I was walking home with my children at sundown last night and a car stopped at a corner and waved my gang and I across the street. I waved and crossed. And when the car passed I watched it for a moment and noticed a bumper stickers that said, “God Bless The Whole World, No Exceptions.”
I wondered what it meant.
Was it saying that some of us don’t want God to Bless some of us. I would assume they meant it as a knock on us homophobic Christian conservative types because we wouldn’t want God to bless everyone -only homophobic Christian conservatives.
I’d also make the point that God doesn’t love someone because of their sins but in spite of them.
The other possible meaning that sprung to mind was it was a knock on “God Bless America” by saying some wouldn’t want God to bless those Arab countries.
Are they saying we’re wrong to ask God to bless America? Because that would seem at least a little foolish, right? Aren’t we allowed to ask for particular blessings? When I pray for my children should I feel guilty because I didn’t pray as hard for my neighbor’s children, the starving children in China, or every child in the world for that matter? Asking God to bless America is not asking God to curse, smite and punish every other country.
Either way I question whether God should be used as a knock on anyone. Because clearly the sticker is not just a positive statement. They’re knocking someone, right? Is it a political statment or a religious one?
Does anyone know anything about these bumper stickers?
February 4, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Then why add the No exceptions? God bless the whole world is complete enough. How about we let God bless who He wants to bless, and let Him pass judgment on those He wishes. And to go way back in the posts I don’t think it’s an atheist movement as I live in an area with a large mennonite population and they tend to have this sticker a lot, along with “Who would Jesus Bomb” and other “cute” bumper stickers. I suppose though that you could call them atheists anyway… I don’t think there would be much of a difference.
May 27, 2009 at 12:26 am
The sticker originated with Unitarians. Most people who espouse one religion or another think that they should change the way everyone else thinks (or condemn them to hell). That’s called evangelism. And it’s what we fight every day. Freedom of Religion means people are free to believe anything they want. Including that which doesn’t support your ideas. God Bless Everyone, no exceptions, means we love people just the way they are and accept that we cannot understand thousands of years of their culture by using only our own viewpoint. It’s about loving everyone exactly as they are. Which is, in fact, what Jesus shows us to do. Most people don’t actually want to do what Jesus would do becuase they believe in the righht and left and what their pastor said. Because then they’d have to make sure the girl who got knocked up had a safe and supported abortion and aftercare by a good psychologist, or the gay couple was allowed to sit bedside while their partner died. Jesus never did what was right or left or he wouldn’t have loved a prostitute or told you not ot idolize him.
May 28, 2009 at 5:25 am
Yes, Jesus did love people as they were, but He also let them know what their sins were and that they needed to change. And I’m not sure I believe that the unitarians are responsible for this sticker.
October 18, 2009 at 9:03 am
I saw one of these stickers for the 1st time this past Friday in Western New York. Along with that sticker was an Obama 08 sticker. That did not bother me because I voted for that man. Googling the bumper sticker phrase led me to your blog.. .
I will say this; the church I attend preaches Christ's salvation for us all. Many in our church trusted Bush and do not understand how Wall Streets greed "raped" the common man the past 8 years. Unregulated derivative trading, plus the selling of mortgages for the sake of selling them to poor uneducated low income folks to get commissions, plus the things that remained unmentioned by the press that were done by these greedy folks, caused this mess that created 10% + unemployment rates and the "suffering of middle America". Bush handed Obama a proverbial "rock" this past January.. . It's only been 9 months and my fellow church goers are expecting a dramatic turnaround. Give it another 1 to 1-1/2 years.. .
The sticker should say "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life". God would not have allowed Obama to be elected president had he not wanted it to occur. We should pray for our leaders, not curse them. God has a plan.. . trust Him.
I see this sticker as a backlash against those that think republicans can do no wrong and those that believe Wall Street can do no wrong. Isn't greed one of the 7 deadly sins? God is neither democrat or republican; He is God. Don't be blinded by Fox news nor ABC/NBC/CBS et all.. . Trust in God's work and God's word alone. Amen.
June 10, 2010 at 12:39 am
Couldn't that phrase be, as it is for me every time I see one, a reminder that the human penchant for dividing people into "good" and "bad" is not God's way, that every human is deserving of God's love? And that the people I dislike are just as deserving as I am?
Chris C.
November 1, 2010 at 5:18 pm
To Nate & Others – "No Exceptions" is simply an emphasis. Plain and simple.