Bumper Stickers I Hate (or Love)

[Josh]

12/11/06:

First off, I'd have to say I usually dislike bumper stickers in general, so I'll probably have a longer list of dislikes. Please forgive me if you've got one of these on your car. I won't treat you any differently. Really.

Least Favorites:

What part of Thou Shall Not Kill Didn't You Understand?

Don't like this one simply because "Thou shalt not kill" is a bad translation of Exodus 20. It really reads "Thou shalt not murder" and the two are different.

No Jesus; No Peace, Know Jesus; Know Peace

Just seems condescending and invites mockery by not defining what kind of peace is being talked about here. Lots of people feel some measure of peace without being Christians.


Favorites:


Most anti-abortion ones. (I say most, not all- definitely excluding ones that might mock the plight of unwed moms- if there are any like that) Stuff like:


It's a Child, Not a Choice!

Abortion: It's not a Choice, It's an Industry

I realize I'm setting myself up here on this one. Feel free to fire away!

I'll try and think of some more... I have a lot of time to stare at bumper stickers!

[hume]

12/17/06:

Who Would Jesus Bomb?



(Like any slogan it's simplistic, but it's in the slightly unusual category of Christian bumperstickers aimed at making other Christians pause and consider ...)

[Josh]

I take it you like it, then? Or are you refraining from an opinion?

[rose]

12/27/06:

Careful Josh...don't your parents have the "No Jesus, No Peace" slogan around their license plate?

[Josh]

12/27/06:

OOPS

[steve]

12/28/06:

I even knew that, Josh! They've had that for years along with the "God is Awesome".



Let's face it, bumpers stickers generally invite ridicule and are rarely subtle. Having said that, there's nothing wrong about having one, it seems to be a matter of taste.

[sarah]

1/24/07:

Favorite bumper sticker moment.



On the back of a very fancy large new/er SUV



"Live simply, that others might simply live."



Apparently they were unaware of the irony!

[erin]

Steve,

After I read the comment from Rose to Josh, I was thinking, "Don't forget about the God is Awesome sticker!" (That from a distance kind of looked like "Fred is Awesome".) But you beat me to it.

I saw one that said "Voldemort for President". I think that's funny, being the Harry Potter fan that I am.

[Josh]

"Fred is awesome" I never noticed that. Some kind of Flinstone's tribute ?!....

On somewhat of a side note, are there any of you out there brave enough to put bumper stickers (of any sort) on your car? I'm interested in the psychology behind the choice to bumper sticker or not to bumper sticker.

[sarah]

I had bumper stickers on my car in college. The one that was cheap and fully paid for!
It said "My boss is a Jewish Carpenter" I had another on there as well, but I don't remember what that one said.
Interestingly enough, when I decided to take a break from the whole following Christ thing, I spent a few hours scraping them off my paint. (didn't want to be hypocritical) They were very difficult to remove! (hmmm, foreshadowing future events???)

Now that we have more expensive cars that we make payments on, the memory of trying to remove the stickers has kept me from placing any further. (although we do have a very classy magnetic Princess sticker that my dear husband enjoys placing while driving around with his daughter)

On another note, I had a boyfriend who had the following on his car along with many others. He also always felt morally outraged and targeted by the police because they kept pulling him over!

"Bad cop, No donut"

[Alex]

My parents had the Billy Graham Crusade bumper sticker on their minivan for about 8 years. It made it easy to spot..

I place bumper stickers lightly next to tatoos; something I'd like but it has to be the right one and I'm not sure I can commit to it.

[Josh]

Sarah, I always liked the "My boss is a Jewish carpenter" one. I think I could put that on my car. Maybe.

I saw one yesterday. Here's the basic gist:

"When fascist comes to America, it will come wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross"

Ouch.

First, of course, there's the automatic association of religion with patriotism, which bugs me*.

I would have been much more down with this statement if it used just any other symbol to represent religion other than the cross. Man, the cross never leads to fascism. It leads to death at the hands of fascists. It's Chrsitianity-and-water (to quote Lewis) that leads to Nazi take-overs of the Church, not the real thing.

Historically speaking (at least in regard to Nazi Germany), we'd have to add, "and the works of Friedrich Nietzsche" to the list as well**. The atheist "superman" motif had so much more to do with the rise of the Nazi party than Christianity. The weaker elements of Christianity were just a tool Hitler used, not a driving ideology behind his brand of fascism. And, of course, it was dedicated, authentic, orthodox confessing (German citizen) Christians who fiercely resisted him to the end of the war.

*Lest you think I'm dogging on patriotism too much, I really like Lewis' treatment on the proper role of patriotism in Mere Christianity.

** And lest you think I'm overly critical of Nietzsche, know that I think the Church has a lot to learn from his pointed insights (read Partly Right by Tony Compolo for more on this).

[Josh]

Ha ha. I saw another one today:

"Be nice to America or we'll make you a democracy"

I thought it was a good one because it's witty whether you see it as sarcastic or serious.

[marcus]

"Nuke Gay Whales for Jesus."

[michelle]

"Where am I going and why am I in this handbasket."

[Josh]

Saw this one yesterday, and I liked it:

It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.

-Mother Teresa.

Says a lot about our fast-food culture.

[christopher]

Here's one:

Jesus Loves you...but I'm His favorite.