Slutty Slutty Slutty!

Have you ever gone into a clothing store, held up garments and found yourself wondering , "Is this a tube top or a skirt?" "Is this a dress or a shirt?", "I have never seen denim underwear before... wait maybe it's shorts?" ? This past weekend I was in Forever 21 trying on an ambiguous garment that could have easily been a dress or skirt. Upon asking the sales associate whether or not my ambiguous garment was a shirt or a dress she looked at me as if I was crazy for asking, rolled her eyes, smacked the gum in her mouth, and sass-fully said, "obvi a shirt". In my defense, this was a fair question, because the store is notorious for having clothes that are very short, very revealing, and not exactly modest. Nonetheless, I was happy to have my answer, and proceeded to the checkout confident that I wouldn't be that girl who wears jeans underneath a dress because she thinks the year is 1997 and also thinks the French have a good sense of fashion. After the sales clerk rang up my shirt and a pair of skinny jeans, she shoveled the items along with the receipt into a yellow plastic bag, and slid the bag across the counter for me to grab. The bottom of the yellow plastic bag was now in my sight, and I noticed there was some black text at the bottom of the bag. That's odd I thought. I picked up the bag and to my UTTER SHOCK I saw "JOHN 3:16". I had to do a double take. It just seemed bizarre coming from a store where a good 1/3 of the products could be labeled "slutty slutty slutty" in the same way Michael Kors labeled a scantily clad outfit on Project Runway. But there it was!!!!! A bible verse from John chapter 3 verse 16! Only the most well known and recognized verses in the entire bible! A verse that, in as little as 25 words sums up Christianity in a nutshell (or at least does a better job than any other verse on it's own.) Clearly the owner of Forever 21 wouldn't waste time, money, and effort to put John 3:16 on every bag unless he thought it was SUPER important for people to know about it, so let's get to it!

JOHN 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

What the verse says
- God exists
- God loves the world (i.e everyone!)
- God sacrificed his only Son, aka Jesus

- If you believe that Jesus is the son of God, you will have eternal life (i.e. go to heaven).
- Looks like there is only ONE way presented as a way to get to heaven
- If you don't believe in Jesus, ultimately you will perish. yikes!

What the verse does NOT say
- going to church every Sunday will get you to heaven
- being a good person will get you to heaven
- as long as you believe in "a God" , you will be golden

Now, wait just a minute. What did I ever do to make God decide that I will perish if I don't believe in Him ? And why did God have to send Jesus to die for me, what do I need saving from?! These were the exact thoughts that went through my head the first time I was presented with this verse, almost 4 years ago when my small group was studying the gospel of John. The answer is longer than a simple sentence or two, so I will save the answers to these questions for my next post. In the mean time, you can pop into Forever 21 next time you're at the mall and take a look at the bag, or if that's not your thing, go to In-and-Out Burger in CA, order a soda, and look at the bottom rim of the cup.

DISCLAIMER: I am not hear to pass judgment on the owner of Forever 21 or the store itself. I happen to enjoy Forever 21 and have found several good trendy yet classy items. Sometimes I just put titles up because I know it will grab your attention and get you to read ;).