christian consumerism

JESUS IS LORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! if you know this is true press like. :) on ♥

This is a link that I saw on Facebook yesterday. Many of my friends posted it and thus it ended up on my profile a few times.

I find myself hesitant to "like" it.

It may be my rebellious nature, but I am hesitant to "like" Christian statements...even ones that I agree with like the one above. I think that I feel pressured, which I don't like very much. I also feel like this mouse click becomes the determiner of whether or not I am Christian or love Jesus. Isn't the Christian life supposed to be about a lot more than facebook statuses or liking or disliking statements? Isn't a worldview that has been dangerous enough to get people killed consistently for 2000 years something that cannot be captured in a single line?

I was curious enough about this particular status to click the the heart button though.

What I found was a page that ranking the number of "likes" various statements had achieved. "Jesus is Lord" was along side statements about being "badass" or various "this person is hotter than this person" ideas. And what else was on that page...ads. Ads equal revenue on the web.

So what I realized was that liking "Jesus is Lord" really meant giving money to some organization that Facebook has reported is phishing and installing malware on people's computers.

I have no beef with saying "Jesus is Lord". Saying so in the 1st century was actively affirming Jesus over Ceaser. This is a statement that is dripping in revolution and power. It just makes me sad that this statement is now used to target Christians for computer hacking and financial gain. I think Christians (myself included!) are so ready to affirm what we believe in words, that we can feel like we are not faithful or bold if we are hesitant to agree with every Christian statement or email that comes our way.

I believe that we affirm or deny Jesus' Lordship in how we live. Having more "likes" than someone else, or find 1,000,000 Christians doesn't really further Jesus' Kingdom. How we love others does. How we serve others does. Introducing people to Jesus they haven't met with scripture study does.

I will gladly be used by somebody, if that will show the sacrificial love of Jesus, but not so that some company can make a few bucks.