Bible-Heavy Facebook Posts
Answer me this, if a Christian posts a Bible verse on Facebook and everyone is around to hear it, does it make a sound? More on that later.
Feel like you haven't alienated your friends enough? Have we got an app for you!
If you’re like me, you have friends that are hard to deal with. Specifically, I have a few friends that just wont stop talking about cars. All they do is talk about cars. When we get in my car, all they do is tell me about other cool cars and what I could do with my car. Personally, it just makes me want to drive my crappy car into oncoming traffic. It’s not that I think cars are totally stupid. Really, it just bothers me that they wont go out of their way to talk with me about something that might build our relationship. God forbid they talk about their family or a new movie. That might not satisfy their need to express their self!
Eventually, we could talk about cars once they had proven to me that cars were worth my time; but when they go on and on about cars without me giving any indication that I might be interested, they don’t exactly give any real reason to appreciate cars…
This could get you from A to B so much better than other cars!
Okay, now back up…what if I wasn’t talking about cars…I think that unless you ate Drano as a kid, you can see where this is going… The very last thing Jesus Christ told Christians to do before he descended into heaven in Matthew 28 was to, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” Unfortunately, I feel like a lot of Christians think this means to get together in large groups and sing along to Hillsong United songs.
Christians are constantly doing things to push away the Non-Christians that they’re supposed to be showing love to. When they get on Facebook and post some sappy Bible verse as their status, they’re not giving Non-Christians any reason to appreciate Jesus because they aren’t displaying Christ-like attributes.
I understand that Jesus isn’t something Christians should hide, and I can understand a Christian wanting to express their love for Jesus to their friends. However, I can’t imagine any Non-Christian getting a spiritual boner because of a posted Bible verse they saw on Facebook, and I feel like loving on Non-Christians is what the Christian faith is all about. I think that they are much more likely to feel put off by their Christian friend’s post (if they weren’t already put off by the thousand other Christian stereotypes). They might as well be bragging about their food to a hungry person.
Are you hungry? Well then, allow me to talk about food!
The Things That Bother Me 
Jesus offends sin. Because of His ultimate perfection the truth is directly offensive to those living in sin. Not just “non-Christians”, but even those who claim Christ but aren’t serving Him. If you are literally living for Christ your life WILL offend those who aren’t. That’s biblical. It’s all about humbly placing yourself before God for Him to do with your life as He pleases.
Now, before you jump all over this trying to think up different scenarios as to where there are faults in what I just wrote, here’s what I’m NOT saying…
1. I’m not saying you should directly try and offend people. But you should never sacrifice any part of who you are in Christ to avoid offending a “non-Christian”. That my friend, is literally conforming to the pattern of this world.
2. I’m not saying you should insincerely post fruity little heart-felt Facebook statuses. The entire point of Christianity is to unselfishly serve God in the ways He has called us. That is not only reaching out to “non-Christians” but also edifying yourself and the body through communion with Christ.
Dylan, the biggest thing here is I think you aren’t understanding what “loving unbelievers” really is. The world and it’s sinfulness has completely perverted God’s perfect will and satan is slowly turning the hearts of God’s people away from God and towards the world. Loving “non-Christians” is not “loving” them the way the world loves. For what is love apart from Christ? (Nothing)
Love, in scripture, is only referred to as the truth of the gospel and we are called to love our enemies and neighbors and those who sin against us. But is love telling someone bound for hell that it’s ok if they believe what they believe? Of course not. Is love keeping your faith to yourself in order not to offend anyone else? No. (I know you know all that, keep reading…)
Love is sharing Christ with others, and if the Holy Spirit is doing a real work in your heart and you want to post it on the very public domain of Facebook, then you are genuinely sharing what He is doing in your life. We don’t have to dumb Christ down for those who don’t know Him. Believe it or not it’s not what WE do as followers, it’s what Jesus does as GOD.
God is going to do what He wants and save who He wants.
We as followers need to serve Him with our lives.
God hates sin. Anyone who loves sin, hates God.
Anyone who loves sin and hates God hates those who love God.
If you love God, the world is going to hate you.
They HATED Jesus. They still HATE Jesus.
We killed the Savior of the world and hung Him on a cross because His perfection offended us in our wickedness.
