Another Bumper Sticker Post

While running errands this afternoon I spotted a bumper sticker that caught my attention. The last time I wrote a post about a bumper sticker I had seen, it was to disagree with the sentiment it expressed. The one I saw today expressed a true and serious thought. The car driving along in front of me as I took the boys to their Gram and Grandad’s house to spend the night had this blazoned across its bumper in stark black and white:

“God said it
That settles it
Whether you believe it or not.”

That is certainly better than the more common one I’ve seen that says:

“God said it
I believe it
That settles it.”

When I’ve seen that more common one, I’ve often thought, “What God says is true, whether I believe it or not, it’s still settled. Get the ‘I’ out of there, it’s irrelevant to God’s word being settled.” (This is one of those things to which people will probably say, “Lighten up, Beck,” again, huh?) The sticker I saw today was apparently written by someone who also got irritated by that other one.

While I know I wouldn’t put that older, more common bumper sticker on my car, I’m not so sure I’d put the one I saw today, either. It somehow seems to trivialize great truths to see them puttering around town as a pithy phrase on the car in front of you. I’m not a huge fan of bumper sticker evangelism. That’s just my opinion, for what it’s worth. I’m also not at all comfortable with being flippant about or trivializing the concept of the sovereignty of God. To be fair, I’m pretty sure that was not the intention of the owner of that car and I appreciate the correction to the other kind of bumper sticker. But, the fact that there is, in fact, coming a day of accounting, a day when God will judge the earth, both the living and the dead, is an awesomely serious thing. It is most definitely true that this is a certainty, whether one believes it or not. It is also true that there is only one way to be reconciled to God, and that is through faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life. The Lord said that the way is narrow that leads to life and there are few that find it. He also said that there would be many in that day who would say, “Lord, Lord…” thinking they were okay, while all along they were deceived and He did not know them. This is a sobering thought that brings me to my knees often, praying for others, examining my own self to be sure my faith is in Christ, and praying for the boldness to be a faithful witness for Christ.

I can even see using that argument on the bumper sticker that the fact of God's word being true and settled doesn't depend on your belief that it is in a face-to-face, caring conversation with someone who is struggling with that kind of understanding. There is objective truth, whether our culture wants to accept it or not. But, somehow, it just comes across as smug and cliché and somehow dismissible on a car bumper. But, maybe that’s just me being too serious (too critical, even, perhaps) again. After all, that bumper sticker did what was intended – it got me thinking, right?