Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Church Sign - 7/23/2008

I am debuting a new feature today. Church signs always catch my eye. It fascinates me what churches choose to put on their relatively limited sign space. In the age of the sound byte, I think these short messages are especially significant. In this feature I will post church signs that I found clever or that I strongly disagreed with.

Church: Dixie Lee Baptist Church (14650 Old Stage Rd; Lenoir City, TN 37772)

Sign: To love God with all your heart is not a “suggestion”

Commentary: The verse is question is part of the Shema, specifically Deuteronomy 6:5. The Shema is used as the centerpiece of all morning and evening Jewish prayer services. Jesus famously cited this as the most important commandment. (Matthew22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27)

"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deuteronomy 6:5, NASB)

I have seen many variations of the “not a suggestion” motif but never in relation to love. Love by its very nature is not coercive. As such, it struck me that to love is a command and not an emotion as so often thought of in our culture.

1 comment:

AlB said...

I am a member of "First Baptist Church of Bluegrass", Knoxville, TN. I saw your post about our sign.
See a partial copy of one of your posts below. Talk about grammar! Note: "The verse is question is part of". I can find some more if you like! Are you a minister? You should find something more constructive to do with your time! Gos bless you. You need it!

Commentary: The verse is question is part of the Shema, specifically Deuteronomy 6:5. The Shema is used as the centerpiece of all morning and evening Jewish prayer services. Jesus famously cited this as the most important commandment. (Matthew22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27