Facebook Holy Wars

Yesterday, I was made aware of a face book 'holy' war.

A young person had posted a questionably sounding status
and many people jumped on board and took him to task
for it. His friends defended him out of loyalty and thus
the war continued.

What saddened me was the fact that there were no winners.

Especially made losers were those standing outside the 'church'
walls, watching from the sidelines.
The 'world' wouldn't have noticed the original offense,
but surely they noticed the Christian's responses.

Were the concerns of the believer's valid?
Absolutely.
Were friends loyal to friends?
Absolutely.
But loyalty to a friend can easily be defended
by a swift hard word without being willing
to consider another's perspective.
Was Christ exalted?
Absolutely
not.

The book of James tells us
that 'love covers a multitude of sins'
and that 'mercy triumphs over judgment.'

I read the young man's original status
and interpreted his shortened slang
by the vernacular he used earlier in his statement.
But I know the young man.
Should he have used terms to mean one thing
when everyone else thinks it means something else?
Of course not.
He wasn't thinking.
He shouldn't have done it.
He should have avoided the appearance of evil.
But my love for him covered this blip in his stride
and I believed the best about him.

But other people loved as well.
They loved their children and
and wanted them to be protected.
They loved the truth and were willing to defend it.
How can I judge them harshly for this?

One person share the words
in Galatians 6:1,2-"Brothers, if a man is over-taken
in a trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one
in the spirit of gentleness, considering yourself
lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's
burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ..."

Face Book participants voluntarily live
in a glass house.
The rules are this:
If you publish something
I have the right to react publicly to it.

But the rules on face book
are not the rules of God's house.
God's rules say we should avoid
the appearance of evil.
And God's rules say that we should
cover one another's faults with love
and forgive when we have grievances
against one another.
We are also given the freedom
to cover in a different way.
We are challenged to go directly to them
in gentleness and restore them
back to truth.

I wonder how many Christians have left
God's house because of the offenses that come
when God's people don't play by His rules?

I wonder how many people who do not know Jesus
never come in through the doors of the church
because of the same reasons?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lest anyone think I am pointing a finger here,
I share a sad tale. Almost weekly, I am reminded
of my own failings on face book.
I came to a friend's defense one time
with a pithy little comment,
not realizing that another friend's husband
had commented 'further up'
and my words seemed to be a direct hit
towards him. This has taken me nearly a year
to figure out with the help of another who
was also affected by the same incident
although in a different way.
And I had been so proud of my
righteous little rhyme...