People wondered what was up with this dirty-sounding church sign

We guess it's one way to get people to pay attention to a religious message.

An Australian church has raised eyebrows for its dirty-sounding sign, which reads "FORGIVENESS IS SWALLOWING WHEN YOU'D RATHER SPIT." Nope, not making it up. 

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Here is the sign, as it was displayed in front of the Anglican Church of the Holy Spirit in Surfers Paradise, photographed by local politician John-Paul Langbroek.

Despite the rather, erm, loaded sign, a spokesperson for the church explained the meaning of the sign to the Courier-Mail.

"You don’t open your mouth and yell at somebody, you close your mouth and swallow,” they told the newspaper. "If you want to say something, keep your mouth closed for a bit. Swallow it, don’t spit it out." 

Who knew, hey. Unsurprisingly, the sign was reportedly blank as of Wednesday morning. 

It's not the first time the same message has been used for a church sign for the rest of us to misconstrue, with a Florida church also creating some confusion last November.

Might be time to give this message a rest.

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