You really think that there’s a way to share Jesus that is not going to rub people the wrong way or piss the world off? It’s not going to happen like that.
Read to Bible and count how many of Jesus’ disciples were persecuted and murdered.
Don’t just trust your instinct on this subject, Dylan. Our “gut” feelings are naturally sinful.
Go to someone you respect and admire who loves the Lord and is adequately serving Him and ask them, seek council from those wiser than you.
Christy
Ps
I put “non-Christians” in quotes because Biblically there is really no such thing. You either follow Christ or you don’t, and a lot of people who claim Christ don’t.
Pps
This blog and the negativity flowing through it directly go against everything you’re claiming in this particular post. Just sayin’.
I really like everything you’re saying here, and I can see where you’re coming from to an extent. What I don’t like is that you’re telling me I don’t understand what it means to love unbelievers. Clearly, you’re right. Loving them means introducing them to Jesus. What throws me off is that while you write that the world hates Jesus, you don’t seem to believe it. Let me assure you. They do. They hate Jesus. He stands for certainty and a narrow minded way of thinking. And posting verses from his book probably wont change that. I would argue that doing so would probably make things worse. People outside of a club don’t like to hear about how cool that club is.
I think you feel like, deep down, everyone wants to know Jesus whether they admit it or not. They don’t. Granted, I think everyone definitely needs Jesus and is seeking a relationship like the one they can have with Jesus, but I don’t think they want Jesus.
As Christ’s ambassadors we are called to show his love to the world. I don’t think many unbelievers understand that they’re friends are trying to show them Jesus when they post stuff about Jesus on facebook. I never assume my friends are trying to persuade me to hate their job when they write weird, ambiguous status updates about how mean their lame boss is. Frankly, it’s because I don’t think they are. They’re trying to get attention. That’s what those status updates are all about. They’re completely centered around self-exhibition.
When I post status updates on facebook, I generally try to make sure they’re funny so they’ll make someone’s day that much better. I know a lot of people won’t get the joke because they don’t think it’s funny, but I’m not really worried about those people because I have a good laugh with others that think it’s funny. You know what though, that’s not how I think we’re supposed to do Christianity. The Apostle Paul didn’t go around feeling ho-hum about gentiles because they probably wouldn’t like what he was talking about. He tried to relate to them and give them a feel for what he was talking about. His ministry was a relational one because he didn’t want the listeners to hate Jesus. He wanted to persuade them.
I was just talking with a really cool guy about this topic, and I brought up your argument that sharing Christ with non Christians is how we should be showing them our love. I love how he responded, “does she understand that they don’t believe her?”
If going around bluntly telling unbelievers about Jesus’ saving grace is your idea of a ministry, I would question your evangelistic methods. And yes, I know that we can always just be satisfied striking out with a nonbeliever because that would be “planting the seed,” but I don’t think we can just use that term and get lazy about it. Mentioning Jesus to a person or shooting them a Bible verse out of context may plant a seed, but how much better would the harvest be if you were planting your seeds in soil that had been prepared.
Do I believe that the Holy Spirit can touch a person who has only seen a Bible verse on facebook or heard a Christian talk about Jesus? Absolutely! However in the same way, I believe that a woman can say yes to a proposal on a first date. It’s not likely to happen because she doesn’t trust the person whose prompting for a relationship. That guy has to win her trust. We’re supposed to be representing that guy (haha yes I know it sounds weird but just roll with it). We’re supposed to be lovingly convincing that girl why should be with that guy, not going on and on about how our relationship is developing with him. That’s weird.
To sum it all up, I will admit that there was a time when I was really unsure about Jesus. I felt like a didn’t know him. Then, a girl named Christy Fabrizio took the time to listen to me and talk about God’s desire to be close to me. I never, ever would have been persuaded by a Bible verse on facebook. If anything, I think that would have pushed me away. In the words of Peter Stanton (a floormate who just walked into the lounge and asked me what I was writing) I would have thought it was “pure faggotry.” hahaha
I don’t think you understand what I was trying to say. I agree with everything you just said lol, the internet is not a good evangelizing tool. I am not saying that posting Jesus soaked Facebook stauses is a valid way to bring people to Christ, lol. That’s absolutely foolish. But if someone chooses to share their heart via facebook it shouldn’t be so quickly judged.
