Funny Church Sign: Why You Should Attend the Praise Tabernacle Church

1. empty-minded
   April 5th, 2008 at 5:08 am

   I don't get it.

2. Perceive
   April 5th, 2008 at 5:22 am

   It's a church, it's automatically laughable!

3. DJ
   April 5th, 2008 at 6:03 am

   That is so...wow-it is just so...I'm just... Wait. I totally don't get it.

4. Retrokatze
   April 5th, 2008 at 6:22 am

   I don't get it either.

5. Miss Cellania
   April 5th, 2008 at 6:39 am

   It took me a while, but I think he may be referring to the phrase "Our God is awesome," which might seem funny to someone who's unfamiliar with Christianity. The use of "awesome" as a slang catch-all word has been in popular use for about 30 years max, but it's been used to describe God for millenia.

   Or is it Jesus under the fire that's supposed to be funny?

6. oezicomix
   April 5th, 2008 at 6:48 am

   you will burn - isn't that the message?

7. avist
   April 5th, 2008 at 6:59 am

   Rev. John Doe: My God is bigger than your God!

   Pastor R. L. DeBow: Yeah, well, our God is awesome!

8. DJ
   April 5th, 2008 at 7:15 am

   On the church across the street..."My Holy Father Can Beat Up Your Holy Father"

9. Neslock
   April 5th, 2008 at 7:38 am

   I don't get it either... Unless it is the "awesome" thing, and like Miss Cellania said is funny to people who haven't been that involved with Christianity.

10. ted
    April 5th, 2008 at 7:55 am

    Unusual that they would use that fire, but the use of the word "awesome" is not unusual or humorous, even if you're involved in Christianity or not.

    Maybe somebody needs to spend more time with the dictionary.

11. Patrick B
    April 5th, 2008 at 7:55 am

    I've seen funnier.

12. Greg
    April 5th, 2008 at 8:13 am

    Wow,I really don't get this. Will someone explain it to me? If it thinks awesome is funny, then I really don't get it. Awesome means awe inspiring in the Christian context, which you know, God would be.

13. panzyfaust
    April 5th, 2008 at 8:39 am

    "Awesome" is supposed to mean inspiring or worthy of awe in the context of English, not just Christianity. It's just one of those words that has been subjugated to the common vernacular in the US. As often as we may hear someone describe the hot dog they just had as "awesome", they probably didn't intend it to mean, "Wow, that hot dog inspired within me a sense of awe, amazement, and wondrous beauty."
    We tried to do it with "bodacious", "radical", and all manner of other words back in the 80's, but I'm sure that trend isn't new... or perhaps Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were a real vulcanizing force in American culture. You never know.

14. Thomas
    April 5th, 2008 at 9:07 am

    So many things about this are funny. The Pastor's name is DeBoe. In ebonics, if you don't know, the term DeBoe (unsure of spelling, but pronunciation is the same) means to steal.

15. Jen
    April 5th, 2008 at 9:53 am

    Well, Alex HAS said in the past that English is not his first language so give the guy a break.

16. Thomas
    April 5th, 2008 at 9:58 am

    Give him a break? He didn't do anything wrong. Its a funny sign, especially if you're a godless heathen like me.

17. Aundrea
    April 5th, 2008 at 10:29 am

    I'm involved in Christianity, and I still think it's funny. I suspect it's because I read it: Our God, Jesus!, is Awesome.

    And "Jesus!" is sung in a high metal vocal.

    If that doesn't work, you can try saying "Jesus!" in that voice that announces monster truck shows.

18. Thomas
    April 5th, 2008 at 10:34 am

    Clearly though, their god is just awesomer than yours.

19. Jen
    April 5th, 2008 at 10:39 am

    Thomas, I was clearly speaking to the dozen people who were giving him a hard time.

20. DJ
    April 5th, 2008 at 11:41 am

    I've been chewing on this for 6 hours. I've got to move on...but...

    Does it have something to do with the word "Jesus" being placed under the fiery furnace of H E Double Hockey Sticks? Kinda like the coals in a BBQ, or the dead wood in a campfire?

    OK. I'm done. Time to go sinning.

21. ted
    April 5th, 2008 at 11:52 am

    Oh, Jen. I think Alex can take a little ribbing. He's very good-natured.

