Posted by
Steve Brown on Saturday, November 11, 2006 6:44:24 PM
A few weeks ago my sister and her son came to my place so we could have lunch together. As we walked to her car she apologized in advance for her new bumper sticker, adding that she was thinking of removing it since it seemed a little too angry. The sticker said "It takes more than a chrome fish pal". She knows I'm a Christian and that I'm not afraid to defend my beliefs so I think she was surprised when I told her that aside from the snarky sounding "pal" at the end, I really liked the sticker and thought they would probably sell to Christians as simply "It takes more than a chrome fish ".
I personally don't have a fish or any other stickers on my car that ID me as a Christian. The main reason is that I know that fish would be the only thing someone would see if I accidentally cut them off or was guilty of some other infraction, real or imagined. I don't want to cause someone to say "Learn to drive fundy" or launch into some profanity-laced tirade. There are more than enough people trying to pin a target on Jesus, I don't want to help them.
A cross around your neck doesn't make you a Christian, and a fish on your bumper doesn't mean you'll go driving through those Pearly Gates with the A-C on as St. Peter waves you through after checking your parking sticker(the chrome fish) with a smile. Real Christianity is not for the lazy. Good servants use their talents rather than burying them (check Matthew 25:14-30). Yes, it does take more than a chrome fish. Most Christians already know that.
What strikes me as at least a little ironic about the snarky version of the sticker is that it would probably be pretty tough to find anyone with that sticker on their car who would actually want to encourage spiritual growth in someone. The real message seems to be "people with fish on their cars are all jerks"... maybe because they're too judgemental?
I'm happy to say my sister isn't as angry as her bumper sticker. I don't think she's the demographic they had in mind. She's one of my best friends in the world and the things we don't completely agree on wont change that.
Steve