
{"id":26437,"date":"2012-06-14T11:56:31","date_gmt":"2012-06-14T15:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=26437"},"modified":"2012-06-14T11:56:31","modified_gmt":"2012-06-14T15:56:31","slug":"why-do-they-hate-us-on-facebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2012\/06\/14\/why-do-they-hate-us-on-facebook\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do they hate us on Facebook?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Ken MacDonald<\/strong><br \/>\nHere\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a test for us churchgoers.<\/p>\n<p>They will know we are Christians by our:<br \/>\nA. Contempt for gays<br \/>\nB. Nice buildings<br \/>\nC. Moral superiority<br \/>\nD. Sappy music<br \/>\nE. Fish bumper stickers<\/p>\n<p>The correct answer is, of course, none of the above. The answer is love. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in the Bible and it is even in a song. Unfortunately, the correct answer is also all of the above.<\/p>\n<p>How can it be that followers of Jesus \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the guy who befriended prostitutes; showed compassion to an adulterer; said love your enemies and pray for them and that if someone hits you \u00e2\u20ac\u0153stand there and take it\u00e2\u20ac\u009d; who said to be merciful, peacemakers and meek \u00e2\u20ac\u201c how can our public reputation be so sullied if we follow that guy?<\/p>\n<p>You have to admit it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a valid question.<\/p>\n<p>Sure, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been asked for ages in one form or another, but now, with instant media, the dichotomy between what we should be doing and what we are doing is ever-presently on parade. <\/p>\n<p>On Facebook and YouTube there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the child singing \u00e2\u20ac\u0153no homos in heaven,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the preacher saying we should round up gays and lesbians and fence them in until they die and even right here in our state a pastor arrogantly joking that gay children should be smacked. There are the Westboro Baptist Church members protesting the funerals of soldiers. There are millionaire preachers, and politicians pushing us toward theocracy. <\/p>\n<p>Signs in front of thousands of churches tell everyone what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing wrong and where they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going if they aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t careful. On their web pages, manifestos proudly proclaim why they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re right about this issue or that, this version of the Bible or that. Inside, the tone is all-too-often smugness and arrogance. The buildings are nice, and tax-free.<\/p>\n<p>Why would someone not resent it? Why would the world not resent it, especially in a land where 5 percent of the earth\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s population controls 25 percent of its wealth? <\/p>\n<p>In the Bible, so often quoted in our proud self-righteousness, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re told to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153live humbly,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and that real wisdom is not boasting but \u00e2\u20ac\u0153characterized by getting along with others.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and treating each other with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dignity and honor.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d  <\/p>\n<p>Jesus said to feed the poor, give the cold clothes, visit the sick, take care of the homeless.<\/p>\n<p>And this is in the Bible too: The prophet Isaiah said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Quit your worship charades \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sick of your religion, religion, religion while you go right on sinning.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He says, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Say no to wrong. Learn to do good. Work for justice. Help the down-and-out. Stand up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Churches wonder why their young people are leaving them in droves. Why the once-pervasive religion of the U.S. is now ridiculed and dismissed. The church\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s response has been to redouble its defensiveness and yell back.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe if churches gave up the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153religion\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and really followed their leader and did what he said, people would want to be a part of it. If they took down their turn-or-burn signs and responded to outsiders gently with love. If they lived humbly and worked to make this world better, took care of the homeless and poor, worked for justice and gave up their power and position. Maybe then Facebook wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be a cringer, young adults would return to the church, and Jesus would be honored. <\/p>\n<p><em>Ken MacDonald is publisher of The News-Journal in Raeford.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a test for us churchgoers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26437"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26438,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26437\/revisions\/26438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}