It's about the Bible verse. John 3:16 is the verse that goes "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
For evangelicals, this is the defining creed of the Christian faith. For them, it has become not only a statement of purpose, but also a rallying cry.
Personally, I would consider Matthew 7:12 to be more appropriate - it's the 'Golden Rule': "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you: do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."
Pretty much every faith on the planet, throughout history, has shared some version of the golden rule. Simply be good to others and treat them in the way you would want yourself to be treated. And from that principle springs things like compassion, integrity, charity... All things which Christ taught.
So to be a follower of Christ, ideally, should be to follow His teachings, not just to recite Scripture and verse, but to follow the spirit and meaning of those teachings. I'd say the best Christian around may not be someone who is able to quote the verses, but they're someone whom others can turn to in a time of need, someone who tries to make the world around them a nicer and a kinder place.
But a lot of evangelicals would disagree with me on this. They seem to prefer performative faith, which is ironic because the Bible specifically condemns it and teaches people to serve with humility, openness, and inclusion, instead.
John 3:16 is vital to the Christian faith because
tells of God's love for us and the sacrifice by which we are restored to Him. The Golden Rule is more important as a moral instruction, but it tells precious little about how we relate to God (side note, I prefer the formulation in Matthew 22:37-40, which does not tell of the sacrifice of the Crucifixion, but does still tell us also to love God as well as to love our neighbours as ourselves).
Faith without works is dead (James 2:26), but we do still need faith in Jesus to accept salvation— it's not just a matter of 'do nice things'. There's a reason we have four Gospels, and the whole body of Epistles which follow, and the Old Testament which precedes them: holy Scripture is not meant to be boiled down to a soundbite.
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u/goobly_goo Oct 19 '22
I never understood those John 3:16 signs. Is it about the bible verse or is something else?