instagram

If You Love Peace and Hate Terrorists, Type Amen Below

/ DiggsMcGee / Leave a comment

I am Christian. Specifically Catholic.

And, yes, Catholics are Christians.

No, seriously, we are.

Being a good Christian I go to church on Sunday, read the Bible every day, compare my actions and thoughts as well as other’s opinions to what the Bible teaches, listen to Christian themed music, try to watch wholesome TV, movies, and YouTube, and subscribe to or follow Christian quote,  meme, and worship accounts on Facebook, Instagram, WordPress, Tumblr, and Pinterest.

What else is there to do?

😉

Seriously, though, there’s so much more I could do. For example, instead of pretending like I lead a Christian life, I could actually, you know, go out and be Christian. 

But that’s hard.

Why can’t I just like and share all those social media posts. That’s spreading the word, right?

And as for proclaiming the name of Jesus, I type “Amen” on Facebook posts.

That’s good, right?

I mean, think about this:  if you’re scrolling through Facebook and see one of those posts – “If you love Jesus, type amen below.” – and you can’t take 1 minute out of your busy day of wasting time on Facebook to type “amen”, then do you think you’ll take a few minutes to explain to someone why you’re a Christian? You can’t give God 1 minute, but you expect him to give you eternity in paradise?

Probably not.

But I know what you’re thinking…

(Actually I don’t.)

“Typing ‘amen’ on a Facebook post because they say ‘if you love Jesus type amen’ isn’t preaching or proclaiming. It’s an ad tactic meant to coerce you into making the decision they want you to make by providing you with the choice between their decision and a totally and obviously deplorable decision which a decent human being would never make.”

(Do I get brownie points if you were actually thinking that?)

My rebuttle:

😝

Now that I acted like a 10-year-old to make you think you have the intellectual upper hand, let me do some splain’in. 

First off, I hate those posts. They are a marketing tactic meant to trick you. You can type “amen” or you can pass by the post, which means you worship evil incarnate.

Your choice.

It’s just like normal ads that claim you’re a bad mother if you don’t use a certain diaper, or you’re a horrible human being if you don’t give 15 cents a day to starving children, or you’re a worthless sack of crap and a waste of human genetic material because you won’t adopt that three-legged puppy.

(Darn you Sarah McLaughlin! Making me feel the feels. How rude!)

Some of these posts say things like “Jesus loves everyone. Type amen if you agree”.

That seems good. Jesus does love everyone (despite what some fanatical weirdos might claim). So I guess I’ll type Amen… because I agree… but if I don’t type amen does that mean I don’t agree? They don’t specify.

There are some posts that posit a conundrum: “Jesus is Lord. Like if you love Jesus. Ignore if you love the devil.”

O.o

That one is a little more damning, perhaps. It seems as if you must like that picture, because if you don’t, that means you love the devil. But does it?

I’m going to speak only to Christians since 1.) these posts are Christian in nature, and 2.) I don’t feel like debating multiple religions or lack thereof right now. But you may feel free to extrapolate my thoughts to your religion or beliefs and the posts you see on social media.

Does ignoring these types of posts mean you love the devil, or want Satan to win, or hate God, or whatever the alternative is? For that matter, though, does liking (or sharing, or commenting, or tagging, etc.) mean that you love God, love Jesus, want peace, believe in the resurrection, that you are saved, or even that you’re a good person? Can interacting with a Facebook post prove anything about the state of your soul?

Can it?

CAN IT!?

Let’s break it down (wikka wikka screetch!).

Here’s the problem. You have two choices: be a good person or be a bad person. If you type “amen” or like or share you are a good person. If you ignore you’re a bad person. You could call out the post as the marketing trick it is, and that’d be good. However, by not promoting the post you are failing to promote God. You are, in a sense, denying God. That is also bad. So, not falling for the trick is good. But falling for the trick results in something good. But falling for the trick is bad. But not reacting is also bad. So if you react, that’s good, except it’s bad that you gave in, but good you acknowledged God, but bad you did it just so you don’t look stupid, but good you did it because you know you should, but bad you did it to please people instead of God, but good if you genuinely saw it as an opportunity to spread the word of God, but bad if you rely on others to remind you to talk about God.

*takes breath*

Basically, the reason you’re reacting to the post will tell you whether or not you did it for the right reason.

If you see the post as an opportunity to spread the word of God and decide to put a positive spin on the appearance of God on a social media platform, then you’re probably reacting for the right reason. After all, almost everything can be spun in either a positive or negative manner. 

However, I do think these people should stop. Seriously, if you posted something to the effect of “like if you’re a good person and ignore if you’re a crap sack” what do you expect people to do. They don’t want to take the chance that someone will find out they didn’t like the picture. Make that “someone” God Himself, and you can’t escape him. He just saw you scroll past the post. Go back and like it right now or you don’t love Him!

