Over the past several years on social media I’ve seen time and time again that my Christian brethren are routinely posting racist, hateful, sarcastic speech on social media, while at the same time proclaiming Jesus as their savior.
My question is that can I still worship with these people and call them brethren?
I’m having a crisis of faith because I assume that folks would act the same in person as on social media. Not so. It’s a Jekyll and Hyde phenomenon.
The Gospel of Trump includes
All of these goes against Christian teachings.
I’ve begun a social media and news fast for approximately 4 years. I may eat my words and migrate back to social media and/or the news, but for now it’s the trajectory I’m taking.
I’ll bide my time looking at random Wikipedia articles blissfully unaware of anything that might cause stress in my life. I inadvertently did this before while I was in college, not watching the news (social media wasn’t a thing back then).
I may turn to this blog as an outlet for ideas and conclusions. Stay tuned.
For the life of me I cannot look away from certain friends and neighbors and remember their outrageous social media posts. This is causes a real barrier on relationships. I dare not talk politics with Christian friends for fear of learning how someone REALLY feels about social issues. Folks express extreme hatred for the other side and then pepper their social media stream with Bible verses espousing their love for one another. It makes me wonder how much people really pay attention to the 2nd greatest command.
I was struck by below verses presented in our sermon today.
Titus 3:1-2:
Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, 2 to slander no one, not to be contentious, to be gentle, showing every consideration for all people.
I am reminded that there are those Christians who post on social media everyday about how they despise the government. These people are quarrelsome and I’m not sure what joy they get out of tearing those down who they disagree with politically.
Peacefulness for Christians is a frequent theme in scriptures. We are told, if at all possible, to live peaceably with one another (Romans 12:18). Fathers are told not to provoke their children to wrath (Ephesians 6:4). Blessed are the peacemakers (Matthew 5:9).
I find sorrow in what my fellow Christians post on social media. There’s a certain cognitive dissidence for folks who believe their political opinions and social media posts are not at all incompatible with God’s Word.
This good news story about a good Samaritan who broke into a school during a snowstorm in Buffalo, NY:
What is not being discussed is how he went to 10 houses offering up to $500 just to sleep on their floor before being turned down. I took a look at the area around the school and was expecting a sparsely populated area:
Nope, it’s densely populated. I’m surprised not more people could help these motorists. I’m surprised the municipality didn’t open up the school in a time of blizzard for those stranded. I realize that the blizzard could have come suddenly, hence there were so many trapped. But somehow I believe there should be better preparedness in time of disaster so that death and injury could be avoided.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Those are some of the few words spoken by Jesus on the cross. He is quoting Psalm 22. I had the opportunity to read through the Psalm and found it fascinating.
In just a few verses David predicts events in Jesus’ crucifixion.
Vs. 6 – 8. “..scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
“let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.”
Vs. 16b: “…a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce my hands and my feet.”
The amazing thing is that David had no knowledge of crucifixion, but predicted piercing of hands and feet in this Psalm.
And this one: v18: “They divide my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.”
Again another prediction of the events surrounding Jesus’ death on the cross.
I seems to me that Psalm 22 is a forgotten Psalm. Growing up I never heard the predictions being read, but maybe only cross referenced in the gospels. When one looks at predictions of Jesus in the Old Testament they would go to Isaiah 53.
I find new things to find in the Bible each time I read it. I am so blessed to have rediscovered in nightly devotionals with my wife.
During a couples Bible study we discussed Matthew 8. Here we see two measurements of faith.
One we see the Roman centurion who asked Jesus to heal his paralyzed servant. But what was unusual is that the centurion said that Jesus would only need to speak the word and his servant could be healed. Jesus remarked that “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith,” – Matthew 8:10.
Then later on during a storm at sea, he told his disciples “Oh ye of little faith” when they feared the storm (Matthew 8:26).
Both of these instances provide contrast to the faith of two different groups of people. Ironically a centurion – an outsider to the religion of the Jews – was described by Jesus as having greater faith then even his own disciples who followed him into the boat.
It is interesting that Jesus choose to surround himself with people with little faith, after all “Those who are well have no need of physician, but those who are sick,” Mark 2:17.
We slept in this morning. Sharon had suggested we visit the Mojave Desert Lava Tube and a Sand Dune. But both of which were difficult to get to. So we slept in until about 8AM.
The manager of the hotel was cooking breakfast including eggs and omelettes. The hotel breakfast room was small and crowded and Sharon convinced me that we should skip breakfast and eat our sweet rolls in the room. There must have been a misunderstanding with the manger who said he was waiting on me to place my egg order as we were packing up. Technically the breakfast ended at 8:45AM and I figured if we weren’t there it was a sign we weren’t coming. I said I was sorry. Later on we gave our keycard to the maid (who offered to take it) so there wouldn’t be an awkward conversation with the manager about the missed breakfast.
We drove a good two hours to 29 Palms. Along the way we saw towns and settlements remiscent of Perfection from Tremors. Honestly I don’t know how these people made a living if just on ranching cattle. As we got closer to 29 Palms the Joshua Trees became more and more frequent, dotting the landscape and in people’s yards.
29 Palms seems much bigger than it actually is. The downtown business section is a bit small. It is near a military base and also it appears to be a gateway to Joshua Tree National Park, with the park headquarters in town, a good 3 miles from the actual entrance. We stopped at the headquarters and overheard the ranger telling another visitor that parking lots were full and they should consider just finding a legal parking space at a less visited park attraction. Sure enough as we entered the park at 12 noon many of the parking lots were full. We decided to drive to the other side (and hopefully less crowded) part of the park.
We ate lunch at the southern end of the park. It was too cold to eat outside, so it was back to the car for us.
We managed to stop by Cholla Cactus garden after the crowd had died down and we found a place on the side of the road to park. These cacti are otherworldly. It would be something I would expect to see on Star Trek. Sharon and I wanted to go to Keys Point – the highest point in the park. As we were driving there we saw low hanging clouds and decided the view probably wasn’t optimal. We decided o drive back to the Cholla garden for some sunset photos of the cacti.
Our hotel is a converted apartment complex. We have a kitchen, den, and bedroom. Sharon and I bought ingredients to make spaghetti and had a nice meal before I did laundry.
Tomorrow we plan on seeing more of Joshua Tree National Park, hopefully timing our visit to avoid the crowds.