Thankfully, I can think for myself

This is another great billboard from Outreach Media proclaiming “Thankfully, God doesn’t think you’re imaginary”.

Thankfully, God doesn't think you're imaginary

Like a lot of the propaganda coming from Outreach Media (see previous post) the message is simple. But I wonder, what is the relevance of the headless guy? Is it implying that if God were imaginary that we wouldn’t exist?

I got a real kick out of the circular reasoning which arises once you discount God’s existence. It goes like this:

An imaginary being believes I exist, so do I exist at all? So assuming I don’t exist, and the non-existent God believes in me, does he worship me like a God? If I don’t exist, and God doesn’t either, does that mean God actually exists? So if God exists, and worships me, who doesn’t exist, why does he believe in me?

The reasoning reminded me of Douglas Adams’ Babelfish passage, which I’ve quoted before. It’s completely flawed reasoning, but it was fun to think about.

Anyway I drive past this billboard every day and wanted to know that you guys thought about it. Please leave comments below.

Reverse Psychology from the Church?

… or “The changing face of Christianity?”

I saw this billboard on the side of a Presbyterian Church I pass everyday on my way to work.

Christian Billboard on Scotchmer Street in Clifton Hill

It was created by a group called Outreach Media who describe themselves as existing “to promote the Christian Gospel through various media channels and to assist churches and Christian groups to raise the profile of the Christian message.”

If you visit the website, you can view an archive of all the billboards they have created recently. Some of it is really quite clever and seems to engage the public on a level of popular culture rather than the more common “holier than thou” attitude the Church has in general.

What’s even more interesting is, if you click on “March” in the archives, you are delivered to a website titled God Hates Religion, which, believe it or not, is an anti-religion/pro-God pro-Jesus website which derides religion as a bad thing.

What do you think of this alternate tactic? Is it a real attempt to engage with the youth of today, or a thin veil to seem cool on the surface but underneath remain the same? Please have a look through these links/archives and let me know what you think.