J/K

As far as I’m concerned, these people are taking advantage of the correctly working conscience of everyday people and tricking them into liking and sharing their post. This then serves to spread awareness of their own page or account. They get more followers, and in turn get more views, shares, likes, and even more followers. It’s just self promotion.

Sure, they’re spreading word (or pictures) of God. So that’s good. But you’re not supposed to test the faith of other people. You’re not supposed to trick people.

I can look past this, until you post one of these:

“God will answer all your prayers. Type Amen if you believe.”

This one looks fine at first. Even I believe that God will answer my prayers. But this comes with an asterisk. (That’s this thing * ) God will answer any prayer, as long as His words live in you and your life is lived for Him. If what you are praying for goes against God’s word (like, say, praying that someone crashes their flashy, expensive new car because they’ve been a jerk about having all this money to throw around and you can barely afford Ramen noodles… jerk… where was I?)

A prayer like that is a jealous prayer. That’s not a God-like thing to pray for. So… God probably won’t answer that prayer with anything more than an opportunity to be more thankful and grateful for the things you already have. That’s kind of how that works.

But then, someone doesn’t type “amen.” Are they bad? Do they not believe? Are they a fan of Star Wars?

Ya, see, we can’t tell and it’s none of our business. Plus, as one of the posts I actually will share points out, God is not a genie. Quit forwarding silly “share and God will answer all your prayers” posts. He’s not your fairy godmother. That’s not how this works.

-Diggs out

P.S. – sometimes I just write until I feel like I’m done. Sometimes I write until I feel like I should have been done a while ago and wrap it up. Sometimes I write with a clear beginning and end, creating something I’m proud of. And sometimes my brain jumps topics so quickly I end up lost and have to stop. This feels like one of those times.

Steel Against Steel, or Stone, or Paradoxen?

/ DiggsMcGee / Leave a comment

I was browsing through my Instagram feed for, like, the hundredth time today. I quickly realized I had seen everything in it about a dozen times.

“You need to follow more people,” I said to myself.

So, I clicked on the discover button to see what else is out there. Nothing great, and most not even good. That’s when I found a post from a Christian IG account about NASA proving the Bible right…

What? You missed that breaking story on CNN as well? Never fear. There was no story, because NASA didn’t prove the Bible right, because the story is a hoax.

The legitimacy of the story did not, however, deter people from praising Jesus. Nor did it deter people from calling the Jesus lovers “idiots.” I wouldn’t call it an argument because, well, it’s IG… you more or less like a picture, leave a comment maybe, and then move on to the next of millions of pictures asking for a double-tap. But there were a few (what I would call, but only because they have no other reason to be on this account commenting if they weren’t) trolls. Seriously, I don’t understand where these people come from. It’s as if they are browsing through IG and come upon a Christian picture. Then think to themselves, “let’s see how many reasons I can come up with that this picture is pure fantasy elves and fairy nonsense…”

I thought, if you don’t have anything nice to say…

wp_ss_20160615_0003Whatever. They were there, and that’s where I saw this (pictured). It really doesn’t make much sense. I felt so strongly at what I’m going to pick it apart for that I had to screenshot it. This person states they don’t “have the time nor patience to argue about this with someone who does not have an open mind to anything they disagree on.” Which sounds good at first. Until you realize that he was basically saying religion is dumb, science is fact, everyone who believes otherwise is an idiot. If I held the same principle about who I argued with he, by his own definition, would be someone I would avoid.

I think these people misuse the word “argue.” To argue is really just making statements that either support your side or undermine the other side. You can say whatever you want. To debate is to prove that your side is the right side. You do this with facts. If the other guy’s facts are better, more compelling, or more believable, then there’s a good chance that he is right. In that case, you would be a fool for not joining him. In a debate, you can concede defeat. You keep an open mind because, after all, you very well could be wrong.

In essence what I’m saying is this:  if you won’t argue with someone because they won’t keep an open mind you need to make sure you yourself are keeping an open mind. Or else, you are actually calling yourself a hypocrite.

Part II

wp_ss_20160615_0004Back to the discovery of IG… many of the other posts on this account were very good, uplifting, and contemplative. I really liked this one (pictured).

“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” – Proverbs 27:17

But…  I don’t know that much about biblical times… but did they actually sharpen swords with… other swords? I’m pretty sure I’ve seen grinding wheels in historical films before. And I’m pretty sure the Japanese never sharpened their katana with other katana. You don’t sharpen blades with other blades, you use a sharpening stone-

REVELATION!

(At least that’s how it sounded in my head… if you can picture the sound the word “REVELATION!” makes… is it “picture” a sound? Hear the sound? Imagine- it’s “imagine the sound.” I knew I’d get there.)

