It Won't Be Long, Now.

I was doing my usual monthly check of my MySpace account tonight (I hardly ever check my MySpace anymore), and decided to peruse the "Most Popular Blogs" on MySpace. This is something I've done just for kicks from time to time. I usually gravitate towards the "Religion and Spirituality" blog category. It's almost always full of ridiculous and pointless evolution or homosexuality debates. I must confess that I used to partake in such discussions, but have since found them to be pointless and even potentially damaging to the faith. Nonetheless, I'm still entertained by reading about the war of words between the atheists and the Christians.

One particular blog that caught my eye tonight was this one, titled "The Dumbest and Most Ignorant Christians On MySpace" (with a title like that how could I not read it?!). In the blog, the author (an atheist) quotes several Christians that he has had debates (more like cussing, belittling, and patronizing) with, and then goes on to expound upon their ignorance and mental incapacities as displayed by their profession of faith.

Nothing in the blog was of particular interest to me - all just stuff I've seen and heard a million times before. But this blog had several things that caught my eye: in the midst of the text of the blog were several "motivational posters." You know the ones - the kind that are done for laughs. I usually love those things, and I've made several of my own. These were quite different, however. They mocked Christians for being stupid and lacking reason, which is fine - I'm not going to lose sleep over that. But check this out:



If you're not catching the implication here, it's that the moral judgment that led ancient Romans to kill and murder Christians by feeding them to lions and other wild animals was not only justifiable, but noble. In other words, whoever made this poster feels that the deaths of Christians would be a beneficial thing for society and mankind in general. While I understand that there is some satire involved here, it's absolutely way over the top, unacceptable, and tasteless. Imagine if I made a poster that brandished a picture of piles of bodies of Jews who had been killed in concentration camps in World War II, and then labeled it, "Jews: the Nazis had the right idea." You would be well within your rights to label me a hate-filled bigot who, by the very action of creating such a poster, represents a potential danger to Jews who are currently alive and practicing their faith. Is the scenario any different when it comes to this poster and its maker's atitude toward Christians?

While I was amazed by the existence of the poster, I was even more amazed that it remained on MySpace. We live in a country that is hyper-sensitive to any kind of bigotry or hate, but apparently that same sensitivity doesn't apply to Christians in this country. Why has this image not been forcefully removed? It is clearly hateful and bigoted.

But while I imply that I am shocked (and to at least some degree I am) by this poster, it also is somewhat to be expected. Jesus said that the world would hate those who followed him because the world hated him first. So then, since the world hates him, it's going to hate us because we follow him. So in many ways, things like this are to be expected. And guess what: it's only going to get worse. The era of religious freedom that this country has enjoyed for the past 200 plus years is coming to a close, and Christians will be the ones who suffer most because they tend to promote morality and righteousness (or at least they should). And since morality and righteousness are in sever decline in this country, Christians can expect more posters joking about how they should be put to death. And one day, Christians can expect the threats to be followed through on. It won't be long, now.

Lord Jesus come quickly.