I saw a post on Facebook recently saying, “’Let’s see who’ll read this’ at the beginning of your post virtually guarantees I won’t read it. Ever.”
I’m a little the same way. That phrase, “Let’s see who’ll read this,” is supposed to make you feel guilty if you pass it by, nagging at your conscience to the point that eventually you scroll right back up and read it. The same thing is true of all those “Copy and paste this if you are a real Christian/patriot/friend, etc.” Now that one really bugs me. If copying and pasting something is how someone else judges my Christianity, or my patriotism, or my friendship, then I am not the one who needs to feel guilty.
God never used either of those things to get people to read His Word. He simply laid it out there and the ones who cared enough to read and learn from it gained more benefits than they could have ever imagined. God never tried to “guilt” anyone into doing anything for Him—he knew it wouldn’t be sincere if He did. Josiah tried that with the people of Judah.
Then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin join in it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. And Josiah took away all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel and made all who were present in Israel serve the LORD their God. All his days they did not turn away from following the LORD, the God of their fathers. 2Chr 34:32-33. No, they did not turn away from God—not as long as Josiah was alive to make them behave, but he was hardly cold in the grave before they were just as bad as before.
A long time ago, my eleventh grade Advanced English teacher taught a unit on advertising and semantics. I will forever be grateful to her. I learned about the Straw Man, the Bandwagon, Bait and Switch, and a host of other sales/debate techniques I have forgotten the names of. I see them on Facebook, on television and in flyers all the time, and thanks to her I seldom fall for them.
But I never see them in the Bible, except when some evil man uses them to tempt God’s people away from Him, like the Rabshekah in Isaiah 36. God never uses those deceitful techniques, his prophets never used them, his preachers never used them.
Jesus never used them. In fact, he taught in parables to weed out the ones who would not care enough to try to understand them (Matt 13:13). He didn’t want them if they didn’t want him. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the swine, lest haply they trample them under their feet, and turn and rend you. Matt 7:6
It’s up to us to read God’s Word ourselves, not to be forced into it by a guilt trip. It’s up to us to live by them. And a simple copy and paste won’t proclaim our faith in our Lord. It takes a lifetime to do that.
But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. Matt 13:16-17
Dene Ward
I’m a little the same way. That phrase, “Let’s see who’ll read this,” is supposed to make you feel guilty if you pass it by, nagging at your conscience to the point that eventually you scroll right back up and read it. The same thing is true of all those “Copy and paste this if you are a real Christian/patriot/friend, etc.” Now that one really bugs me. If copying and pasting something is how someone else judges my Christianity, or my patriotism, or my friendship, then I am not the one who needs to feel guilty.
God never used either of those things to get people to read His Word. He simply laid it out there and the ones who cared enough to read and learn from it gained more benefits than they could have ever imagined. God never tried to “guilt” anyone into doing anything for Him—he knew it wouldn’t be sincere if He did. Josiah tried that with the people of Judah.
Then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin join in it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. And Josiah took away all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel and made all who were present in Israel serve the LORD their God. All his days they did not turn away from following the LORD, the God of their fathers. 2Chr 34:32-33. No, they did not turn away from God—not as long as Josiah was alive to make them behave, but he was hardly cold in the grave before they were just as bad as before.
A long time ago, my eleventh grade Advanced English teacher taught a unit on advertising and semantics. I will forever be grateful to her. I learned about the Straw Man, the Bandwagon, Bait and Switch, and a host of other sales/debate techniques I have forgotten the names of. I see them on Facebook, on television and in flyers all the time, and thanks to her I seldom fall for them.
But I never see them in the Bible, except when some evil man uses them to tempt God’s people away from Him, like the Rabshekah in Isaiah 36. God never uses those deceitful techniques, his prophets never used them, his preachers never used them.
Jesus never used them. In fact, he taught in parables to weed out the ones who would not care enough to try to understand them (Matt 13:13). He didn’t want them if they didn’t want him. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the swine, lest haply they trample them under their feet, and turn and rend you. Matt 7:6
It’s up to us to read God’s Word ourselves, not to be forced into it by a guilt trip. It’s up to us to live by them. And a simple copy and paste won’t proclaim our faith in our Lord. It takes a lifetime to do that.
But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. Matt 13:16-17
Dene Ward
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