I recently posted a rather unflattering photograph of a car (on my social media page) sporting two of the most ridiculous bumper stickers ever produced: “Coexist” and Obama 2012.  While this blog is about the coexist sticker, I’ll give you a taste of my disdain for the Obama 2012 sticker.  I think it is way worse than most other Obama stickers because we all had his first 4 years to look at before we voted on his 2nd disaster… er… I mean term.  Basically, this shows that if we were duped into electing a ham sandwich into the White House, that ham sandwich could count on two terms.  But back to the coexist sticker:  One of my friends wondered why I thought the bumper stickers were foolish.  She was primarily focused on the coexist sticker, so hopefully she didn’t vote for our current Golfer in Chief.  Anyway, I thought I’d flesh it out a little in a blog.

I think most people who live with the coexist mentality are probably well-meaning. They think it is a kind and accepting Christian message.  Therefore, I hope I don’t hurt any feelings with this blog, but as you will read below, it is better to offend some feelings in the short term to help a soul reach success in eternity.  Therefore, I hope to show you in this blog, the coexist ideology, as understood by most Americans, is not Christian in the least.  It is actually a statement of relativism and a could be one of several old heresies such as pluralism, perennialism or traditionalism.  These beliefs/ideologies are like a cancer to your faith in Christ, so just think of this explanation as a bit of radiation.  Coexist may be the American dream (pipe dream) right now, but it isn’t anything close to what Christ teaches.  Interestingly, it is also aggressively rejected by Islam (you know, that first symbol on the silly bumper sticker?).  And the hippie peace symbol that represents apathy, a drop-out mentality or possibly even has satanic roots, is an interesting part of the discussion.  I suppose it made the cut because the swastika doesn’t look like the letter “o”.

My friend said the sticker is meant to promote the Christian teaching known as love of neighbor.   I can see why she thinks this way.  In our culture today, the concept of authentic love is a mystery to most of us.  Most people think love is never having to say, “I’m sorry” or that love and happiness are basically interchangeable.  Most people think of love as nothing more than feelings, emotions that produce happy thoughts and excitement.  To suggest that love actually includes some unpleasant aspects, such as sacrifice or the need for honesty, causes great confusion to people with coexist stickers on their bumper.  I say this because the coexist sticker is usually accompanied by other stickers that betray a relativistic or progressive ideology which supports same-sex marriage, “gender equality”, abortion rights and other non-Christian social injustices.  Is it “loving” to allow someone to believe in fiction?  Most Americans would say it is okay as long as the fiction makes the person happy.   The coexist ideology not only allows people to wallow in fiction, it actually promotes it.  At best, it says, “you have your beliefs and I have mine and I’m sure everything will turn out just fine for you, so I’ll just keep to myself.”  But Christ said that the truth sets us free in John’s Gospel.  He also told us to go out and tell everyone about Him in Matthew 28.  See the conflict?  The relativistic and progressive sticker owner will contradict Christ’s word and tell us that we have no right to suggest that abortion is an intrinsic evil or that same-sex marriage is an oxymoron.

The Coexist bumper sticker is as wrong as it is impossible, but more on that in a minute.

I had a tongue-in-cheek post a few weeks ago (shortly after President Fantasy held his press conference on the beheading of American journalist, James Foley).  I was disturbed by the fact that President Obama couldn’t quite bring himself to cancel a round of golf in order to consider what he should do about Islamic Terrorism.  My post read: President Obama comes up with a plan to handle ISIS. Starting tomorrow, the U.S. Air Force will begin dropping boxes full of COEXIST bumper stickers on Iraq and Syria. President Obama issued the following statement from the Rose Garden on Friday: “The actions of ISIS are intolerable. They have given Islam a black eye and we will not allow this to continue much longer. I’ve been thinking about what to do as I have been out playing golf and I’ve decided that bumper stickers are the way to go. They can put them on vehicles, tanks and even burned out buildings that used to be occupied by Christians and the other people who have had to flee for their lives as ISIS spreads across the Middle East like a plague. Bumper stickers get a lot of mileage and we can drop boxes here and there, without much cost. I really like the ideology of “coexist”, as it really promotes the idea that everyone should just get along. I think the ISIS folks will warm up to the idea here real soon.”

