Global Outlook: Hard act to follow indeed!

[aaerdan]

REGISTER TO REMOVE THIS AD

I thought the idea was very creative!
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Church poster of Mary and Joseph in bed sparks anger

AFP
Wellington


A church billboard showing an apparently naked Virgin Mary and Joseph in bed together has sparked the ire of conservative Christians in New Zealand.
On the poster a sad-looking Joseph lies next to Mary, whose face is turned heavenwards under the words: "Poor Joseph. God was a hard act to follow."
The display was erected outside the progressive St Matthew-in-the-City church in Auckland on Thursday.
St Matthews's vicar, Archdeacon Glynn Cardy, said the billboard was meant to challenge stereotypes about the way Jesus was conceived.
In the bible, the Virgin Mary becomes pregnant after an angel appears to her and tells her she will give birth to the son of God.
Cardy said the billboard was meant to challenge literal interpretations of the Bible.
"It is intended to challenge stereotypes about the way that Jesus was conceived and get people talking about the Christmas story," he said.
Conservative Christians have criticised the billboard as offensive.
Auckland Catholic Diocese spokeswoman Lyndsay Freer said the poster was disrespectful to the church.
"Our Christian tradition of 2,000 years is that Mary remains a virgin and that Jesus is the son of God, not Joseph," Freer told the New Zealand Herald. "Such a poster is inappropriate and disrespectful."

[guorbatschow]

I feel sorry for Joseph.

Mary committed adultery.

[Archdevil]

i Almost felt wrong for laughing at this

[Bladebabe]

Such a poster is inappropriate and disrespectful.

Did you spill some milk? cause i don't understand why you are crying.

back on topic virgin mary was a hermaphrodite with 2 fully functioning sex organs or a liar liar pants on fire :<

[Aidan]

Originally Posted by Bladebabe

Did you spill some milk? cause i don't understand why you are crying.

back on topic virgin mary was a hermaphrodite with 2 fully functioning sex organs or a liar liar pants on fire :<

Good trolling attempt.

[Ecclesiastes]

Originally Posted by guorbatschow

I feel sorry for Joseph.

Mary committed adultery.

They got married after conception. It was more of a Spring Fling.

But honestly, true or not, Broseph was a pretty faithful dude. It's not common to marry a pregnant woman with a child that's not yours, especially in that time period.

Mary must've been awesome.

Originally Posted by Aidan

Good trolling attempt.

Not really.

[aaerdan]

Update... (BTW, Jesus did have siblings, so go figure...)
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New Zealand church re-erects stolen Mary and Joseph billboard

DPA
Wellington

An Anglican church billboard depicting Joseph and the Virgin Mary in bed with the words "Poor Joseph, God was a hard act to follow" was back on display on Friday in New Zealand after being defaced and stolen overnight.
Clergy at Auckland's St Matthew-in-the-City - delighted with what the Reverend Clay Nelson called "the mind-blowing dialogue around the world" the billboard had created - printed another copy and re-erected it.
"It's important," he said. "We can't let the vandalism be the last word on the subject."
He said the church had been inundated with e-mails from home and overseas since the billboard, which was designed to get people thinking about the Christmas story, was put up on Thursday.
"There were dinner tables all over the world discussing this last night, and there will be sermons on Sunday all over the world about it," he said.
Nelson said two-thirds of correspondents had supported the church's action while others had been abusive.
Of the man filmed painting out the image and caption on Thursday, Nelson told Television New Zealand that he was "full of the religious righteousness, which has been a destructive force throughout the world”.
Archdeacon Glynn Cardy told reporters that the billboard was not the most radical one an advertising agency that had been asked to produce a challenging message had come up with.
"One of the options we turned down had a sperm coming down with the words 'Joy To The World'," he said.
Lyndsay Freer, spokeswoman for New Zealand Catholics, condemned the picture as "offensive and inappropriate", saying: "Our Christian tradition of 2,000 years is that Mary remains a virgin and that Jesus is the son of God, not Joseph."

[Bladebabe]

Originally Posted by Aidan

Good trolling attempt.

not trolling i just think that is bull shit, virgin giving birth is rediculous, this is why science hates religion. Evry time science tries to be reasonable religion has to be ridiculous.

Science: You need a man and a woman to make a child.
Religion: Mary was a virgin and gave birth to jesus
Science: omfg!
Religious: Exactly

[Ecclesiastes]

Science back then was pretty bullshit, too.

The theme of science is progress, we are always learning/change is good. The theme of religion is to generally stay the same. Adapting is watering down; compromise is heresy. That's the extreme, though.

[BloodAxe]

I came across a picture of the sign mentioned in Aaerdan's article.

[aaerdan]

Originally Posted by BloodAxe

I came across a picture of the sign mentioned in Aaerdan's article.

Nice!

Further reinforces my opinion that the idea is very creative!
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(And: "sign mentioned in article posted by Aaerdan" ... I cannot lay claim to that article being mine.)

[Moshineko]

Haha. Now everyone everywhere with internet and TV knows about his church. Even the church has learned that pissing off religious folks is the best free advertisement you can get.