Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: 3at@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Raphael Martelles) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Faith in secret (was Re: Use of God's money) Message-ID: Date: 22 Apr 91 08:08:33 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Purdue University Lines: 65 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article dhosek@euler.claremont.edu (Don Hosek) writes: >I don't have a fish on the back of my car for two reasons. One is >that I personally tend to get a very negative impression of those >people who do have their aluminum fish on the hood partly because >of reasons related to the second reason: what does advertising >that one is a Christian on the back of one's car do for God? Am I >to imagine that someone noting that I let them ahead of me in >L.A. traffic will also notice the fish and decide that they >should look into all this Jesus stuff? It seems to me more likely >that someone seeing that will get the impression that the driver >of the car is some self-righteous pompous ___ regardless of what >I do. It seems to me that this sort of advertising of one's faith >is more a self-promotion than a God promotion. Sadly, getting >back the first reason, my experience tends to bear this out. As a Christian, I've been helped many times by seeing fishes on the back's of people's cars! There have been times, driving home from school or something, that my mind is burdened by finals, tests, etc., and seeing that aluminum fish all of the sudden breaks the hold that I allowed the world to get. I start praying, etc., and remember the history of the church that Christ established. Somehow, those fishes always appear at just the right moment to help me remember who's in control. The Lord has funny ways of reminding me to turn to Him, and those fishes are one of them. I understand what you're saying, and it has held true in a few situations. I'm certainly not asking you to put a fish on your car :-) I've had people ask me what the fish means, though, and it's a great opportunity to witness! (I put them up everywhere--college blackboards, y'know.) But the reason I put up fishes (draw them, actually) is not for me, or to advertise my faith, since many people, Christians included, have no idea what the fish means! I put them up so that Christians who do know what it means might bring their thoughts back to our Lord in the midst of so much worldy influence. Kind of a reminder. A cross gets erased by teachers, especially since many of them seem to think that the absolute values that Christians acknowledge aren't in effect anymore. They don't like my "opinion" that everyone is accountable, and that the ONLY way to be saved is not by "doing whatever each person thinks is right," but by accepting Jesus. So, they erase my crosses. *snif* But, They don't know what the fish is! So, they don't mess with it. And maybe, some Christian student somewhere might make a stand for Jesus because they saw the fish. Or they might take the chance to witness that they would've let slip by. Remember--in the early church, the fish was used to identify with other followers of The Way, not to advertise faith. We proclaim the cross, not the fish. The fish is for Christians, to remind them that each one of them sitting through that psychology class isn't alone, to remind them that in spite of all the "scientific" findings that show that Christianity produces a guilt complex, that there are no absolute values, that God is dead, that morals are just a product of society and "need to change as society changes," in spite of all that, the fish reminds them that God is very much alive, that there *are* absolute values and that we *are* accountable to God, not our- selves, that Jesus rose from the dead and destroyed sin, even the sin that society preaches as "fun." The fish reminds them of forgiveness and of strength in the face of persecution and ridicule, especially the ridicule of your basic psychology professor when you are brass enough to suggest that God is the solution to self-esteem problems, not a "hobby you are good at." :-) That's the reason I put up fishes. In Christ, Raph -- Raphael Dominic Martelles <>< 3at@sage.cc.purdue.edu IX0YE "Christianity isn't a crutch, it's a stretcher. You can't even hobble into heaven!"