Another E-Mail Rant

I got another one of those e-mail forwards yesterday that said I would score 100 or zero. I get a 100 if I love Jesus and pass this thing on to at least 10 people. I score a zero if I don’t pass it on seeing as I must not love Jesus if I don’t want to pass on this picture that was the e-mail. Most of these kinds of e-mails say something like this:

“Jesus Test
This is an easy test, you score 100 or zero. It's your choice. If you aren't ashamed to do this, please follow the directions.

Jesus said, "if you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you before my Father."
Not ashamed Pass this on . . only if you mean it.
Yes, I do Love God.
He is my source of existence and Savior.
He keeps me functioning each and everyday.
Without Him, I will be nothing. !
Without Him, I am nothing but with Him I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.
Phil 4:13”

This is wrong in so many ways! First of all, the test of whether I love Jesus doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not I’ll forward any old e-mail that someone slaps this little speech on (and I get bunches of these). Jesus says in the Bible: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15) While a definite command of Christ is to tell people about Him, whether or not I pass on a picture that someone thought was neat isn’t a measure of my faithfulness to that command. And if I choose not to flood the inboxes of everyone I know with one more picture that isn’t very good anyway, it doesn’t mean I’m ashamed of my Lord. At least this one didn’t also superstitiously promise me various levels of blessing depending on how many I forwarded it to. Those are even worse.

There is another thing that bothers me about this, and I hesitate to mention it because it is a matter of conscience and probably much of what I’m about to say is disputable and not to break fellowship over. I know several readers who will disagree with me, and that's okay. I’m really not trying to start an argument or make any statement except that this issue bothers me. Keep that in mind, please. I’m not being judgmental, just sharing something that is an issue for me.

I’m not a real big fan of pictures of Jesus. We don’t know what He looked like while He was on earth, other than that He would have looked like other Jewish men in Palestine in those days. I don’t like to have some artist’s visual rendition in my mind when I pray. This is the same reason I dropped out of the choir at my old church the last couple of years they did Passion Play when we lived there. I was kind of okay with most of the production, and it was a big, well-done, elaborately staged production, and I know that people did come to Christ after hearing the Gospel presentation. But in the last scene we tried to depict Heaven. The actor who played Jesus came down the center aisle in a white robe with the words “King of Kings” and “Lord of Lords” on it and we all turned and raised our hands in his direction while singing a glorious praise song, wearing our white robes as he proceeded to the front of the auditorium and was seated on a throne at the top. After several performances, and several years, this got to be too much for me. For months afterward, I would see that actor in my mind when I prayed, no matter how hard I tried not to. While I’m still not sure what I think about the rest of the Passion Play, this part was definitely too much. I’m not sure, but I probably could have stayed on with it if we had stopped the visual portrayal at the ascension and then simply told the people about how Jesus is truly seated on the throne today, and even sung about it without visuals. We really shouldn’t be trying to portray the risen Lord of Glory, when our feeble effort just cannot come close to showing His glory as it is. When John the apostle saw the glorified Christ in Revelation, he fell at His feet as though dead. Jesus is sitting on the throne, and, for me, it was just too awfully close to idolatry to try to portray the very throne room of Heaven with actors. And, when I sing praise, I want to really be praising my Lord, which was awfully hard to do while raising my hands toward an actor trying to portray the glorified Lord. It just shouldn’t be done. That was my conviction. Of course, if I do mention this to people, I usually get the, “Oh, lighten up, Beck,” speech, so I usually just kept my concerns to myself.

Another little side rant, too. When the movie The Passion of the Christ came out, my husband and I chose not to see it due to some of the same concerns we had over Passion Plays in general and due to the fact that we had heard about the extra-biblical elements that were added in. We were told, repeatedly, that we just couldn't have a complete understanding of what our Lord suffered for us if we didn't go see this movie. Well, if people want to see a movie, that's okay with me, but I was very tired of people saying that I couldn't appreciate the crucifixion without seeing it. I can't read the crucifixion accounts in the Gospels without tearing up, and, really, God gave us His word so we could understand. I don't need a movie to see the depth of my sin and need for a Savior. What I'm getting at here is the subtle implication that we were somehow sinning because we didn't want to see the movie and the idea that somehow I can't appreciate the sacrifice my Lord made without seeing this Hollywood movie. I'm not telling anyone not to see it, just saying that we need to understand that it is a movie. The scripture is the inspired Word of God. There is a difference. People went 2000 years without the Mel Gibson movie and were able to comprehend the crucifixion from scripture alone. D and I are not heathens or less spiritual because we've chosen not to watch a movie.

But, anyway, this e-mail was a picture of two people kneeling in front of a church (I think) and a ghostly image of Jesus standing by the open doors at the front watching them. I know that Christ is present when two or more are gathered in His Name. The Bible tells me that. I don’t need to forward this e-mail to lots of people who also get annoyed with unthinking e-mail forwards (most of the people in my address book fit that category) in order to demonstrate that I believe that. I also don’t need to forward it to “prove” that I love my Savior. I do, however, need to get more serious about actually speaking to people around me about Him and being willing to accept the commission to tell whoever I can about Him. But I don’t need this false “test” of my love for Him. I’m much more concerned about the areas where I really am falling short than to heap on made up, self-righteous, superstitious stuff.

Rant over. Pass an e-mail on if it was meaningful to you and you think the person you're forwarding it to will appreciate it. That's fine. Just take the little self-righteous, unnecesary speech about not being ashamed off first.