Christian Commentary: Think, My People, Think.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything to my blog. Hey, that’s life some times. As much as I love to write, I do have to attend to matters beyond the electronic ether. Hopefully, I’ll have the chance to catch up on some posts that are way overdue.

I am an e-mail pig. That is, I’ve got multiple e-mail accounts (at least five (5)) and I check them all everyday, several times a day. What’s worse is that I’m thinking about adding a few more accounts! To quote Michael Jackson from the Off the Wall album: “Don’t stop till you get enough!” (Hee-hee! Oooh! Can’t you see my glittering socks and one glove?) I’m sure I’m not the only one who has multiple accounts out there.

Lest I stray from the intent of this post, I received an e-mail from a very dear friend that I’ve known all of my life. As is typical in this age of e-mail, I, along with you, probably receive a bombardment of e-mails forwarded from friends.  I’m beginning to think that the “forward” button is one of the most evil contraptions devised. That button has become a license for friends to spam you legally. I have enough problems with spam already: I have no need for “crank enhancers” (i.e., male enhancement), Russian brides, lower mortgage rates (well, maybe), discount Rolex watches, money from Bill Gates for sending an e-mail, and Nigerian riches in exchange for a small security deposit. All of these items and more come to me without the assistance of my friends.

Spambots don’t care or think about the accuracy of the content being distributed. They are programmed to send, and send, and send. However, when friends send me spam, they’ve just turned themselves into spambots; they’re not thinking about what they’re doing and not caring much either if what they spread is true or not. They just send, and send, and send.

I am a Christian. My friend who sent me the e-mail is a Christian also. This e-mail detailed something of great concern to the both of us. A petition had been filed with the FCC that threatened to clear the airwaves of religious broadcasting, Christian broadcasting in particular. The details sounded credible. Included in the e-mail was an FCC petition number. Apparently this matter had caught the attention of well-known Christian broadcasters, such as Dr. James Dobson, who was personally undertaking the burden to fight this petition. The e-mail indicated that we could do something about the matter. In lieu of actual signatures (handwritten or otherwise), we could help the fight by creating an electronic petition. Just add your name and forward it to other Christians. Once the requisite number of names have been added, forward the list back to a particular e-mail address.

*Sigh*

Because I’ve been working with computers all of my life and I see such e-mails like this everyday, I’m naturally suspicious of such e-mails. I decided to do a little homework. Was this e-mail true? Was / is there any validity to the content of it? If the title of my post means anything, you can guess what my answers were to both of those questions.

My response to my friend is shown below:

Rarely do I respond to e-mails such as this one. Yet, I guess I’ve seen enough to say something finally. You are an extremely intelligent and competent woman. Thus, I’m surprised that you did not do your homework prior to forwarding this to me. However, many others have not done their homework either. A lot of misinformation exists on the Net. This particular e-mail has made the rounds on the Net several times, and has been seen in one form or another for several years. Only the names have changed (i.e., including contemporary, well-known Christian speakers) to make it sound fresh and threatening.

Please see the following for more information:

• http://www.chat11.com/FCC_Petition_2493_Hoax
• http://lordsgrace.com/hoax/hoax01.htm
• http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/fcc.asp
• http://www.fcc.gov/mb/enf/forms/rm-2493.html (This is from the FCC’s site; this should put an end to this rumor.)
• http://family.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/family.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=489&p_created=1037383326 (Need more convincing? This is from Focus on the Family concerning the matter.)

I send this to you in the hopes that perhaps you’ll forward this back to the others to whom you forwarded this e-mail originally. Also, I hope you’ll forward this e-mail to the one who sent you the e-mail originally.

The fact that this garbage continues to be propagated by Christians speaks very badly for us. We have been called to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. While we’re very concerned about the heart, let’s not neglect the mind. Help me to help others to engage the culture with both our hearts and minds.

Yours in Grace,
Your Brother,

–Dennis

To any and all of you who claim to be Christian and who circulate such e-mails, I have one thing to say to you: think! Many people think that we’re “brain-dead”, driven by a false hope that we use an emotional crutch to get through life. Many people think that all Christians care about is the ecstasy of worship, and not the exposition of the Word. These people have a point. While it is not my purpose in this post to offer an apology (i.e., explanation) for the Christian faith, I do believe that the Christian faith is viable, spiritually and intellectually. The Christian faith is not a blind leap across a chasm of uncertainty. It is a reasoned response to the historical revelation of a self-existent God working to redeem humanity from its corruption (and if you don’t think we are naturally corrupt, just read the newspaper and consider the crimes against humanity that are not religiously motivated.) My purpose in this post is to shame us as a people of faith for being thoughtless and not taking the time to care about truth.

What’s even sadder is that apparently 500 other people thought that this e-mail was credible; thus, they added their names (assuming that those were real names) to the list and forwarded the e-mail onward to their friends.

Lest I go on and on, let me end my thoughts here and say the following: Christians, if you care about the truth, ensure that what you’re saying is true. When you participate in the propagation of patently false information, you really show that you are not that concerned about truth. The next time you are tempted to hit that “forward” button, pause for a moment and think. Do your research. Using a search engine is not that difficult to do. Christianity has been the home of many great minds over the centuries; let’s not bring shame to our heritage. Even more, love the Lord your God with your mind and not just your heart. Perhaps if we show ourselves to be a bit more thoughtful, maybe others who don’t believe might consider our claims to be a bit more credible. While this post centers around the matter of an e-mail, hopefully you can see a bigger picture here.