    Now if it said "awful", that would be funny, even though an older definition of awful does mean "full of awe".

22. wikkidbutterfly
    April 5th, 2008 at 12:14 pm

    Glad to see I am not the only one who does not "get it." Thought I had lost my sense of humor!

23. CheeseDuck
    April 5th, 2008 at 1:19 pm

    My god is awesomer!

24. Alex
    April 5th, 2008 at 2:12 pm

    Maybe it's because I learned English by watching the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Jen is right, English isn't my first language.

    I learned English in high school - right at the end of the brain plasticity period for learning languages. I learned Spanish a couple of years later and Japanese afterwards, but they don't stick - the window had closed by then.

    So if I make a gaffe every now and then, please forgive me.

    Didn't the word "awesome" mean something else entirely before it meant "inspiring awe"? Isn't the root "awe" also mean "fear" (like the word awful used to mean "filled with awe"?)

25. mekki
    April 5th, 2008 at 2:55 pm

    Count me in the "I don't get it" crowd. For a moment I though the joke was in the Pastor's name. Like a pun on El Diablo, that is, the Devil. But that doesn't work with R. L. Debow, now does it? No. Not really. So, I am still confused.

26. roger
    April 5th, 2008 at 3:31 pm

    OK, here's my take: The "humor" here (dont hold your breath...its not that funny), is that the sign area below "our God is Awesome" is blank. The Neatorama post is titled "Why you should attend the Praise Tabernacle Church". So, and here it comes, the jokes is - there's NO reason to attend the church, get it?! the sign is blank. ha. Haha. ahahahahah. eh.

27. lynne
    April 5th, 2008 at 4:03 pm

    I'm glad I'm not the ony one who didn't get it. Still don't...oh well.

28. Sadie
    April 5th, 2008 at 4:26 pm

    Wow...I...really don't get it.

29. Lea
    April 5th, 2008 at 5:03 pm

    Maybe it's that jesus is great ball of fire. As in "Goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Fire!...Jesus!"

    It's funny. But hard to say why.

30. evan
    April 5th, 2008 at 8:32 pm

    oh church signs.

31. jajw
    April 5th, 2008 at 8:45 pm

    don't get it. i knew right away what awesome meant in its context. hmmm

32. anathema
    April 5th, 2008 at 9:30 pm

    ...I assume the joke is one best understood if the sign is read in surfer lingo or Ninja Turtle lingo. "Dude, our God is totally awesome!" is slang, whereas religion is usually expressed in srz bizniz terms.

    I laughed.

33. Ian
    April 6th, 2008 at 1:14 am

    the flame means they gots serious BBQ in thar

34. Kevin
    April 6th, 2008 at 5:57 am

    I don't get it either. Unless of course the owner of this site is one of those anti-religious zealot nutballs. Which does seem like the case...

    Sad.

35. Kevin
    April 6th, 2008 at 5:59 am

    BTW for those of you not in the know about religion, I believe Christians have a popular song that they sing (Has been the past 2 decades) called "God is an awesome God" And it gets sang about everywhere.

    Get out more *wink*

36. j.e.k.
    April 6th, 2008 at 5:45 pm

    wow...I was feeling dumb for not getting it...

37. dbsmall
    April 7th, 2008 at 7:13 am

    Add me to the list of those who "don't get it".

    I was looking for some phonetic phunny in the pastor's name. I don't see any.

    I guess it's possible that the street sign has to lean over to get a better look?

    Or perhaps it's that the fire, together with the motto, could look like the heatmiser: arms spread, head full of fire...as though the lamb of god himself was scaring you into attending?

    Ehh...just not getting it.

38. Alex Szatmary
    May 4th, 2008 at 10:52 pm

    I don't get it, and I'm a devout evangelical, if I do say so, myself. I was looking for the pun in the guy's name, and didn't find it.

    "Our God is awesome"? Not only is this entirely grammatically correct, or within the typical Christian use, but likely influenced by the lyrics of the song "Awesome God" by Rich Mullins, which is quite popular among evangelicals. The flame does not represent hell, but the fire of faith, or the Holy Spirit. Terrible graphic design is par for the course in Christianity, today, sad to say.

    And, as for the blank below the name, I've seen far more ironic things written on church signs, often accidentally.

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