Tuesday, June 14, 2011

'Dear Aussie Muslims, glad you want to talk about Jesus': billboard

Dear Aussie Muslims - Poster on the M4
AussieChristians.com.au is continuing the faith-by-billboard conversation by displaying on the M4 a billboard directed to Australian Muslims, in response to the Muslim billboard on Victoria Road.

The billboard went up on June 10 and says, "Dear Aussie Muslims, glad you want to talk about Jesus. Love to chat more, AussieChristians.com.au."

The AussieChristians website says that after lengthy discussion of how to respond to the MyPeace Muslim billboards, it was decided to stick with the language of billboards.

"For a start, we wanted everyone to know that we were talking to fellow Aussies. We like Muslims in Australia. If you’re a Muslim, please know this: unlike some of the things you’ve heard, Aussie Christians who read all the Prophets and the Gospel, are people who really want to accept you as a friend," the AussieChristians website says.

"More deeply, we’re glad you respect Jesus, or Issa as you call him. And we agree, that when the Law of Moses talks about the prophet greater than Moses, it’s got to be Jesus. There’s no doubt that Jesus will be central for those serious about knowing God.

"We could disagree about religious things, of course. But we hope our opening words make it clear that we want an intelligent, grown up chat. And that just because we may disagree doesn’t mean we can’t get along.

"But, whatever you think about the ad, whether you like it or not, we hope it’s got you thinking about Jesus. He said some profound things about himself. In the Gospel, his friend John recorded that Jesus once said: 'I and the Father are one'.

"That’s big stuff. Eternal stuff. And it’s definitely worth talking about."

While the billboard has been broadly welcomed in Christian circles as an appropriate response to the Muslim billboard, there has been so far a thundering silence from the secular press in reporting the AussieChristians' billboard, even though there was quick coverage of the original billboard that referred to Jesus as a prophet of Islam.

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