A Hard Act To Follow!
Wow!
Just how we like our billboards: inventive and offensive! Pure genius!
This Christmas, folks in New Zealand were prompted to ponder their religion a little farther outside the Bible than they were used to. A billboard, erected by the church itself, finds Joseph lying in bed with his wife Mary, with the heading "God is a hard act to follow" looming above him.
Hilarious and thought provoking! We love it!
As expected, many members of the parish were not so open-minded about the message, claiming it was "sacrilege" and inappropriate. It only took four hours for someone to come along and deface the the billboard in a fury.
The church vicar, Archdeacon Glynn Cardy, stands by his decision to have the billboard created, as he described his church as having very liberal ideas about Christianity.
We think we'd love to hear a sermon from this guy! Seems to us like he's got some good ideas!
And for the haters, let's get real. You don't think Joseph ever got busy with Mary? She was his wife after all and he was a MAN! Just because the Bible leaves that tidbit out doesn't mean it didn't happen!
Expand your mind people!
[Image via AP Images.]
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Soo, you get upset about an answer that Ms. California (?) saids about gays..And You PRAISE this (picture)? I guess you don't mind going to hell for either one of those–GAY and making fun of Christianity! I hope you burn in HELL. How you like those apples! There is a special place for Pansies like you.
If I lived in that city. I would definetley tear that down and destroy it. Hope you have fun in hell.
Re: Stephanie1968 – Want to know what's REALLY absolutely mind boggling? That you don't think it happened. So one day a star exploded and created all of this?
It's gonna be great when it's judgement day and you realize the mistake you made in not believing.
Expand my mind?
I have a pretty open mind and THIS is just offensive. I'm disgusted. Our world as truly gone to hell.
Hahahahaha Joeseph got sloppy seconds!
Re: Moonflower26 – Exactly.
Re: Rebeccagrace11 – Love your icon
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I live in NZld and I find it increasingly bizarre how much stuff from here gets put about the interwebs and how much kerfuffle it inspires!
We're pretty fucking godless down here and have broken our religious right to such an extent (yay!) that the best they can do when faced with this shiz is whack a bit of spray paint on it. We had like, two old guys with handmade signs protesting and no one else gave a rats arse. Now THATs a hard act to follow. I love New Zealand.
:-)
Perez - you are a simple minded fool who thinks he is so enlighted to get this.
You could not be more wrong.
Re: Womaniser – I do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Re: Pervert – Re: Southern belle 12 – Goodness, you people have issues!! Get your noses out of your bible and get a life… a real one!!!
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Re: AlexaKylee – The only mind-boggling thing here are deluded people like you who believe in creation. "So one day a star exploded and created all of this?" Jesus H. Fucking Christ, pick up a science book and educate yourself. No wonder you don't believe in the Big Bang, you don't have the faintest idea what it really is! Quit wasting the only life you have working towards a non-existent heaven and do something useful with your life! There is no judgement day, you'll see… oh wait, no, you won't see anything because you'll just be… dead. But if you'd rather be miserable, fine; but leave decent, educated people like Stephanie1968 alone!
Well this one sure brought the wingnuts out of the woodwork.
It states in the Bible that they had other kids Perez. Maybe you should expand your mind and get educated.
Re: Kania – lol my thoughts exactly. He got sloppy seconds and she obviously got a loser in bed… Sucks for her and sucks double for him lol There you have it: religion makes people miserable!
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Re: kellyjelly – Me too! I've never been to your lovely country but I'm liking it already! I gotta make that long ass trip, seems like it's worth it. Americans could learn a great deal from y'all
HAHAHAHA! That's hilarious!
wait until the right-wing lunatic American christians get wind of this
and they thought adam lambert was destroying society… now they have a new enemy– the liberal new zealanders. lol lol
just watch, fox news will milk this for a month.
Re: kategirl0226 – - Thanks for realizing what nobody else did. Yeah totally offensive to say that god had sex with Mary. And as somebody else said why is it cool to make fun of Christianity and its offensive and wrong to say anything about any other religion?! I am a christian, but am open minded and would never attack anyone else's belief's so why is it ok to attack mine?
Re: AlexaKylee – Well I find an exploding star a lot easier to comprehend and believe than "god" making Adam, who then gives "Eve" a rib to create HER and they wind up in the garden of eden with a talking snake! And they are the originators of the human race? Please. We are evolved from creatures in pond water into what we are today. We created ourselves and evolved into what we are today and guess what? We are not DONE evolving, either.