I read this passage and then quickly had a brief epiphany. You may not actually sharpen blades with other blades, or solid blocks of iron, or what ever this passage actually means. But if it rather said, “…stone sharpens iron…” then I actually know what that means, now at least.

Think of stone. It’s hard. It’s unmoving. It just sits there weathering away. If you call someone hardheaded you could say they were like stone. They will sit there and continue to be hardheaded, repeating the same thing over and over again. If unchanging, they will eventually weather away.

And as for you? It’s only by coming into contact with (and no I do not mean beating the daylights out of) this hardheaded person that you will get sharper. As long as you remember that you’re a blade, and not a hammer.

So like with our guy above, by talking with him and sharing information you have about Jesus, God, and the Bible you can sharpen your knowledge, wisdom, and wits. You can listen to him and hear what he has to say. Then say a little prayer for guidance, and tell him what the Holy Spirit says he needs to hear. Just don’t forget: you’re a blade, not a hammer. If you start bludgeoning the guy you will only make yourself duller. You cannot defeat the stone, and more to the point, you don’t want to defeat him. You want to give him the information he needs to make a more informative decision. If he chooses to continue believing you are an arrogant idiot, trapped in the past by a dusty old book, then that’s his choice. But beating him over the head with that dust book will only push him farther away from God even faster.

And yes. I am not blind.

If I am not careful this could all apply to me. I could become a stone; unmoving and unchanging, suffering from the weathering of ignorance and foolishness. I could just as easily be that IG poster from above. I could decide not to talk to you because you have made up your mind and will not listen to a word I say. I could decide that I am right and everyone who doesn’t believe what I believe is a fool.

On the other hand…

I could be the sharpening stone that gradually sharpens the blade that is the people who need a little help fighting the good fight. I, little old rock, could actually wear away the dings and dullness of the blade making it better able to face the world.

Or the original passage could be easily explained as well: stick with people, and they will help you grow.

Or time could freeze and the world as we know it could be locked in a 7th dimension paradox!

And that’s what it’s like talking to me.

But seriously, don’t get so hardheaded that you think you should only talk to people who’s mind you can change. And quit arguing with everybody anyway!

-Diggs out

“Evil preys on the weak… because it fears the strong.”

P.S. – it’s paradoxes. I know how to work a dictionary.

😉

I Love Windows Phone. I Hate Having Windows Phone.

/ DiggsMcGee / Leave a comment

For all the great achievements made by Microsoft in the form of Windows Phone, there is one area where they have failed me.

I have a couple of devices. There’s my Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone, an HTC Aria Android, a Samsung Galaxy Captivate, and a couple of devices from work I am testing. The only reason I like the iDevice is because I can let it sit for a week and it’s battery has barely drained. Why this isn’t true of the other devices I don’t know. If I turn off their radios they’ll give me a week, but they’re not very useful. It really makes me mad, too, because I do not like Apple products in general. The other reason I enjoy Apple devices is the large number of apps available. The Android devices get pretty good treatment on the app side. But the devices are hit and miss, especially with battery life.

And then there’s Windows Phone (specifically WP7)… I love Windows Phone (for the most part) and I love my Nokia Lumia, but I am saddened by the lousy app selection for Windows Phone; at least for the nearly defunct WP7. Everyone puts their app on iOS, and most people also put their app on Android. But no one bothers with putting apps on Windows Phone or even Windows 8 for that matter. This just doesn’t make any sense to me. With WP8 and Windows 8, a developer can build 1 app and with a little tinkering have it run on cell phones, tablets, and desktop computers. The reach would be 3 fold of Android (technically) and twice as big as on iOS. And in the case of Instagram and YouTube, they go out of their way to stop other people from building apps for their services on the Windows platform. Yet, they don’t release one of their own.

So, I’m on an Android device and just loving the apps, the selection of apps, the way a lot of the apps work, and the ability of the apps to talk to each other and share data.

So, I’m on an iDevice and enjoying the experience in some of the apps versus the ones I can find for Android. This makes me really mad. Especially when you look at the Windows 8 OneNote app versus the iOS OneNote app, and then compare it to the crappy, obviously-made-for-a-phone Android OneNote app

Then, I look at the Facebook Beta app for Windows Phone and my faith in the brand is restored. I realize that all my grief is based on my outdated WP7 device, and remember just how better the WP8 devices are. I take a step back to judge the situation more clearly and I see that hardly any of the apps and services I can find on iOS and Android are things I need. I slap myself for falling into the iSheep crowd of the glitz and glam and “wow an app that does THAT!” I wake up to the realization that my phone is natively what I need, and the websites of the other services will suffice, since I am always at a computer anyway. My desire for a new Android phone is not a desire for function, it is a desire for popularity.

So, I guess I’m fine with my Nokia. But Microsoft better get on the ball and attract more developers with better apps really soon. If I even think I see an iceberg in Windows Phone’s path, I’ll jump ship faster than you can say “global warming.”