Comments on: Illustration: Detecting Counterfeits

By: Connie

Connie — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:01:31 +0000

Wow. What a jerk. Poor excuse for pastoring if you ask me…lying–twice.

By: Connie

Connie — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:53:03 +0000

From a member of the U.S. government, though…it is automatically suspect.

By: Connie

Connie — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:51:22 +0000

I heard this illustration…not much but I did hear it. I can even remember the exact occasion, I think just because of the impact it had on me. It made a lot of sense. But this post and your and Josh’s comments have opened my eyes…WOW. For one thing, I certainly had no idea that the premise of the illustration was not even TRUE.

By: Mandy

Mandy — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 01:52:20 +0000

I do agree, somewhat, with what the illustration is trying to say (I have no idea how true it is or used to be, since I know nothing about counterfeiting money or how to detect it). Yes, we as Christian should know more about our Bible then about false religions and ideas. It can indeed be dangerous to study TOO FAR into false ideas/religions because even the most well-meaning Christian can be sucked in (personal experience, I have a friend who got involved in witchcraft because she got too deeply into studying it).

But, even if treasury agents were/are trained only by looking at the real thing, they are trained in order to detect fakes, not to sit in a room looking only at real bills for the rest of their career. Christians should spend more time studying their Bible then another other system or false religion, but if they never come into contact with these other ideas, what good does all that study do? How are they reaching the world around them?

By: Darrell

Darrell — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:06:19 +0000

I know what you mean. I really do.

By: Captian Cranky Pants

Captian Cranky Pants — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:04:23 +0000

AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I used this illustration last Sunday. Fundamentalism is like a virus that you get in your blood and you can’t shake it. It keeps popping up like Hepatitis C.

I am trying to change honestly but this stuff goes down hard.

By: tewjr

tewjr — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 20:02:49 +0000

I heard this illustration many times and accept it for what it means–focus on what you believe, not on what you don’t believe. I graduated from a fundy college after growing up fundy, and I’ve never had any problem dealing with lots of people from any and all other walks of life in my extremely secular job.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:18:48 +0000

I heard this illustration a few years ago and the term “counterfeit” is still going strong in fundy circles. My youth pastor actually gave out real dollar bills and told us after the message that they were fakes that he borrowed from his banker friend… Everyone in the service up to this point believed they were holding REAL bills but we had all
been fooled by a counterfeit….. however, my youth Pastor confided in me after the service that the bills were in fact REAL US dollars.
The entire illustration was a lie. We were double counterfeited….. Pesky old Satan

By: Darrell

Darrell — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:51:16 +0000

It may be old but it’s still used.

SFL: Anachronisms.

By: Kate

Kate — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:49:15 +0000

This is a really old illustration. When it was first used there were no color shifting inks or security threads or other high tech stuff used in bills. Some illustrations become obsolete. This one has. But I think it made a good point in its day.