Re: AlexaKylee – It's gonna be great when it's judgement day and you realize the mistake you made in not believing.
Wow and you call yourself a christian? You think its "gonna be great" when judgement day gets here and I realize the mistake I made? I am guessing that means you think its going to be great that I will be sent to hell for all eternity to burn and be tortured and suffer? Wow. I thought christians were supposed act in the image of gentle Jesus. Cant imagine Jesus thinking that someone suffering in hell is "great".
Re: Angus8 – I agree! Perez=Satan
"And for the haters, let's get real. You don't think Joseph ever got busy with Mary? She was his wife after all and he was a MAN! Just because the Bible leaves that tidbit out doesn't mean it didn't happen!"
You are the idiot! Mary saved herself until Jesus was born, they didn't do it, hence to show the power what God can do! It's stated very clearly there. And for the ridiculous comments about Jesus having siblings:
"One has to question the agenda of those fundamentalists who try to translate the meaning of "brothers" literally, in light of the language issues of the times; which usage can also mean followers of Christ, as well as brothers and sisters in the Heavenly family sense, in the much larger scope. The language is fraught with similar problems, such as Mary of Cleophas being identified as Mary's "sister", when they had no language at the time for "sister-in-law", which was the actual relationship, as she was married to Joseph's brother, Cleophas. " -WikiAnswers. Although this is one's opinion, it makes total sense!
Use your brains!
Perez=Satan
I agree with kategirl0226. The part that is offensive is that it implies that Mary and God had sex. Mary and Joseph should have and I'm sure did.
and yeah we all now they did….but why are you going to put a fucking billboar it is innapropriet perez whe dont give a fuck about your atheist point of views okay bitch
I am an educated and open minded Catholic, but this is friggen ridiculous.
First of all, stop declaring who is and isn't going to hell. Last I checked, we don't get to decide that.
Second of all, Our Lady is eternally a virgin. Catholic doctrine dictates that she was conceieved without sin, and then lived chastely with Joseph after Jesus's birth. Also, to clarify, Catholics don't raise Mary to divine heights, we honour her as the creature of highest grace. We do not pray to Mary as we do Jesus, we ask for her intercession. That is abundantly clear via a quick Google search.
Anyone who has studied biblical languages is aware that there was no Aramaic word for cousin, so when the bible was written into Greek, the closest word cousin the bible writers could use was brothers and sisters. There is significant evidence that Jesus has cousins (John the Baptist ring any bells?), so those saying "oh, but Jesus had brothers and sisters'" need to actually study their faith before mouthing off.
I don't understand why this is offensive. They were husband and wife!
I love this billboard and the person who put it up has a great sense of humor. Many people simply do not believe in supernatural beings with supernatural powers.
The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father and born from a virgin mother can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree. Yeah. Makes perfect sense.
Perez, if you want Christians to be respectful of you and your beliefs then you should at least pay them the same courtesy.
At least don't comment about something you don't understand. As many people have already said, Christians are upset because the billboard implies that Mary had sex with God, not that she had sex with Joseph.
Personally I think the billboard is great…it's certainly gotten people to talk about Christianity, and I'm sure that Church will be packed on Sunday.
Re: Ze German – Why, Thank You, Friend
Very nice of you to come to my defense. Oh and "Judgement Day"?? All the dead people will be brought back to life?? Thats a lot of people and a lot of work. What are '"god" and Jesus doing up there all this time to prepare for the tremendous job ahead of them? Studying "Resurrecting the Dead for Dummies"?
You wouldn't know the first thing about expanding your mind.
Re: Stephanie1968 – You will see someday.
Read the Apocrypha, you idiot. Before you make comments like "open your minds, people" it would probably behoove you to read up on Catholicism a bit more before you walk around telling people to "open their minds." I am not Catholic. I am a History Major. In our required readings were the Bible and the Apocrypha (I'm not going to explain that to you as a man of your wisdom surely knows what it is). There are many teachings that Mary came from a long line of noble women, "clean women," and that's part of why God chose her. There is also some hints that neither Mary nor Joseph wanted to have more children, but wanted to devote their lives to God, so it was a good match. Joseph's marriage to Mary was his second, and he was quite a bit older than she. And please don't give me that " But he had a brother " comment. Translated from ancient Hebrew, "brother" also applies to cousin. Please stop hating the one thing left that's okay to make fun of: Christians.
I walk past this sign everyday… St Mathews in the city is a very liberal church..