My tongue-in-cheek post makes fun of the Coexist ideology embraced by Mr. and Mrs. Obama, but the sad truth is that his real plan to combat the plague of terrorism is to send arms to the terrorists who are simply a little less fanatical than the terrorists who are currently beheading children.  How did that work out for us with Osama Bin Laden after the Russians retreated from Afghanistan?

A great video that helps explain how silly the coexist ideology really is definitely worth watching (and the humor is right up my alley too).  It is great to see that someone has the skill and talent to present it in such an entertaining yet educational way.

You see, up until recently I thought the coexist ideology was simply relativism and that eventually the person would realize it is as indefensible as it is unrealistic.  “Give them time”, I thought.  But then one of the groups represented on the bumper sticker started chopping off the heads of children, raping women and children, kidnapping teenage girls and selling them as sex slaves and executing Americans and other “infidels” in front of video cameras.  The coexist ideology does exactly the opposite of what the bumper sticker owner really wants.  It gives the terrorists time and license.  And all the while, the coexist fans shake their heads and ask, “how can this happen?”  I’ll tell you how it can happen:  Because Americans and other westerners don’t get it.  Islam does not want to coexist.  Islam is a political machine, not a religion and it only seeks conquest, power and the total annihilation of anything that gets in its way.  Christians are in Islam’s way and so are people driving around with the coexist bumper sticker on the back of their car.

So, I began to think about the Coexist bumper sticker ideology once again.   The coexist ideology has clearly inundated much of our media and political leadership. First, President Obama said ISIS was the Junior Varsity.  Since the raping, pillaging and beheadings started in Syria and Iraq, we are starting to hear the strange mantra that ISIS and Boko Haram are not Islam and that they are giving Islam a bad name.  But actually, the school books in many Middle Eastern countries contain teachings that are completely consistent with the terrorism we are seeing in Iraq and Syria today.  Schools in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey use textbooks that quote the parts of the Quran that promote the murder of Christians and Jews.  Well, I should be fair.  Murder isn’t the only option they teach.  We might be allowed to simply live in submission to the Muslims.  Of course the decision between our death and our subjugation is not up to us infidels.  It is up to the Muslims, and any Muslim can change his or her mind about that decision at any time.  And there is a 3rd option, which is to convert to Islam.  That one is up to us if they give us a few seconds to make our selection.  Unfortunately, they are pretty trigger, bomb and knife happy, so I’m guessing that a stunning number of Christians never had the chance to convert in the past 9 months (or the last 9 centuries).  I’m not sure where the gang rapes and slavery are in the Quran.  Maybe that is a modern twist that is a new policy of the Caliphate (though I’m told it is in the Quran as well).  As I look at the third symbol on the infamous bumper sticker, I can’t help but wonder how women feel about the way Islam treats women.  Maybe you don’t know it, but Islam treats women like pieces of property, and not even treasured property like a BMW or a nice new Kalishnikov.  And if you take the symbol to speak for gay rights, how does Islam treat people with same-sex attraction?

Maybe those ISIS folks are just the way they are because they haven’t had enough hugs lately and they feel left out.  I don’t think so but if you have a coexist bumper sticker I bet you think a big hug would go a long way.

