Recently I created a Facebook post on a page I manage using the voice of an unbeliever and her internal thoughts:
I have good days, but some days it all seems grey, lifeless… I feel invisible and unwanted. I wonder if this is all there is to life. I have friends that are Christians, true believers. I’ve often wanted to ask them about Jesus, but I’ve just never felt comfortable starting the conversation. God, if you really do exist, if you can hear me, will you send someone?
We received the comment below from a reader:
Apparently someone had taken this to be a comment from a seeker who would be vulnerable enough to post it. I was flabbergasted momentarily but then I remembered the culture. Many have been schooled in the idea that we can argue people into the Gospel. We have been taught that our zeal and shade casting is a part of God’s great plan of evangelism.
Facebook is the perfect place to fire missiles without face-to-face, loving dialogue.
This was not Jesus strategy.
A feeling of overwhelming relief flooded my mind that this was just a Facebook post and not a real seeker because such comments to a seeker could have set her back years in her spiritual search.
Then after a moment it occurred to me that this is a microcosm of Facebook in general. There really are lots of examples of vitriolic soapboxes constructed by Christians to fight holy wars against the very people Jesus is trying to reach. (Jesus wept.) I am reminded that the task of believers to love the lost and dying is more relevant and needed than ever before.
It also reminded me of the Gospel narrative. People in Jesus’ day who hated religion seemed to really like being around Jesus. The prostitutes, drunkards and tax collectors found him irresistible. My prayer is that we will make Him irresistable once more.
I hope that more and more Christ-followers will get out of their Facebook and share the exciting news that God is love.
This work by Matt Tullos is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International