Re: kategirl0226 – No, you're not. Joseph's first wife died young. So he already had children when he married Mary, The reference in the bible to Mary's son, as I said earlier, "son" translated in ancinet Hebrew, also means "cousin."
Re: AngelaVictoria – I agree. They could have at least made them light olive-coloured.
One last (very important) thing: Would you have posted a similar picture if it was about the Koran? Yeah, didn't think so.
Re: Genghis Khan – Do your homework on Mary's lineage before you renounce her.
It's not that Mary didn't have sex with Joseph, you're right they were married, but the implication that Mary had sexual intercourse with God in the traditional sense. That they made love.
I'm not religious in any way, but I can see why some folk might find this offensive - which is why it's on your blog in the first play, duhhhh.
ha! i live in NZ and i saw this today coming home from work! thought it was pretty hilarious really
NZ HAS THE BEST SENSE OF HUMOUR LOL, ITS JUST A JOKE!! ITS FROM CHRISTIIANS THEMSELVES..
YOU AMERICANS SHOULD SEE OUR TUI BILLBOARDS. HILARIOUS
Yeah they had more kids the "normal" way but they weren't gonna live up to JESUS! Hahahahaha, love it love it love it.
Absolutely brilliant! lol.
xoxo
Jesus definitely had siblings. I believe one that is named, is James.
Anything spoof about any religion is welcomed. The crap of lies that religion spews out , creating the majority of the World's problems is astounding! Chistianity, Islam & Judaism are the main Culprits(not to mention some wacky offshoots)
Fucking get over it! Its funny, it's not offensive I live in NZ and i see this stuff all the time, if you think its so offensive then don't look at it
you need to respect peoples religions. If this was a hindu or islamic billboard that could cause offense you wouldn't say anything. Everyone thinks they can just mock Christianity !!!!!!
Re: R1pp3r – actually when it refers to Jesus' brothers and sister, it means his cousins and close friends
Isn't it reasonable and common sense to think a wife had an affair, got pregnant and had to invent a story to avoid husband's wrath? Sure is a miracle the entire religion might have been invented from a lying wife.
Bahahah
thats hilarious XD
And the peeps who said Mary never had sex, yeah she didnt before jesus was born. After that Jesus had brothers and sisters so they clearly did. Read your bibles lmfao
Re: AlexaKylee – Thank you! It's a very important and sacred place to me. Are you Mormon too?
I'm glad to see there are Christians here who are defending our faith. It's nice to see.
i find the billboard fairly amusing and somewhat clever. it's doesn't offend me at all…but, regardless of how you or i feel, other people have a right to their opinion and they're allowed to be offended. perez, where do YOU get off telling other people to change their relgious views and beliefs…sounds to me like YOU are the one who needs to exand his mind and respect that other people have different views from you and whether you beleive in them or not doesn't make them right or wrong. YOU ARE SUCH A HYPOCRITE!!
i though mary had a baby with jesus … confusssedzelled.com cx
I got married in this church this year and it is one of the most uplifting and open minded churches. Good on them for trying to put a little humor into boring old Religion….. go you kiwis
The Bible doesn't leave that "tidbit out" If you ever read the BIble, you'd know that Jesus had several brothers and several sisters. While were on the subject, just because you're gay and the Bible is clear about same sex relationships, doesn't mean you should hate on God… you're still one of His kids, He still loves you. If I were you, I'd be more concerned with being a gossip monger for a living than being gay.
I'm so sorry, maybe some people find it funny, but I'm roman catholic and it makes me angry. And if a catholic protests against this, he would get shit for it. If it was about gays, Perez you would say: "WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!"
Please leave out every kind of religions out of your stupid blogs!
haha that was in the news here in NZ lol . that news was like 2 days ago ! lol
Genius? Can you set your bar for perfection any lower? The only way is up from here Perez, lol. You're scraping the bottom of the barrel and digging.
Einstein = Genius. Crap that doesn't even have a modicum of intelligence? Not Genius. Raise your standards Perez, you're embarrassing us all.
Abstinance. Works 99.9999% of the time.
as a non believer I think that you are all mad.
people don't really follow the old testament anymore and are pretty aware that mary and Joe Joe hooked up..but I think this is a little tacky. It's like everything's being channeled through sex…..Like you can only reach people mentally through sexual content is what I think is narrow minded.
Excuse me Perez, Barb, whatever moron blogged this one. What's up with the "haters … Joseph get busy" line? Who the fuck are you to push religious beliefs to ANYONE? Your religion is the Church of the Almighty Famewhore. Burn in hell.
