Christian Posting On Social Networks....

Recently I came across a Christian pin on Pinterest on which someone had written a comment. In essence the comment railed against the poster for putting Christian/scriptural content up on their account.  I have spent the last few weeks thinking about that comment.  You see I post quite a bit of scripture, Christian pictures and Christian songs on social media, in my case mostly Twitter, and some on Facebook.  That comment has made me think long and hard about my motives and the “why” of doing it.  

Why post Christian posts...and to whom am I posting them?  This woman in essence accused the person of posting to make him or herself “look” Christian.  The implication being that if you covered your social media with scripture, and Christian illustrations, it was for show and this was an annoyance to those who had to look at them.  But is that true or even fair?

Some reason’s to post religious posts….

I have to admit that one reason I do it is because of all the hideous garbage I see on the internet.  All the trash, all the blasphemy, all the...well you get the picture.  I do it to get as much of God’s Word and things related to it out there as I can.  Related to this is that I believe that we are entering a time when this will no longer be tolerated.  There is more Christian persecution in the world now then there has ever been in history.  Even in what are considered “Christian countries” we are slowly losing our rights of free speech and expression of faith, and I believe there will come a time when sharing Christ will become a crime, just as it is elsewhere.  So I feel that I need to do this NOW.

The second reason is to build up other Christians.  I have to thank a friend on Facebook for bringing this to my attention.  He was once put in “Facebook Jail” for over-liking.  At the time he wrote to me that when he saw something that touched his heart or built him up that he gave it a like.  That has stuck with me.  So, when tweeting or posting we build up the Body of Christ.  A brother or sister may see just the passage they need at that moment, or see an illustration that will stick with them through the day, or hear a song they will have in their head “praising God in their hearts” all day.  These are all very worthwhile things.

Finally...do I expect what I post to "convert" someone? I'm not in the conversion business. I am in the business of spreading information. We are told to spread the gospel, not to convert. Conversion is in the hands of God, all we do is to pass on the story. So no, I don't expect to convert, but I do feel that in doing what I do, I'm fulfilling what I'm supposed to do...telling others about Jesus and what He did for us. Whether they listen or not is between them and God.

Where do you sit?

Where do you sit?  I mean in church.  Where do you sit?  Do you always sit in the same place?  I know people who have sat in the same pew (or these days chair) for years and those that move around, and they both seem to enjoy it. 
Until fairly recently I've almost always sat in the back row.  I was famous for it.  If I wasn't in the very back row I was always in the last couple of rows.
Then I became disabled.  I can no longer stand during worship. For a while we continued to sit in seats that were further back, say more in the middle of the church.  The problem was that I couldn't see the screen with the hymns.  In our church, as in most Evangelical churches these days I'd imagine, the hymnbooks sit practically unused, and the hymns and Christian songs are sung from a screen in the front of the church.  Well, unless I was in just the right spot, I saw (for the most part) people's backs.  Most of the time it was no problem as I knew the words to the songs, but sometimes I didn't, and it finally became an issue.  So my husband and I moved...to the second row, right up against the right hand wall of the church. Our Pastor and his wife (and sometimes grown children) sit in the front row on the other end of the pew.  So there is generally no one directly in front of me.  
For a short time I was not particularly happy with this change. But I've found I have the very best seat in the whole church.  You see I sit directly in front of something very special.  I sit right in front of a large wooden cross.  It is about 7 feet tall, and made of heavy wood.  This cross in most churches would sit in the center of the church but for some reason in ours it sits on the side.  Which is a great blessing to me.  During service I spend a lot of time looking at that cross.  It keeps me centered on what is truly important and the real reason I am in that place, who we are worshipping and why, and who I'm singing to.  It's a blessing I never expected.    

Though You Slay Me (featuring John Piper)

Amen!

Morning music

Listened to this yesterday, and I've had it stuck in my head all night.  A beautiful song to have playing in there.

A Shame....

A number of years ago...it must be 15 at least... I used to spend a lot of my time online on Beliefnet.  At the time it wasn't a bad place to discuss what was on your mind religiously speaking.  You could get a good discussion going with people who's faith, if not exactly like yours, was close enough that you could have a pleasant conversation.  
On the whole you had a wide range of people and while there were troublemakers (like the woman who believed she had forged a special sword, flown with it to Israel and then lead a procession through the streets to bring it to the Church of Annunciation), on the whole the people were nice, and it was a good place for a religious person to hang out online.  Over the time I spent there I made friends with people who covered a wide variety of denominations.
I hadn't been recently though, so I decided to take a look around and see how things were going.  As far as I can tell, it's no longer what it used to be.  The trolls and liberals have taken over the place.  I didn't get further then reading the names of threads...they were bad enough.  I won't give examples.  If you are brave and feel like having them in your head please feel free to go there and look.  Personally I'll be staying away.  It's too bad.