In rural America, off a country road, on the soft soil of a weathered field, stands a sobering message for every passer-by: Go to church or the devil will get you!
The words are neatly strewn across a homemade billboard adorned with
flood lights and a painted silhouette of a red figure, apparently
Satan, holding a sling-blade. Go to church, the warning hisses, or be his victim.
As hokey as it sounds, the warning is right, you know, at least in a sense.
Now to be clear, if the sign means (and it likely does) that you’d
better attend a weekly meeting or else Lucifer will eat your lunch, then
no, that’s not right. That would be Anglo folk religion — more akin to
African animism than anything Christian.
But, more positively, if “go to church” means be part of a
gospel-shaped community, and “the devil will get you!” means you’re more
susceptible to his schemes apart from such community, then the sign is
absolutely right. By all means, if this meaning is the case, go to
church or the devil will get you. Here’s why: first, Satan is real and
he hates you; second, God designs that Christians persevere in faith by
means of one another. Continue at Jonathan Parnell
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