Re: Stephanie1968 – I feel sad for you.
Bad bad this article is all around bad.Get a life perez.
Re: marberry – no he wasn't. Jesus was the son of GOD. Yikes.
Re: Southern belle 12 – he had brothers. Read your Bible before you start ranting.
This is terrible and offensive. Check your facts, Perez, Joseph and Mary DID have children after Jesus. Fucking douchebag idiot.
OMG , pure sacrilege indeed! it's a shame how people have become…
You all are cynical and too cool for your own good. That billboard sucks, if it was about Obama, everyone on here would be flaming it down. Your pseudo-intellectualism doesn't impress me and it doesn't hide the fact that you have to be pretty empty inside to be so cynical. Perez, I'm breaking up with you, I have loved you for a long time, but between this, your misogyny, and your straight hate, I'm done with you, and all your band of pre-teen angsty posters as well.
LOVE THE BILLBOARD! And they did have more children…so it's pretty obvious they all weren't conceived by a virgin!
Re: diggitydoggg – Dont feel sad for me. You feel sad for yourself.
Re: kategirl0226 – Exactly!! The offensive part is implying that God and Mary had sex…. not that she and Joseph did!!
So you expect us non gays to respect and fight for your equal rights yet you bash religion? Fuck off Perez, burn in hell!
Perez you fat fuck. Before you claim that Jesus didn't have any siblings, try reading the Bible first before you make that claim. Fucking idiot, why you have a blog still astounds me, and why i am still here reading your bullshit, is crazy.
For all the people on this thing saying "Religious people are just idiots! This isn't even a sacriligious post! It doesn't say 'I hate God!'" First of all, nothing offensive ever has to be explicitly stated in order to be offensive. If I took a picture of a black person and photoshopped watermelons, food stamps, porch monkey's, drugs and stolen items into the picture, obviously I'm implying something. This picture is implying that God had sex with Mary, which is horribly humanizing the God who we are supposed to consider completely set apart from us. All the feel-good liberals want to be open-minded regarding religion, but I know for a fact if God were standing before this billboard, he wouldn't laugh. This is another liberalistic attempt at de-valuing anything even slightly sacred to cater it to what's convenient for them. If being a closed-minded prick means that I am giving total respect to God, then I'll take that anyday.
I can't believe the atrocious ways many are speaking of our Savior, Mary, Joseph and God himself…..shame on you……
the best thing you can do for a non-believer is pray for them……..it's up to God what will happen with them, only He can forgive them……..
I guess you didnt get it - I think the offensive idea they are portaying is not that Mary and Joseph had biblical marital relations, but that his bedroom skills didnt compare to Gods shills when he "impregnated" her. I would say that is way more than being "open-minded" That is absolutely scareligious and I would be fearful of the repercussions of such a thought. What kills me is that if any Christian ever insults another religion we ar considered close minded biggots — but yet every other religion or "non-religion" tends to be the biggest hypocrites in the matter because they make a full-time job out of discriminating toward Christianity.
lol this is funny
Um. In the bible, doesn't Jesus have brothers and sisters? Have you even read the bible? And why would the bible need to EXPLAIN how his siblings came to pass? It's not an instruction manuel.
Duh.
And don't forget by definition God was a dead beat dad. Remember he got Mary pregnant, and got another man to raise his child. And he took credit for everything. No child support, no financial backing, birthday cards every once in a while. It's not like he couldn't afford it I mean, it's not like he was this super powered being that can do anything and everything. Oh my dead beat God(OMDBG)
Re: Southern belle 12 – I'm getting really sick of so-called "Christians" who don't know what they're talking about. She's called the Virgin Mary because she was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus. She and Joseph did have other children; some of their names were Joseph, James, Judas, and Simon. The Greek word for brother is used in connection with each of these. Go back and reread the Gospels before you make the rest of us look like idiots.
Um no.
Re: Genghis Khan – ..AMEN TO THAT!!!
this is jus wrong!
If that was a billboard with a picture of Adam and Eve with the headline, "Adam and Eve, Not Adam and Steve" you'd be throwing a shit fit about the hate and anti-gay message. You wouldn't want to "expand your mind." Christians aren't "stuck up people" we just don't appreciate God being depicted as a sexual deviant, we all are aware that Joseph and Mary were intimate, God and Mary, however, were not, which is what this implies. THAT is what bothers us, you disgraceful sinner.
