From GypsyNester.com
Tulsa, Oklahoma
"Get Out of Hell Free
to find out how
GOTO
WWW.
NEEDGOD.COM
(Note: This advertisement is not affiliated with, nor authorized, endorsed or licensed in any way, by Hasbro Corp., its affiliates or subsidiaries. It is a parody.)"
Wow, we had no idea that of the Monopoly Guy held the fate of our eternal souls in his gloved little hands! Silly us, we thought he was a symbol of filthy rich depression era bankers and vile charger of "Doctor's Fee, Pay $50." We did have to admit, however, that we were curious about what he had to say about God and Hell. So we checked out the site.
Our web-based journey began with a fun little "test." The test is "designed to answer 2 questions: Are you a good person according to God's standards? And if so, are you good enough to go to heaven?"
Here's a sample of the lovely little loaded questions included in the quiz:
1. Have you ever told a lie?
YES, I have told at least one lie in my life.
NO, I have never told a lie in my life.
5. Have you ever used "God," "Jesus," or "Christ," as a curse word? (Example: "Oh my G-d!")
YES, I have used God's name in vain at least once in my life.
NO, I have never, even once, used God's name in vain.
7. Have you ever looked at someone and had lustful thoughts?
YES, I have lusted at least once in my life.
NO, I have never lusted in my life.
8. Have you ever broken the first Commandment?
(Click here if you don't know what the first Commandment is.)
YES, I have broken the first commandment.
NO, I have not broken the first commandment.
So we took the test, answering all the questions the way we thought God would like best. You know, like what if his Only Begotten Son took the test. We wanted to know if the Monopoly Guy would let us avoid Hell if we were indeed perfect. So we chose the obvious Jesus-esque answers and hit the SCORE button. Here's what came next:
1. Have you ever told a lie?
YOUR SCORE ON QUESTION #1:
The Ninth of the Ten Commandments is "You shall not lie." Telling just one lie, according to God's standards, makes you a "liar." In Revelation 21:8, God says, "...all liars, shall have their part in the lake of fire..."
and
5. Have you ever used "God," "Jesus," or "Christ," as a curse word? (Example: "Oh my G-d!")
YOUR SCORE ON QUESTION #5:
The Third of the Ten Commandments is "You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain." If you've every used the name "God," "Jesus," or "Christ" as a curse word, what you've done is take the name of the God who gave you life, and you've used it as if it were a "four-letter" filth word to express disgust. That offense is called "blasphemy," and according to God's standards, you are a "blasphemer." In Leviticus 24:16 , God says, "he that blasphemes the name of the LORD, shall surely be put to death..."
Wait just a cotton-pickin' minute. No matter what we answered, we always got the same results. Our "score" was not really a score at all. Maybe the Monopoly Guy doesn't quite understand the meaning of "score." It went on:
RESULT:
This test showed you how you stand up when judged by just five of God's Ten Commandments. So, if God judges you by that standard would you be innocent or guilty of breaking His Commandments?
INNOCENT or GUILTY Choose an answer
Really? Okay, but Pretend Jesus didn't ever do any of those things. Wow, the Monopoly Guy has a lot of nerve. Daunted, but continuing with the farce that we were indeed the perfect person, we tentatively clicked INNOCENT and saw:
INCORRECT
It has already been established that you would be guilty of breaking His commandments. Even if you were able to perfectly keep 9 of the commandments for your entire life -- you have broken the first commandment (Question #8). The First of the Ten Commandments is "You shall have no other gods before me." That means that we should love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength. The Bible tells us that no one has kept this commandment (see Psalm 14:2-3).
Please don't be discouraged. We urge you to be patient and to continue on. Our straightforwardness is motivated by a genuine concern for your soul. Knowing that you are guilty of breaking God's commandments, do you think you would go to Heaven or Hell?
Please don't be discouraged. We urge you to be patient and to continue on. Our straightforwardness is motivated by a genuine concern for your soul. Knowing that you are guilty of breaking God's commandments, do you think you would go to Heaven or Hell?
