I love this video. It is for a company that specializes in online content. Anyway, watch the video and I’ll share a quick thought afterward.
In Christianity we use the word sinner more than a little. A person that does not know Jesus as Lord and Savior is a sinner. A person that does know Jesus as Lord and Savior is a sinner saved by grace. One gets eternal punishment, the other gets eternal reward.
My problem is not with the idea of sin, sinning, or sinners. It is that that word causes us to treat people as sinning sinners. It frames the way we interact with them and treat them.
If someone refuses our Gospel presentation, they are sinners doomed for destruction. We don’t put much effort into it because they are, after all, sinners.
What if we rewrote their sign and identified them as precious and loved by God? That would change the way we see them and change the way we interact with them in a couple of ways. First, we would treat them with respect because of who they are in God’s eyes. Second, we would want them to experience God’s love the way we (hopefully) experience God’s love.
I guess we can write whatever sign we want, but I choose to use better words.
I know which sign I choose. Which one works for you?
Skin Ministries 
Depends on the day.
Dave…you hit the nail on the head. How we choose to frame our outlook (individually or corporately) has an influence on our outlook which we largely take for granted. We have spent too much time trying to place individuals into the proper categories; saved, unsaved; sinner, saint; conservative, liberal, etc., sadly the list could go on and on. When did we loose the view that we are all brothers here on earth? Is it a sign of our busy hedonistic lives (sadly the church as well has fallen into this at times as we strive to be more “relevant” in our services and message, even to the point of surveying our members and community for what they would like to see and hear in church)? Can it be considered an outcropping from the prevailing view of evolution where we evolved from an accident rather than a plan? The questions are numerous as are the reasons and excuses. The simple fact is we forget that we are to love one another, not those who are like us or that we approve of. After all, to whom did Jesus minister, certainly not the overtly religious (he called them to repent of their legalistic views) and are we falling prey to this today? Thanks again for the video and thoughts. Today I needed to reminded of being careful of how I frame my views.
I choose, God Loves! I choose Christ!