Back to the Coexist sticker when separated from the lethal mixture of obamaism and the current cadre of brain-dead media and political lemmings:  It isn’t Christian and it doesn’t promote love of neighbor.  It promotes blind tolerance and acceptance, which falls way short of authentic love.  It says, “we’ll just have to agree to disagree” or “can’t we all just get along?”  The Muslim answer to this, as shown to us from the Middle East, Africa, London and occasionally, in our own backyards, is “No”.  But even beyond that insurmountable truth, tolerance and acceptance are the cheap and convenient knock-offs of love.  Loving your neighbor does not include coping with the false beliefs or illegal and immoral behaviors of your neighbor.  Love requires that you talk to your neighbor about the truth and the unacceptable behavior because the Christian God (in which any Christian professes our unwavering belief) says that Jesus is “the way, the truth and the life”, not a way, a truth or a life.  Again, to believe that there are many paths to heaven is a heresy called pluralism, perennialism, traditionalism, etc… that predates us by thousands of years.  God doesn’t allow us to hedge our bet.

And among our own Christian brothers and sisters, the “coexist” mentality suggests tolerance of behaviors and beliefs that are totally the opposite of Christ’s teachings.  Coexist means to be quiet; don’t offer correction, information or anything that suggests objective truth actually exists.  Coexist means to worship in such a way that your personal beliefs are not recognizable or noticeable to anyone else and if someone is offended by the fact that you said or did something that was considered “religious”, you should apologize for it and maybe even sign a document in which you agree to never do or say it again.  If you are lucky, you get to keep your job, protect your bank account and show your face in public.  Coexist is a politically correct term, which is 100% proof that it is not even close to actually being correct, true or good.

Just last week, Tommy Brittain, a public high school football coach, was suspended for nothing more than praying with his players after they won a big game.  I would wager that the Headmaster of the school, a few board members of the school district or a few of the parents in that school district, either have the coexist sticker on their car or they have happy thoughts whenever they see such a sticker.  How is it that they can cheer for the coexist ideology, yet agree with the coach’s suspension?  You can read more about the story here.  Or watch a news segment on it here.

So in my humble opinion, the coexist bumper sticker is evidence of a few unfortunate admissions by those who claim to be Christian, and plaster it on their bumper:
1. The person is first, saying one of two things:
a. I haven’t really thought deeply about my faith in Jesus Christ;
i. Unfortunately, this represents a lot of us; or
b. I have decided that Jesus Christ was just a gifted teacher and thinker (in other words, Christ was a liar or a fool because He said He was God);
i. Hey, there were people who 2000 years ago looked Christ right in the eye and came to the same mistaken conclusion, so this doesn’t surprise me.
2. If you call yourself a Christian, you are not saying Christ was a liar or a fool but you are saying:
a. You have decided to ignore some or most of what Christ teaches;
i. Poor choice; or
b. You accept Christ’s teachings as true, but let others drift off into fantasy land, with full knowledge that they are lost.
i. This is not love. If you know someone is in peril and you don’t reach out to them, it is the opposite of love.

So as I read about the horrid rape, torture and murder going on in the name of Islam, the suffering and loss of innocent life and the indifferent fantasist known as President Obama, a thought crossed my mind: Are thousands of Americans out in their driveways tonight, scraping those ridiculous bumper stickers off of their car? I certainly hope so.  There is just no way that the lemmings can continue to saunter through life with any semblance of a belief that the answer (or even a small part of the answer) to all of the world’s troubles is simply to coexist.

Anyone who drives around with this foolish sticker on their bumper are basically waving a red flag and shouting, “hey, look at me, I live in fantasy land”.  I guess the American dream has evolved from standing up for truth and justice to the inability to stand up for anything at all.

Do you think I’m wrong?  I’d love to hear from anyone who believes the “Coexist” ideology has one ounce of merit.  Maybe I’m wrong and you can convince me that I should own one too.  You can try to argue me into changing my mind, but I think only one thing will convince me.  If you can fly over to the new Caliphate that is spreading like a disease over the Middle East and convince the ISIS “folks” to buy into the “Coexist” ideology, I’ll put the bumper sticker on my car.

However, I’d reserve the right to choose the design, so my coexist bumper sticker would probably be this one: