Author of Contradict – They Can't All Be True.
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Andy was a guest on Fear Knot Radio, where he got to share Contradict Movement with Vincent and Cynthia Hill, the hosts of Fear Knot Radio.
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Andy Wrasman, George Allen III, and Adam Stetson discuss how they came to use a Contradict poster for evangelism at University California Irvine. What were their previous evangelism efforts? Why did they decide the Contradict evangelism table method was their favorite? How do they use the poster to spring into sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ? What tips do they have to share from their outings? What are their most memorable encounters and relationships formed via their Contradict outings? What do they appreciate the most about each others’ personality and approach to sharing the Gospel? Answering all of these questions, they hope to inspire and encourage you to consider a similar approach to sharing the Gospel in public spaces.
Contradict Movement was born through weekly evangelism outings at University California Irvine (UCI). Our method of engaging in conversation was to setup a folding table with a few camping chairs at UCI’s Freedom of Speech Zone. We’d have some Starbuck coffee in a “traveler” with creams, sugar, cups, and stir sticks. We would then use various signs and posters laying on the table or taped to the front of the table that were designed to spark conversation that would allow us to introduce the Gospel. One night, Adam Stetson, suggested creating a poster that spelled Contradict using religious symbols. That idea profoundly struck me as the best idea I had ever heard. It’s a perfect conversation starter: “All religions can’t be true because they contradict each other in their teachings. Logically, they could all be false, but how would we know that?” We then could spring into why we believe Christianity to be true!
Upon returning home, I instantly searched for Contradict bumper sticker online. The following are the two images that I found online:
Image #1: This Contradict image doesn’t strictly use religious symbols and it has no tagline of explanation.
Image #2: This Contradict image was also online at the time and being sold by someone who clearly wasn’t Christian. The tagline really makes no sense! I think the sticker is calling for us to go against all religions because all religions are just forms of social slavery.
After using these two as small printed pages on the top of the table, Adam had a friend paint an original Contradict design on a poster to tape to the front of the table. Once we had that poster, Contradict became are constant (only) go to sign for kickstarting evangelism conversations.
After a couple of year at UCI, I wanted to write a book laying out the Contradict message I would share with someone from start to finish, if they gave me five hours of their time. I also I wanted the book to serve as a tool to help spur others onto college campus and public spaces with a similar approach to evangelism. To help raise awareness for the book, I wanted to create bumper stickers and a website. If I was to sell bumper stickers and sell a Contradict design on the front cover a book, I’d need to own the copyright of the image, those I sat down and made a list of religious symbols I would use to spell Contradict and I hired a friend, Danny Martinez, to put it together for me. I own the copyright and now I also own the trademark to the Contradict Movement logo:
Image #3: The Contradict Movement version of Contradict!
At the time I launched Contradict Movement as a website, I saw that another Contradict image had emerged:
Image #4: That I could tell the person who made this image was Christian and had a Facebook page named Contradict, but no stickers of this image were being sold. Later, Cross Examined, started to sell this image with the same tagline with their website url on it. I don’t think Cross Examined sells this image anymore.
Recently, I checked online and I have seen that numerous other Contradict designs have been created and they are now being sold online as bumper stickers! Here they are:
Image # 5: This was the first obviously Christian Contradict image I saw being sold online (besides the Cross Examined one I mentioned above that is now no longer being sold at the Cross Examined store, Impact Apologetics). This one is being sold on Zazzle.
Image # 6: Here’s a variation of the one above that is also being sold on Zazzle.
Image #7: This is the current Cross Examined Contradict image being sold through their Impact Apologetics online store.
I suspect that the clearly Christian Contradict images created after I launched Contradict Movement were working off my Contradict image. I suggest this because the common theme is the Shinto torri gate for the letter N, but I could be wrong! They might not have seen my image first.
Two questions:
1. Which Contradict tagline do you think is the best?
“They Can’t All Be True – John 14:6”
“Only 1 is Truth, Life eternal, and the Way”
“Don’t be a Contradiction. There can only be ONE Truth.”
2. Which sticker do you think would be the one best suited to go platinum, “Coexist status”, and why?
If you think it should be mine, please, share http://www.contradictmovement.org with all your friends and family. Order extra stickers and help distribute them.
Here’s why I think my sticker is best situated for sharing the Gospel! It has the url to my website, big and clear for people to visit. The home page has a video that details the message of Contradict by sharing the importance of Coexistence and Tolerance, while also sharing that Tolerance can’t be taken to mean that all religions are true. I then share examples of religious contradictions and close by sharing the Gospel and why we can trust that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. From a stand alone point of view, the one with the tagline, “Only 1 is Truth, Life Eternal, and the Way” clearly shows a Christian message. The Cross Examined tagline, “Don’t be a Contradiction, There can only be ONE Truth”, does not clearly demonstrate that it is a Christian bumper sticker, however, the name of their website’s url does indicate this. When visiting their website though, you are not instantly greeted with the message of their Contradict sticker. With my tagline, “They Can’t All Be True – John 14:6”, interested parties could be forced to go to a Bible and look up John 14:6 to know why all religions can’t be true. If interested parties go to Contradict Movement, they will only find links to my blog, the Contradict Facebook page, my Youtube channel, and my book. All of these sites are very much Contradict themed!
