To my Christian friends on Facebook…please realize that everything you do is meant to be a light for Jesus.
Please realize that you have friends on Facebook who are not Christians (or at least you’d better).
Please realize that there are many many many non-Christians out there who are hostile to Christ because they associate being a follower of Jesus with a certain political ideology or ideologies.
Please realize how tragic it is that we have added such non-biblical nonsense to Jesus.
Please realize how tragic it is that we, of all people, look to politics like they will save us.
Please realize that when you flaunt your political views you are pushing those who disagree with your views further away from Christ.
Please realize that when you rip on the views you oppose, you are insulting, demeaning, and again, pushing those who own those views further away from Christ.
You might be able to separate Jesus from politics. Non-Christians don’t.
Because Christians have sadly become an interest group that politicians lobby for votes.
Because politicians have sadly grabbed some legit biblical issues, clumped a bunch of non-biblical stuff to them, and used these things they don’t actually care about to manipulate our votes in their favor.
It’s not wrong to be interested in politics and to talk about them, even on Facebook. But do so in love and humility. Politics are not an excuse to openly insult people.
It is not wrong to talk about politics. It is wrong to act like they will save us, and to assume that God is of one political party or another.
Every political party and every politician is broken, sinful, and fallen, just like every pastor and every church. We are humans. Let’s not blow ourselves out of proportion.
Let’s instead point people to Jesus.
The only human who is 100% God in the flesh.
The only human who can actually save.
To my Christian friends on Facebook: if you posted about how amazing Jesus is as much as you talked about your political views (and ripped on others’ views), there would be many more Christians in this world.
He is:
Author of Beyond the Battle: A man's guide to his identity in Christ in an oversexualized world
Host of the The Flip Side Podcast
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I agree with the political views on facebook pushing people away. The problem with the idea that if those same Christians posted about Jesus all of the time that there would be more Christians in the world is that you are assuming facebook is effective at influencing people. It has been my experience that people use facebook (as you have pointed out) to push their opinion. So if it’s ineffective for political views… would it be effective for Religion? I think it comes down to needing to connect with people in real ways, face to face, and less electronic non-relational ways.
The way I look at spiritual content on Facebook (or Twitter, or any social media site) is that it is one more source of spiritual information for anyone who might be seeking God. I agree that it shouldn’t be a replacement for personal contact, but if nothing else, it lets people know with whom they should seek that personal contact to learn more about Jesus. And, of course, Christ-followers should be seeking them out, as well.
I agree with that Jerry. I think when it’s done appropriately, it can definitely serve that purpose well. I fear some of my friends from high school have likely hidden my Facebook posts because for a while I was probably overposting Bible verses, etc. You definitely can’t cram stuff down people’s throats or “spam” them with Jesus. But yes, I think appropriate, timely, and encouraging posts can be a light and can remind people they can turn to you if they want to talk more. And I have had that happen with friends from high school, which is pretty cool.
Hey Amanda, ya I definitely agree that Facebook is not a good place to discuss deep issues of faith and that FB can be counter-productive when talking about Jesus as well. My hopeful purpose in my post wasn’t necessarily to try to get people to post more about Jesus or argue that that’s a great idea, but it was more to show that when Christians post about politics it can very directly push non-Christians away from ever considering Jesus. So in that case, if Christians posted less about politics, there would be more Christians in the world, because those non-Christians would not have been pushed away. My other point is that I think many Christians zeal is misplaced. We can get super fired up about politics and don’t care if we offend people, yet we are bashful about our faith in Christ and keep that to ourselves.
I would add that Christians should remember that those in Washington are our neighbors too… and we are called to love our neighbor. I don’t know why people who understand it’s wrong to insult their friends think it’s ok make slanderous posts about politicians.
My religious and political views have shifted from interactions I have had on Facebook — and I know that I and many others hide people from our newsfeed who get too randy about politics…and hide people who post about how amazing Jesus is, to be perfectly frank. It doesn’t come across as genuine — it’s often frankly terrible theology and annoying as anything to see “Went out for coffee! God is good!” Just being totally honest.
I think that religious and political posts can both lead to good conversations — as long as they stay away from ripping on others, as you said.
Ya I hear ya. And like I mentioned in a previous comment, my thought really wasn’t “post about Jesus more and many more people will become Christians”–it was trying to show that the posts we make about politics can often push people away from Jesus and that in our everyday lives, we don’t talk about Jesus very much because we don’t want to step on anyone’s toes, but we don’t mind offending people with our politics