I personally, am really encouraged by positive facebook stauses from my friends where they are sharing what God is doing in their hearts, I love it! I admit, sometimes they seem super fakey and like people are putting on a show but I don’t think that’s our place to judge. Like I said before, the problem I see is making your decisions, big or small, so not to offend people who don’t know Jesus.
Facebook is generally not a good tool for evangelizing, but can be used in great ways for fellowship and encouragment within the body of Christ. Which is what I think is most people’s intention. I don’t know anyone who’s intention is to save their lost friends by posting “Jesus loves me” of facebook. (I keep thinking about Brian’s FOF Challenge which is a little different…sorta…)
I just think it’s really dangerous to jump all over Christians for posting bible verses on Facebook without knowing why. I’ve had many of Christiana reply to some song lyric or Bible verse I posted and talk to me about my life and what God is doing and great great things have come from it.
What I’m basically trying to say through all of this is that it’s a really dumb idea to filter what you say as to not offend someone who doesn’t know Jesus. We obviously cannot judge what each individual person is meaning behind their Bible verse statuses so I think this subject and the way you publicly addressed it seems really discouraging to the body. I read this and immediately thought “How dare he complain about people moving Jesus into their public lives?”
I think with Facebook and blogs and such becoming such a big part of the way we all communicate they do a lot to say what kind of person you are. Facebook isn’t for evangelism, it’s a way to stay in contact with people and to share your life. If Jesus is someones life He’s bound to end up on Facebook every now and then. I honestly believe that you are looking at this whole thing from a really negative perspective. You should be glad that your friends are growing in their relationships with God and are sharing that with you.
Ps, I don’t know how you got that I was implying that Facebook is a good way to share Jesus with unbelievers when the entire subject of my post with how much Jesus pisses the world off. Maybe you should re-read it.
Pps, with your analogy about the convincing the girl baout the guy.
How to you expect anyone to believe what you’re trying to convince them of if you don’t share your personal experience with it? Again, facebook isn’t a good way to do this. But in general, the entire Bible is written about other peoples experience with God and Jesus and what He’s done in their lives.
Pps, Sorry about all the “Ps”‘s
haha You’re funny Christy. I know you weren’t saying that facebook was a good way to evangelize. What you were saying is that we shouldn’t be toning down our spiritual moods for non Christians, and I think that can have a bad effect on one’s mission field. I can gladly admit that you have absolutely helped me understand the other side of this argument. I get that it would be wrong to flat out hide or disguise how we’re feeling. That would be just as fake as posting Christiany posts all the time. I get it. I can see the merit.
But don’t you think there are bad ways to evangelize? I understand the concept of planting a seed, and I know we can’t control how the Holy Spirit works and what he uses to effect someone’s life. But I think it’s like I said before. I don’t think I can use that as an excuse to feel apathetic about not trying my best to draw them close so I can introduce them to Jesus, and I think that posting a ton of that Christiany stuff on facebook is more likely to push them away. That’s why I’m not going to post it. If I was looking to bulk up, I wouldn’t feel encouraged seeing posts about how much more my friend is able to lift. I would feel discouraged. Maybe you wouldn’t. Maybe that’s not the way you think; but that’s how I think, and I wouldn’t anyone who thinks like me to feel discouraged.
I’ll be very honest in saying that my mission field is very, very, very small these days (which is actually really starting to get to me), but I would never want to push away anyone I cared about and might have a chance at sharing Jesus with. I’m not worried about offending. I don’t think many non Christians will stick up their noses in disgust. For the most part I think they’ll feel alienated. I just don’t see how it benefits who I believe we are still on this planet to help. And again, I get what you’re saying about fellowship and encouragement. There have been tons of times when I have wanted to post how I’m doing spiritually on facebook! I would rather just save that for church where I doubt anyone will be confused.
That’s really it. It just bothers me, and I thought someone might have a good laugh reading it.
PS,
as far as the proposal analogy goes, I’ll just drop it. I still like it, but I think explaining it would really just be white noise. I feel like what I have written here is ultimately how I feel, and dissecting this metaphor probably wouldn’t do anything for my argument than I’ve done here. If you’re actually interested (which I doubt), let me know. Otherwise, I’ll just keep it at this and hope that for once (or like always. I don’t remember how this usually goes down) we can just agree to disagree.