I hate this sign.
It really bugs me that some [anonymous] church is spending [kingdom] money on this.
Who is it targeting? Non-Christians? What is its purpose? To lead people to Christ?
I assure you it is ineffective on both points.
I’m not disputing that the Bible says “Hell is Real!”
It does. Kind of. Not in those words but I’m willing to concede the point.
But…
Most non-Christians don’t care what the Bible says; they don’t believe it’s relevant; and they certainly don’t think it’s authoritative.
In the one-in-a-zillion chance that a non-Christian would be curious enough to actually look up Romans 8:28, what would they read? “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
“What the hell?!”
Now they’re confused.
Congratulations. You’ve succeeded at:
- Conveying a message that is the exact opposite of the gospel (John 3:16-17)
- Justifying the stereotype that Christians are judgmental (Luke 6:37)
- Wasting money that could be put to good use (James 1:27, 2:15-17)
- Creating confusion about the grace of Christ (Galatians 1:6-7)
- Omitting the path to salvation (John 20:31)
Help me out here people. Am I wrong? What do you think?
From the outside looking in, Christianity is viewed as something radically different from what Jesus intended it to be. I received these words yesterday from a friend with just such a vantage point: “…most people believe that being holy entails telling everyone else what they’re doing wrong, chastising others, standing at the funerals of gay people and telling their friends and family that those people are on their way to hell, condemning music and books that are deemed morally lacking, etc. … being legalistically judgmental.” His sentiment simply echos the latest research concerning Christianity’s 
