Dear non-believing friends,
I have to start out by apologizing for all the Christian bullies that are being such loud gongs and clanging cymbals right now in America. (1 Corinthians 13:1 - "If I speak in the tongues of men or angels, but I do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or clanging cymbal.")
It is genuinely disturbing what is going on. I can assure you that not all Christ-followers are big bullies. I have been so hurt by the things I have been seeing on Facebook, and even personally hearing from the mouths of some of my Christian brothers and sisters that I had to take a break from Facebook for a few days. I was planning to stay off for much longer than I did, but a non-related event got me back on sooner that I wanted to, and actually I'm glad I'm back on. I missed seeing the sweet life-updates from so many of my friends, and realized that I don't want to let the bullies keep me from missing the good status updates that I love about FB. Anyway, if these awful attacks I'm seeing on FB towards my non-believing friends are hurting ME, I can only imagine how it must affect them.
I have many non-Christian friends in my life. The sad realization I have come to recently is that I see more "fruits of the spirit" being shown on a daily basis from them than I do people in my "Christian" circles. (Galatians 5:22 - "But the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness") I honestly don't know why this is proving to be true, but it is. Without a doubt.
So again, I apologize for all the Christian bullies out there. I think they have good intentions, but are using misguided tactics.
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Dear Christian friends,
I beg of you. Please try to think before you post things on Facebook (or even worse, say things in person) that make non-Christians feel like they are too much of a "sinner" to be invited to Christ's table. NO ONE is too much of a sinner to get to experience what Jesus is offering. I am doing my best to try and convince them of Jesus' love, grace and mercy... and you aren't HELPING. When you post things like:
"You can be gay, and you can be a Christian... but you can't be gay AND be a Christian!"
You have no idea how that might feel to a gay person who is on the verge of reaching out to Jesus. I guarantee, you certainly didn't "close the deal" with THAT remark. EVEN if you believe with all your heart that that statement is true, how can that possibly help win someone over to the kingdom of God that might be struggling with sexual-identity issues? I guarantee you just shoved them away... and I mean SHOVED HARD. Now, I'm not saying that you can't post your beliefs on your FB page... but there is a big difference between standing up for what you belief in and attacking someone who doesn't see things like you do or doesn't believe like you do..... big difference.
When Jesus called on people to follow him, he didn't say "Change first, then follow me" He just said, "Follow Me". Jesus knew that when they got to know him, they would understand. He knew that changes in their hearts would come AFTER they got to know him. Changing someone's heart is The Holy Spirit's job. I just want to introduce people to the Jesus that has saved me and changed my life.... and I'd appreciate it if you guys would stop making it harder for me to convince the skeptics that this is a safe place.
I once heard it said that before you speak, you should ask yourself:
1. Is it truthful?
2. Is it necessary?
3. Is it approriate?
4. Is it kind?
Because words can hurt. Words can heal or they can scar. It's your choice. But I guarantee, I know what Jesus chose. Every single time. Jesus came to heal.
So for heaven's sake (literally) Christians... stop bullying my friends! The bullying I see around me is getting to be of crisis proportions! You're making it hard for me to convince them that you are someone they would like to get to know. And you might be the only "face" of Jesus they get to see... so please, please, please.... PLAY NICE and BE KIND.
Thank you....
Love,
M
P.S. - For more information on how to not be a Christian Bully -- READ THIS. THIS. THIS! - "The Sacred Act of Not Being A Jerk." --- thank you! :-)
I needed to hear this, Marcia. It's so easy to get sucked into these diatribes, and I know I've had my share of "sure wish I hadn't posted that" moments. It's such a polarized culture we live in and with a few quick keystrokes, we can literally spread our "righteous" indignation all around the world in a matter of seconds. Thank you for that list of questions to ask myself before posting or commenting, and the reminder that everything we say and do really does matter if we're serious about helping others find Christ. Good stuff, my friend. Well said.
ReplyDeleteThank you Diane. We have all been guilty of saying or posting things that we wish we could take back. Myself, I recently posted something I thought was funny that I saw while on the road. It was a tip jar in a restaurant in Dublin, Ireland and it had a sign above that said, "Tip fund to kill Justin Beiber.. thank you" and it had little Irish 4-leaf clovers all around. I thought it was funny at the time, but I was desperately sleep-deprived. As soon as I posted it, my husband's cousin Shelly commented and said, "That's AWFUL and HATEFUL! Take that down RIGHT NOW!"... Holy Moly, she was right! What was I THINKING? Just because JB is typical cultural fodder right now, he's a human that God loves and it was a horrible thing for me to post. What if somehow I was the only Christian JB knew and saw that I posted that. Would he feel invited into the kingdom by my actions? NO, he would NOT. So cousin Shelly was right and I took it down immediately. Now, I truly try to look at my posts and think hard before hitting send. I'm sure I'll mess up again at some point.... but I'm TRYING to be more careful. Thanks again for reading and commenting my friend!
DeleteThank you for spreading love!! That's what it's about...right? I see and hear "I'm not perfect, just forgiven." Sometimes we use latter to justify the former.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!!!
Hi Phil.... Yes, I think we all do that at times. I know people have different definitions of what is the "loving" thing to do when we see someone strugging with sin. Do we point out their sin? Do we hold them accountable? Maybe even ostracize them? There is definitely examples of that in the bible. But I think we have to understand each individual circumstance... what is being taught at that specific time in the bible. I, for one, choose to err with grace and mercy... and let the Holy Spirit guide each person's heart to do what they need to do. I have certainly been the beneficiary of grace and mercy in my life... and I'm forever grateful. Thanks for reading!
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