Every sticker I sell comes with a Contradict folding tract as well as a printed page of explanation. The goal is that if anyone is interested in knowing more about the message of Contradict when seeing a person’s sticker, the Christian has something to hand interested parties on the spot. It has been my experience that when people are caught starting at your Contradict sticker, they usually don’t want to talk long in the parking lot.
If you do appreciate my work with Contradict Movement, help share my image online and through print. Right now, images to my page do not always display as prominently as these others, so people may not find my page. Cross Examined is way more known and popular than Contradict Movement, my blog, or my book. If their sticker takes off and becomes the one everyone sees and knows, that’s great, because they certainly proclaim the Gospel and do a great job defending it, but if you think the Contradict Movement platform is better due to more specialized focus, again, share Contradict Movement with everyone you know by selecting some key blog articles, Youtube videos, or Facebook posts that you find helpful for sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Thanks so much!
Peace in Christ,
Andy Wrasman
My first published book is entitled, Contradict – They Can’t All Be True. In case you have been wondering what’s inside the book before taking the plunge to order your copy, I have provided a brief overview of the book in this blog post:
Ch. 1 – The State of Pluralism
America’s state of religious pluralism stems from Hindu influence that crept in via the transcendental movement and came full force in the 60s counter-culture movement. The New Age Movement has direct parallels to Hindu beliefs, both of which lead to forms of religious pluralism. I share that the heart behind the movement is love, but that truth and love is lost in pluralism.
Ch. 2 – The Multiple Religious Paths
Many believe religious pluralism is true because Americans are religiously ignorant. Many of us don’t even know Christianity. So I give a 20 word glossary for Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. If you know these 20 terms for each, you will know the basic history, teachings, and practices of the world’s five major religions.
Ch. 3 – Enacting the Law of Non-Contradiction
I then take direct quotes from the authoritative texts of each of those 5 religions and other minor religions and cults and put them under various doctrinal topics such as who God is, who man is, what mankind’s ultimate problem is, what the solution is to that problem to show the contradictions.
Ch. 4 – Finding a Religious Litmus Test
I present the historiographical tests for evaluating claims of the past and that Christianity offers a historical claim to prove or disprove the Christian faith – the resurrection.
Ch. 5 – Testing the Testable
I apply those tests to the Gospels. I present it in a way that I haven’t seen done yet in another book – so I think I’m contributing something new to the vast works that are already out there.
Ch. 6 – The Ring of Truth
I share what I call the ring of truth. The ring of truth can be found in the Bible’s details, its one unified message, its accuracy in predicting future events, and its uniqueness amongst the world’s religions. I close this chapter by quoting Peter from Acts 2 and Jesus from Mark 16, “Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins.”
All of the book so far was in a non-Christian voice. I want anyone reading to not know where I am coming from – what I actually believe. I have not identified myself as Christian until the end of this chapter. It’s all fact based presentations. It turns me off reading most books of this nature because I don’t think my non-Christian friend would get past the first few pages in most cases the way they are written. The bias comes through too strongly in most of the books I have read making a case for the Christian faith.
Ch. 7 – Using Contradict to Share the Gospel
The Christian voice is out. This chapter focuses on sharing the Gospel using Contradict. It explains how I have used Contradict as a witnessing tool on college campuses and I explain the whole process if someone else wants to use it. I then give the 20 most asked questions after the initial conversational starter sharing that all religions can’t be true because they contradict each other, but that I believe Christianity is true and that Jesus is the son of God who died for the sins of all of mankind. Every question has several types of responses that should be utilized in the response. Validation responses show why it’s a good question and how you understand why it is being asked. Socratic method responses are questions that lead the person to the answer based on what they already know. Answer responses give multiple ways to respond to answer the question directly. Scripture responses show the verses that support the answer from God’s Word. Back the Gospel responses must always be used at the end of every answer. The Gospel saves, not our apologetics, so the answers must always be used to get back to the Gospel and often times the Gospel answers the question!
Ch. 8 – Join the Movement.
Why did I call Contradict a movement? The Holy Spirit moves each of us to action as he desires. There isn’t only one way, or method, to present the exclusive claims of Christ to be our only all-sufficient Savior. The Spirit might move some to share the Gospel exactly as I have using Contradict, but others might get other ideas on how to initiate the conversation. We might not all be led to success by the Spirit either. We might be led to persecution. Our role is simply to resign ourselves to will of God as the Spirit moves us to make disciples of all nations.
This is an interesting concept. God is too big to fit into one religion. If this were true, it’d means that every religion is wrong about their view, or lack of a view, of the divine (God).
This is ultimately saying that God is unknowable from one religion alone, and since the teachings of the various religions contradict each other, combing them all into one God-smoothie doesn’t help matters.
Wrong #1 – Christianity, as well as some other religions, claim that God is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent. How can God be bigger than that? Is it even possible for a God to exist bigger than a God that is not restricted by time, space, or matter, who is not limited in any ability to do as he wills, he has complete and perfect knowledge of everything, and always acts in ways that are wholly good? I don’t think so. Therefore, it’s completely possible that God can fit into one religion.
Wrong #2 – Religions aren’t containers. They don’t contain God. They’re not boxes that somehow, God conveniently fits into, although some religious adherents treat their religions as such. Religions offer revelations and explanations to who God is. It’s committing a category error to say that “God is too big to fit into one religion.”
Andy Wrasman 