Offended and confused by blasphemous church poster

I first came across this poster on Steve Fogg’s blog. It’s currently displayed outside St Matthew-in-the-city church in New Zealand:

My first reaction on seeing this billboard was ‘blasphemy’. God didn’t sleep with Mary. To suggest that He did (and that’s how I understood the poster) is just offensive.

Is this what you think the poster is communicating?

The church has written an explanation of the poster on its website. After reading the explanation of the poster I still had no idea what the purpose of the poster was – in fact, I felt more confused! So I kept reading and discovered that this church describes itself as ‘progressive‘. Not sure what this means? I didn’t either, but according to the website:

“Progressives are more interested in spirituality than right belief or proper worship. The identity of Progressive Christians is centred in ethical living.”

Doesn’t sound like Christianity at all.

It’s a shame (but not surprising) that this kind of non-news about a non-Biblical message gets media exposure, for example:

• ‘Judgement swift for church’s saucy billboard‘ on Channel 7’s Sunrise.
• ‘Kiwi Catholic outraged at church billboard depicting Mary and Joeseph after unsatisfying sex’ on the Herald Sun.
• ‘Mary and Joseph post-sex billboard upsets Catholics’ on news.com.au.
• ‘Mary and Joseph poster sparks unholy row‘ on ABC Online.
• ‘Joseph, Mary in bed billboard set for NZ‘ on SMH.
• ‘Risque Christmas billboard causes outrage‘ on Times Online.

It’s a shame when the real controversy – the startling truth that God was born into our world to save us – will barely get a mention in the mainstream media this Christmas.

Sigh.

…

Other Christian blogs and websites are discussing this poster too, check out:

• Wishing you a ‘progressive’ Xmas
• Progressive Christianity??
• ‘Poor Joseph’ advertisement provokes worldwide fury
  

The following quote from the blog above, is a good summary:

“Archdeacon Glynn Cardy and St Matthew-in-the-City have got their much-longed-for debate. But it is not about the miracle of the Christ-child and the wonder that God became man: it is not edifying and does not in any sense bring glory to God. It is a tawdry, crude and gratuitously offensive ejaculation which resonates with a sex-obsessed age and lacks only used condoms strewn over the duvet in a Tracey Emin fashion.”