HEAVEN or HELL Choose an answer
Wait, what? Monopoly Guy just wasted a lot of Pretend Jesus' time. Pretend Jesus did not appreciate checking all of those boxes and then being bamboozled and told, "Psych! Psalm 14:2-3!" (Which, by the way, as any decent Pretend Jesus would surely know, has absolutely nothing to do with the first commandment.)
Undeterred, we forged ahead with our efforts to answer the questions as if we were indeed perfect and chose HEAVEN.
Undeterred, we forged ahead with our efforts to answer the questions as if we were indeed perfect and chose HEAVEN.
INCORRECT
While it may seem that God's goodness will cause Him to overlook your sins, the opposite is actually true. Perhaps the following illustration will add some clarity: Imagine you're standing before a judge, guilty of multiple crimes. The judge is about to pass sentence when he asks, "Do you have anything to say for yourself?" You stand up, look the judge in the eye and say, "Yes Your Honor, I believe that you're a good man... and because you're good, you will let me go." The judge will probably say something like, "Well, you're right about one thing... I am a good man. And it's because I'm good that I'm going to see that you are punished for your crimes." The very thing you are counting on to save you on the Day of Judgment -- namely God's goodness -- is going to be the very thing that will see to it that justice is done. Because God is so good He will make sure that every murderer, rapist and thief receives justice... but He won't stop there. He will also make sure every liar, blasphemer, and adulterer is punished. While this is something that is extremely tragic and far from God's ultimate desire for any person, the Bible is clear that the place of punishment for those who do not turn from their sins is Hell. Does the fact that you're headed for Hell concern you?
YES or NO Choose an answer
WOW!!!! Incorrect again! We have discovered that if Jesus Christ himself took Monopoly Guy's tricky little quiz, he'd be headed for Hell. So, figuring we want to go to the same place as Jesus, we choose NO.
But it didn't matter, either way we were sent to a website, Living Waters, where we found this lovely little "Death Counter Power Point" widget available for downloading so that it may be added to our website, presuming we would like to pass along Monopoly Guy's "you're going straight to Hell" message to others:
See you in Hell folks.
Oh, and by the way, using registered trademarks without permission is stealing and trying to pass it off as a parody doesn't change that.It's right there on the little quiz:
4. Have you ever stolen anything (no matter how small)?
YOUR SCORE ON QUESTION #4:
The Eighth of the Ten Commandments is "You shall not steal." Stealing just one thing (regardless of it's size or monetary value), according to God's standards, makes you a "thief." In 1 Corinthians 6:10, God says, "No thieves... ...shall inherit the kingdom of God."
Gee, looks like we'll be seeing the thieves that made the website in Hell, too.
5 comments:
Hello,
I just stumbled across your site and this post. You raised some interesting points. As a Christian I believe all the material www.NeedGod.com site. The methods of bringing about this message are "creative".
As far as the use of the monopoly guy I would imagine and sincerely hope they did their homework on that disclaimer. I don't believe they would knowingly "steal" such a copyrighted icon.
You mentioned that if Jesus took that quiz He would be a sinner and on His way to Hell. I take it you mean because the way the quiz was built to only take you down one path. I thought I would just share a couple verses about the sinlessness of Christ in case you doubt His purity. While not specifically named in these verses the context in and around these verses clearly identifies the person referred to as Jesus Christ.
2Corinthians 5:21 "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." KJV
1Peter 2:22-24 "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:[23] Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:[24] Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." KJV
1John 3:5 "And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin." KJV
Have fun traveling around but do think twice about the message that quiz was attempting to show you because the Bible says in Hebrews 9:27 "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" Are you ready for the judgment?
The essence of God is love, ...mercy overcomes judgement..., whatsoever you do for the least..., judge not...., last will be first and the first last, ... deny your self and take up your cross and follow me...etc....
