Billboards Driving Home Our Awful Situation

[Chip]

Imagine driving down a busy interstate and encountering a series of billboards about 1/4 mile apart that had the following messages:

1ST
"And seeing the people in a state of such awful wickedness,"

NEXT
"and those Gadianton robbers filling the judgment-seats—"

NEXT
"having usurped the power and authority of the land;"

NEXT
"laying aside the commandments of God,"

NEXT
"and not in the least aright before him; doing no justice unto the children of men;

NEXT
"Condemning the righteous because of their righteousness;"

NEXT
"letting the guilty and the wicked go unpunished because of their money;"

NEXT
"and moreover to be held in office at the head of government,"

NEXT
"to rule and do according to their wills,"

NEXT
"that they might get gain and glory of the world, and, moreover,"

NEXT
"that they might the more easily commit adultery, and steal,"

NEXT
"and kill, and do according to their own wills—

NEXT
"Now this great iniquity had come upon the Nephites, in the space of not many years..."

LAST
Written by Nephi, 21 B.C., from The Book of Mormon

In my mind, that would be an excellent missionary tool. It would direct those who thirst for righteousness toward the church. Or, the Book of Mormon, at least.

There are two things I really wonder about though:

1) How come nobody has spent their treasure to do anything like this before?

2) How in the world would the church react to this?

[Matchmaker]

Those billboards would cost a ton of money.

[Chip]

Those billboards would cost a ton of money.

Not really.

You can get huge billboards along I-5 in northern California for $1200/month. If I recall, the artwork costs about $900 to fabricate and install per board. Get a hundred guys together to pitch in an initial $252, then $144 for each month and we could do it. That would cover 12 boards, anyway. I've never seen it done before.

It would be a great antidote to the ongoing gaslighting.

As it is, the Indian casinos buy them all up and put nearly useless ads on them.

[Chip]

Some other billboard ideas:

war.jpg (189.9 KiB) Viewed 1337 times

war2.jpg (223.17 KiB) Viewed 1337 times

[Sirocco]

Start with one.

[Rose Garden]

The gadiantons wouldn't like it.

[light-one]

Find the owner of the land and explain that later on he could rent the sign to someone else for $1200 a month.

[Chip]

The gadiantons wouldn't like it.

Probably not.

How about the church, though?

That question keeps me up at night.

[Rose Garden]

The gadiantons wouldn't like it.

Probably not.

How about the church, though?

That question keeps me up at night.

I don't know. It seems it would fall under their spread the word using mass media campaign.

[BrotherOfMahonri]

Reach out to Connor Boyack who has already attempted to do something similar with donations:

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=c ... +billboard" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[skmo]

There are two things I really wonder about though:

1) How come nobody has spent their treasure to do anything like this before?

Because if you're going to waste money, it ought to be wasted on something you can enjoy like a new firearm or a forge to make tools

2) How in the world would the church react to this?

They probably wouldn't, as long as their name wasn't on it.

The only people who would respond positively to this would be the tin foil hat brigade, and they'd only be interested in using it to draw people into their nut hatchery. Most people are going to see that and either say "What a stupid bunch of zealots" or at least "What a bunch of tin foil hat alarmists" and dismiss it. It reads as over-the-top alarmist to me, and I even agree it's a hundred percent correct. You can't tell everyone in the town they're all wearing the emperor's new clothes, especially if they are.

If they posted a positive message it might get a little better response, but not too much.

[Chip]

There are two things I really wonder about though:

1) How come nobody has spent their treasure to do anything like this before?

Because if you're going to waste money, it ought to be wasted on something you can enjoy like a new firearm or a forge to make tools

2) How in the world would the church react to this?

They probably wouldn't, as long as their name wasn't on it.

The only people who would respond positively to this would be the tin foil hat brigade, and they'd only be interested in using it to draw people into their nut hatchery. Most people are going to see that and either say "What a stupid bunch of zealots" or at least "What a bunch of tin foil hat alarmists" and dismiss it. It reads as over-the-top alarmist to me, and I even agree it's a hundred percent correct. You can't tell everyone in the town they're all wearing the emperor's new clothes, especially if they are.

If they posted a positive message it might get a little better response, but not too much.

Thanks for thinking about this, skmo. I think your analysis is probably correct. I like that I can try some idea here and get some response. I could see from the few responses that nobody felt about it the way I did, which is instructive to me. I am kind of a nut. What's important to me is just not that important to most other people, and maybe not even absolutely important, in the non-logical greater reality that we are all swimming in. C'est la vie.

[skmo]

I am kind of a nut.

I was explaining to a couple of parents yesterday that we're all a bit nuts, it's just some are closer to the middle of the bell curve. I used myself as an example: Why would someone with a MEd go to a bitty little village without running water for many, sporadic electricity for all, and cell reception for none? It's because the part of me that's a nut is toward the lower end of that bell curve.

[skmo]

Even ones like these got criticism. People can be idiots.

godbillboard.jpg (30.89 KiB) Viewed 1143 times

billboards.jpg (20.44 KiB) Viewed 1143 times

As-my-apprentice-God-billboard-600x360.jpg (31.93 KiB) Viewed 1143 times

[lundbaek]

I like Chip's idea and I think I recall Col. Flagg had a similar idea several years ago. It could be done much cheaper using smaller signs, about 3' x 2' driven into the ground with one or two stakes, probably on private property along a major highway. I remember seeing such signs as adverts for Burma Shave in the 1950s.

I suspect any wording calling attention to the LDS Church by name would cause the Church to ask that the signs be removed. I believe the Church wants to remain distant from the freedom movement to avoid controversy and retribution.

[Chip]

I suspect any wording calling attention to the LDS Church by name would cause the Church to ask that the signs be removed. I believe the Church wants to remain distant from the freedom movement to avoid controversy and retribution.

I think so, too. I also imagine that they would not appreciate any members being so zealous for the cause of liberty while citing the Book of Mormon, as the world views it as a wholly owned product of the church, and it would cause an unwelcome conflation with "extremism".

[Col. Flagg]

Unfortunately, the church was more interested in signs and billboards like this:

[Chip]

Unfortunately, the church was more interested in signs and billboards like this:

Notice the specially-colored words:

"GO FOR IT"
"MAKE IT A NIGHT"
"IT ENCHANTS"

Rather Babylonian.

A far cry from Revelation 18:4 - "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues."

Was it really President Monson's voice that said "Let's go shopping!"? I watched that a few times and could not tell WHO was saying it. It sounded like a slightly younger, more energetic person to me.

[Sirocco]

Even ones like these got criticism. People can be idiots.

godbillboard.jpg

billboards.jpg

As-my-apprentice-God-billboard-600x360.jpg

Okay I legit had a chuckle at the third one.