotional and mental status: hate/love, anger/peace, sadness/happiness, hurt/health, feeling lost and abandoned/feeling found and included, agitation/serenity, apathy/passion, confusion/clarity, fractures/wholeness – all of this, all of whoever we are and have ever been and every action committed or ever contemplated and every thought we ever explored or entertained or that flitted through our mind – all of this, we bring to the God/person relationship and God accepts the totality of who we are and every component that comprises who we are – as a gift. The constant inviting presence of God and this unconditional acceptance of us in our entirety as a gift – this is love.
Because of the way God is defined and bound by love and grace, God has never required and never recognized and never accepted any sacrifice by anyone for anything. The love and grace of God requires neither a sacrificial tortuous execution nor a death-defying miracle to prove or perversely demonstrate its existence and worth and validity – God is not an abusive parent. Through the constant presence of God, we are constantly invited by God to have an intimate loving relationship with God. We have a constant opportunity with God to accept and acknowledge the love and grace of God and to live a life imbued with and guided by the love and grace of God. Each of us has something to offer to God and God has only good – unrestrained love and unconditional grace – to constantly offer to each of us.
excerpt from RECLAIMING GOD by Doug Sloan
Let’s sing now, “Always look on the bright side of life.”
What a wonderful theological juxtaposition of responses. I love ‘em all!
Few things offend and irritate me more than “Christian stuff” (posters, jewelry, and general all-around junk) that promotes the Christian life as some sort of cure-all. David, you made your point extremely well in this cartoon — the Coca-Cola font, used with the crosses, made me want to barf.