the turn or burn truck

I work in west Knoxville. Once you get off the interstate, you turn right onto Lovell Road, go about 100 yards, then turn right again onto the road on which my place of work is located - Lexington Drive.

For about 2-3 months now, for various periods of 3-4 days at a time, the "Turn or Burn" truck has been parked in a vacant lot on the corner of Lovell and Lexington. This morning, I finally took pictures of it. I wanted to share it with you.

This is what you see when you make the turn onto Lexington:

Then, if you're coming from Lexington back to Lovell, here is what you see:
Let's point out some interesting things. First, do you see the 4 images of the little frowning dude burning in hell? That's sad. Second, who among you has ever though of Jesus as standing in flames, holding what looks to be a bottle of ketchup, with a blacked out face and huge white hands? Also, on the bottom right corner of the truck in the first image, it pretty much insists that I read Matthew - Revelations TODAY. I'm sorry, I love God, I'm a pretty good reader, and am trying to read the Bible more often, but I'm not sure if I can possibly read all of that in one day. I simply just cannot read that much in one sitting. Who took the time and spent the money to make this truck a reality? Do they believe they're doing good? Do they truly believe it will save the lives of those who read it? It's much more likely to cause a traffic accident (it's at a busy intersection with a traffic light) than to save a soul. But is it better than doing nothing at all, which is what I too often do? I just don't know.

2 comments:

Meriam said...

What makes me angry about this truck (which I have seen before) is that my six-year-old keeps asking questions about it every time we see it. I'd kind of like him to at least begin to grasp the "Jesus loves you" part of the gospel before we get to the "you're going to hell, sinner" part. I guess being raised in a turn or burn generation I think makes us a little gun shy about our kids being exposed to it.

Anonymous said...

yeah, definitely. the more i look at it, the more "are you a good person?" at the top of the one side really bugs me. what's that have to do with anything in terms of receiving salvation? no one is good, not one. if i stop lying and ask forgiveness for my lies, that doesn't mean i'm saved.