Jesus Fish

My friends and I have an enjoy taking pictures of weird and wacky things and sending them to each other on our cellphones. As I was looking through the pictures on my phone yesterday I realized there was jaded theme to many of the pictures.

The person who created this must have felt hurt and judged by someone's sincere, if not loving attempts, to "save" them.

Are Christ followers known for their love or their morality?

Irreverent? Yes.

Funny? Yes!

True? Yes!

Meaningful? Not sure???

Well Jesus was a pretty cool guy...

"What Would Jesus Do?"

This one is a joke US Military Patch. Mocking joke or subtle protest?

Who Would Jesus Shoot? 

We've all seen the Jesus Fish on the backs of people's cars. Perhaps you've even been cut-off (or worse) by a car with a Jesus Fish on it. Perhaps you have one on your car. For me, personally, the true beauty of the Jesus Fish is all but lost in this sincere attempt for people to identify themselves as Christ followers.

Historically, the fish symbol was used by the early Christ followers during the Roman persecution. Many died as human torches or were feed to the lions merely for identifying themselves as Christ followers. They met secretly in crypts under the city. One of the ways they would identify each other was to casually draw a "C" in the dirt with their foot. If the person they we talking to drew a "C" in the opposite direction creating a fish they knew they were both Christ followers. If the person didn't, they could rub it out or walk away without fear of being found out.

Then Constantine had his vision of the cross in the sky and made Christianity the state religion of Rome.  Suddenly, Christ followers were thrust from the underground crypts, risking death, and into Roman stadiums not to be fed to lions but to the celebrity and power of Caeser. Now the fish was not a risk. It didn't cost anything. It was still powerful; though, now not in it's meaning but in it's political power. The institution of the church was created, not in name, but in the man-made, corporate, and political organism. 

"With great power comes great responsibility." - Spiderman

Few Christ followers will deny many of the horrible and and un-Jesus-like things we (the church) have done historically. The crusades, the inquisition, and racism to name a few examples. Some may argue with me on a few modern examples: the war on terror, homosexual hatred, and sexual & spiritual abuse. Let’s not forget our own individual and personal warts—nobody’s perfect. The truth is the Jesus Fish, for many, represents the church's sin and baggage. You might see forgiveness in the fish but the person behind you may see another judgmental, hypocrite, like the church elder who gossiped about your family because your dad was an alcoholic.

Sure we've dressed the fish up adding Jesus or the Greek anocronym "IXYOE" which means "Jesus, God's Son, Savior"

Then along comes Charles Darwin and his theory of EVILution--the Jesus fish evolves.

Our answer to the Darwin Fish and the survival of the fittest...

It seems like a meaningless game of Rock, Paper, Scissors (Truth Fish eats Darwin Fish)

This one seems to really reflect current culture... Does anyone care?

We live in a world of irreverence and mockery. Nothing is sacred and everything is fair game but perhaps we've earned a little mockery. Perhaps no one cares because it no longer costs us anything.