January 17, 2012
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Posting vs Living. Kind of.
If you're on Facebook and most are, you've seen the Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus video - most likely. And no, this post has no clever rhyming and if that's what you're looking for you might want to look elsewhere. Just sayin'.
I tend to play the devil's advocate in many situations. Something so well wrapped up and articulated like this for most can be incredibly encouraging and uplifting. And it has been. I can't seem to find on my newsfeed where it clumped my friends together who have shared this video. 30+. It's hard not to take note of that. Something so well wrapped up and articulated can also be misleading or skewed when many not-so-surface issues are rolled into a rhyming, witty, well editing poem-video.
We, as believers, are also called to discern the things we take in. Please, don't take what I'm saying wrong. This video has great points and also some open ended points for discussion. What concerns me most is not the points being made but the aftermath it brings. There's the part of me that says good for someone for taking a stand on something - the world can use that. Then there's the part of me that says gosh, if you're going to say something, if you're going to go out on a limb, make sure everything you say is Biblically backed because we live in a world full of people with OPINIONS.
It doesn't take long for others to distort what you meant for good. Or for other believers to jump on it from their POV. And some are just down right wrong. Things like some of the below really burden my heart. The world is full of lost people.
A semi-lengthy articule on James 1:26-27.
A response with Scripture. Hm. Always a fine when putting using His Word against His own Word but then again, He says He doesn't ever contradict Himself.
Thank you God for being the ONLY way, the ONLY truth, and the life and not putting the answer inside me.
Pre-warning: this piece is chalked with swearing. You may not want to spend 14 minutes of your life with this video. I did. At many points, you want to punch him in the face but in the end, as arrogant as he is and not to mention lost - the reason I posted this is to show what the original video has invoked.
Video upon video, links upon links come out distorting the Truth, the WORD OF GOD. I wish we'd stick to that and that alone. Even the lost will fight with that but at least, they are fighting against His Word, and not our words and opinions. Huge difference. And not-so-coincidentally in the BSF study this week this verse was amongst the reading: Acts 17:2, "As was his (Paul's) custom...he reasoned with them from the Scripture." From what? Scripture. Not opinion. He let God's Word speak for itself.
I'll be honest, I'm more of a quiet attender of things on Facebook. I rarely to ever post or repost things that share my opinion, especially when dealing with "Christian" topics. Why? Because I think there is a great danger in saying or posting you're a Christian and hiding behind that and that alone instead of living as a Christian. To me it seems much to easy to copy and paste a verse into my status, or share a popular video that makes you think. Don't get me wrong. I'm not against it and it can be used as a way to reach people. I'm not disregarding the power of words because they are powerful. But for me, it's just too easy. It doesn't have the raw real work of building and investing in relationships. The good. And the bad.
So do we take a stand? Make a video for the world to see? Maybe. I honestly think some are called specifically to reach a broader scope. As for me and this may sound like a cop out decision, I choose to live my life out with God's leading to the people around me. As much as my heart burdens for the people putting other videos out or commenting on them and how even believers are at each other's throats, it's not worth it to me to join the conversation. Fighting with fools or like a fool. No thanks. I know better than that. Instead, I'll strive to build real, personal relationships and pray God uses me in that way. At the end of my life, I want people to say I lived as a servant of Christ, as opposed to someone who was constantly saying I'm a Christian in various forms. I want my actions to speak louder.
We have a crucial decision to decide which is ultimately more important. Posting. Or living.
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