We are new to Westside church. We travel from Alfalfa to the Westside of Bend to attend, so the banners don’t affect us one way or another. What has affected our family is drugs and the breakdown of society in general. I hope whoever wrote the Letter of the Week last week about the banners in front of Westside church also considers this…
To get from point A to point B in life (birth to dying), a person must run the gauntlet through drugs, sex, and alcohol abuse. It may come in the form of a family member’s addiction or their own. To try and say it doesn’t exist or that some banner is in some way offensive because it points out the existence of such, is basically to act like an ostrich with its head in the sand. These problems are so real. They’re hurting our young people and spoon feeding them religion is not going to help. Young people and society as a whole need real tools, real advice and the sound teaching to get them through this gauntlet without serious damage to their emotions. Our kids are overwhelmed with sexual/drug related sights and sounds through the media.
For those who believe it’s only the parents’ job to protect them and give them tools they need to fight against this onslaught, can I ask you this, “Who will teach the parents?” We are baby boomers emerging from a culture of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Our parents were from the sixties, “Hello!” We are a culture and society that needs to be taught and given the tools in order to teach our children. I applaud Westside for being willing to stand up and offer that teaching and tools to “whosoever will” come and listen.
A battle is raging. Honestly, should we send our children to the front lines with no armor on and expect them to survive? A banner in front of a church with two little feet sticking out from under a sheet is nowhere near as offensive as what our kids are going to encounter in everyday life, in school, on the Internet, and in watching television. Someone needs to be willing to offer some help.
LC, Alfalfa
Editor’s note: While we don’t take issue with a campaign to educate kids about the dangers of teenage sex, we did find it odd that this particular poster and phrasing appeared in the middle of gay pride week.
This article appears in Jul 10-16, 2008.
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
Very bizarre message….but the real issue is the billboard-like signage. If Westside wants to poison the natural beauty of the neighborhood, maybe they should have built on Third St. BTW, I believe the current signs need a permit as would be the case with any other business. Westside dosnt get a pass just because they are selling religion.
LC: How does two feet sticking out from under a sheet assist you in your noble quest to enlighten your children? Because the possibility exists that one may encounter worse things doesn’t improve that which exists now. I’ll exaggerate to improve the likelihood of your getting my point: Is rape OK now because murder may exist down the line? Using a negative to excuse a negative is stupidly disingenuous, to say the least.
I agree, spoon feeding your children religion doesn’t work. Ramming it down their gullet with a two by four won’t work either. Nothing false works. That is why there are so many ‘religious’ assholes running loose and doing so much destruction around the globe.
Seek true enlightenment. Your children will follow you by example. Begin your journey of awakening by burning your Bible as fuel for a nice family marshmallow roast. Then read every word spoken by Buddha, the smartest man that ever lived. Learn that ethics come naturally to us. Teach yourself and your children how to meditate. You will eventually discover that you already know everything that there is to know…You just have to learn how to access it…
Wake up!
Two weeks ago, they asked kids (they called it PG-11) to come to the service. We attended with our neighbors who’ve been after us to join them for 3 years. I was blown away at the stuff that they said. It was actually pretty funny – our neighbors were falling over themselves to apologize to us and tell us that this was not normal. If you ask me, this was sensationalism used in an attempt to recruit new sheep (sorry, members). In our case, it failed. On the bright side, our neighbors won’t be asking us to join them anymore, so we no longer have to be polite and come up with excuses.
I know it’s anecdotal, but funny thing, their kids are little hellions. Ours (from a good agnostic, maybe atheist?) family seem to be better adjusted. I suspect that having parents who don’t lie to you might help the kids.
Or it could be that the Westside Church is actually a subterfuge as in DEA.