A long way from the prevalent deadly crap today which says I am better than you because,.... I do not judge you but I am gifted with "discernment", ...the poor and handicapped are such because of God's punishment and it is not our worry (Hinduism),.... death to the infidel (Muslim), ....only republicans are christians. (When you mix religion and politics, what you get is politics)
But: You cannot be justified at others' expense ... all the wonders of fundamentalism, the world's black hole!
Greg,
Thanks for your comment. There are a few points I'd like to bring up at this time.
Hasbro Corp. is only one of many companies that have icons that have been used in this way. Take a look at the tee shirts being sold on the internet and at Christian book stores. I understand that these shirts are "creative" ways to send a message that you personally believe in. Think about this: How many millions of dollars are being made off of these products that are using protected property?
The website (Living Waters) that promotes these billboards offers many products for sale, once one has completed the “quiz”. This is despicable to me on two levels. Using the Monopoly Guy to sell their swag AND frightening folks into buying it.
Nowhere on the site did I find anything resembling tangible help for people in need. Where is the hands on ministry that Jesus spoke of? This billboard was in a pretty rough part of town. I saw nothing on the site to help the drug addict, the runaway or the destitute. It’s just a big, slick ad for books, DVDs and their AMWAY style evangelism. Despicable.
The other issue you brought up was your well intended fear for my soul. At no time in my article did I doubt Jesus’ purity, so no worries there.
This was just my “creative” way of making a point.
Veronica
Hello Veronica,
Thank you for your response and I appreciate the candor of you attitude.
I totally agree with you on perspective on the use of copyrighted icons. You talked about the items for sale on Living Waters. I haven't spent much time on their website but I would hope these items are being sold close to cost. I believe Christians need to be careful not to try make money off of non-believers or Christians alike. Our church has a desire to provide ministry tools at cost or even free if possible, trusting God to repay us.
You talked about your thoughts that there was no tangible help for people that were in need of help. The mindset for showing how a person can be born-again or "saved" from Hell is that we believe once a person repents from their sins (something I and every other Christian has done) and trusts Christ as their personal Savior God will give them the tools to assist them get out of the chains they are bound by. I do believe it is important that we also help these people as much as possible. Before going into the ministry as a pastor, I worked as a paramedic for ten years and have a burden to help those who are bound by the chains of addiction - to minister to the whole man. One program that helps those struggling with any type of addiction is Reformers Unanimous. We are looking at possibly starting a chapter of this program to attempt meet the needs of many in our community.
take care,
Greg Vaal
Hello,
I would just like to address a couple comments to the Anonymous contributor who wrote in yesterday. I appreciate your non-judgmental spirit but I believe you have a somewhat lopsided view of God. God is a God of balance. Yes, He is a loving, long suffering, faithful God but you can't escape the fact that He is also a Holy, Just God who will punish sin. As an illustration, our body and world are balanced and must exist in a homeostatic state. Hormones in our body are regulated so they have the right amounts and concentrations in our blood stream at all times. Similarly, the Bible talks much about love of God and the wrath of God (even in the New Testament). Here is one such passage Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, [27] But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. [28] He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: [29] Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? [30] For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.[31] It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
You quoted a number of phrases of scripture in your post but you didn't include the context. For instance, you quoted the statement judge not... presumably from Matthew 7:1. If a person reads the rest of that passage, Matthew 7:1-5, they will see it is talking about those who are living in sin and are hypocritically trying to help somebody else who they believe are in more sin than themselves. The passage goes on to admonish that person to first clear up their own sin and then they will be able to help their friend.
A question I have for you is have you read the Bible through, cover to cover? It is important not to "cherry pick" the verses we like. Having read the Bible through several times and having studied the Greek and Hebrew words underlying the various verses I have developed a clearer picture of what the Bible means. I don't ask you this as a challenge or to make myself look smarter but to ask you to question your own understanding of the scriptures, something I ask myself all the time.
Lastly, you made the statement "You cannot be justified at others' expense ... " I, for one, certainly do not justify myself at the expense of others.I judge myself against God's Holy standard and advise others to do the same. II Corinthians 10:12b states ...but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.
Please do not take my comments as an attack because they certainly are not such.
take care,
Greg Vaal
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