What's really offensive about the billboard is how stupid it is. What do you mean, Perez, by "expand your minds"? How is the statement on the billboard in any way thought provoking? It's simply another crass, shallow attempt at publicity by insulting people.
Re: clarkst2 –
Shut the Fuck up! Truth be told about this bible you speak of. If hollywood was to make modernized movies based upon the stories from the bible, do you know how many of you bible thumpers would not go see the movie? The bible should be rated NC17 and if it were made a video game it would berated MA. The bible has some of the most despicable acts of cruelty and such. There is rape, abortions, gay sex, orgies, murder, incist, pedophilia, sodomy, beastiality, torture, kidnapping, slavery, domestic abuse, senseless killing, contractual hits by God, corruption, black mail, racial slurrs, etc. And that's all in the Old Testament. So this billboard was funny in contrast to what you tight ass bible thumpers think.
First, lets clean up the language here. Secondly, this is just another attempt to make fun of Christianity and it is disgusting. They had sex- so??
To clarify…
The term immaculate conception means that Mary was pure without original sin and has nothing to do with sex.
But yes, traditionally it is believed that Mary was a virgin when she conceived Jesus.
Some more liberal Christians today don't believe that she was a virgin, just that Jesus was conceived through the Holy Spirit and not Joseph (and some even more liberals not even that). Personally I am more traditional in my biblical views but I respect others' opinions on that.
As for Mary remaining a virgin her whole life? Roman Catholics do teach that but not any other of the big Christian religions that I know of. I am a Lutheran and believe that Mary and Joseph went on to have a normal relationship and other children. Catholics teach that the brothers of Jesus talked about in the bible are really cousins/other kin. To me sex shouldn't be dirty and Mary as a sexual being is more relatable, but to each his own.
Remember people…there are many Christians out there, many open minded (I was very proud of my church's vote on human sexuality)…not all Christians have the same views on social issues or even biblical issues. We just believe that Jesus is our Savior.
Re: AnnInWonderland – and so will you.
Re: Ze German – Re: XvTheTruthvX – lol and you prove that by caring enough to reply to my comment. Well done!
LMAO!! Good one Ze!!!!!
Perez, read the bible, Joseph and Mary had other children. It's specifically addressed in the bible…for someone thats so "tolerant" you sure are intolerant.
the bible is just a bunch of stories for people who need something to believe in. yea, i said it. it contradicts itself endlessly, its not even written by jesus, but by jesus' buddies, go out and do some good in the world (and i dont mean by oppressing people or taking their rights away). yes, jesus walked the earth, yes he was the son of joseph and mary, yes he was married to mary magdeline, yes he was crucified like many, many others. anyone who believes in magical angels sent from an all-knowing being in the sky needs to wake up. sorry, but if you want to believe in something, believe in YOURSELF, and DO something!
Re: AlexaKylee – AlexaKylee, Judgement Day, you say? You mean the day when "god" brings back to life every person that died since the beginning of time? Even the ones cremated? He is going to show up here and all the dead people in the world are going to pop out of their graves and come BACK to life? And he does this, why? To determine if you go to "heaven" or "hell"? Well, wasnt that already decided when they died? I thought all the dead peoples souls were already IN heaven or hell when they died?? Please, now really, explain this to me…….
Re: McBrooke – um so you're admitting the many translations of the bible have totally altered its meaning over the years? and THAT'S what you base your faith on? totally mind-boggling to me!
Re: GuessWhoSD – Actually Jesus, Mary and Joseph were Jewish…. So P is hating on Christians AND Jews.
Re: ShoeWhore – How fucking dumb do you have to be to believe that you can actually get pregnant from touching a cumrag or bathing in used bathwater? I'm sorry, was that you implying that believers in the virgin birth are stupid?
You mean, Joseph and Mary…HAD SEX?!?! That's not "thought-provoking," moron; it's common sense. How else could they have had other kids? It's just a thing about virgin births — they're not exactly miraculous if they happen all the time.
Hahaha, I'm a Christian and I think this is pretty clever! BTW MARIO, Christians are well aware that Joseph and Mary had sex since the Bible specifically says they had MANY children together…try reading it for once for accuracy before you start making stuff up
How would you feel if someone mocked your beliefs? Oh wait, you'd make videos and talk about it and not rest till something is done. How could you just expect people to respect your beliefs and not respect others. If I were you I'd become more tolerant, you're not getting any younger, and I'm sure there's a place for you in hell Perez.
Re: Canadian_Chika – For now