Blessed are the smokers for they are welcome in heaven
Date
October 15, 2012 - 5:41PM
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Peter Munro
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A sign up outside St Peter's Anglican church on the Princes Highway.
Blessed are the poor, the meek, the pure of heart and clogged of lungs and arteries, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
After years of being exorcised from every office, restaurant and hotel, smokers have finally found a group accepting them with open arms: the church.
Religious billboards outside many churches in Sydney now preach: "Smoking won't kill you in the next life. Sin will."
In a mock-up of graphic health warnings on cigarette packets, the billboard features an image of a bloodied heart and a "warning from the Bible" about spiritual dangers lurking beyond the grave for the sinful.
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The light-hearted message, no pun intended, seems to be that smoking is bad but sin is worse.
"Better to be a smoker that goes to heaven than a person who doesn't smoke and falls under the judgment of God," the Reverend Andrew Bruce said.
The billboard outside his St Peters Anglican Church, on the Princes Highway, is seen by about 40,000 cars a day, he said.
"Jesus is good news for smokers and non-smokers alike."
The health risks for smokers are not a patch on the prospect of eternal damnation, he suggested.
"One is eternal and one is only for this life; I think that's the point."
But the billboard, produced by Outreach Media, has raised hell with anti-smoking advocates.
Anne Jones, chief executive of the Action on Smoking and Health, said it spread the wrong message. "I think it's better to be alive and deal with the religious issues rather than be dead and not be able to deal with anything," she said.
"It's trivialising what is a major cause of death and disease and I think it's better to avoid merging the two issues frankly ... Smoking leaves everything else in the shade."
Outreach Media, which could not be contacted, describes itself on its website as a "non-denominational Christian organisation that exists to 'promote Jesus"'.
Mr Bruce said the organisation's posters and billboards, which some churches pay to use each month, were deliberately designed to attract attention.
"I think the biggest sin of the lot is being boring. If we put up a sign saying 'Jesus loves you' that's what people expect us to say. You need to strike deeper than that and engage people or it's here today, gone tomorrow."
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http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/blessed-a...e-in-heaven-20121015-27mqx.html#ixzz29Lk7S7q8
