You've Got Mail

There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. - ROMANS 8:1

Several months after arriving at my first Air Force base as an active duty member I received an e-mail from a good friend and "dorm buddy" who I had gone through basic training with. The e-mail was on our government account which, obviously, was to be used for "Official Use Only". This e-mail was less than official. It was something like, "If you send this e-mail to 10 people, you'll receive a confirmation e-mail entitling you to a FREE meal at Ruby Tuesdays". I also noticed the rather LARGE amount of people he sent the e-mail to. We were talking a couple of days later and he informed me that he had received an e-mail from a Lieutenant General (three-star) respectfully asking him NOT to send anymore e-mails like that. He was unaware that he had send the e-mail to the entire WING (thousands of people) rather than just his immediate co-workers (15 people). Luckily no charges were filed or "pink slips" given, and he considered that e-mail from the Lt. General as a warning: DON'T SEND THIS JUNK ANYMORE!

That was in 1998. Here I am 10 years later and e-mails have taken on the form of a spoiled little brat with total disregard to truth. Now I know I'm going to be treading on some thin ice here, but I've gotta say it. So many of today's e-mails represent a metaphor for the whiny attention deprived child who will say anything to get someone to look at them. (I'm saying the e-mails themselves, NOT the people that send them.) A Snopes.com contributor has even identified this garbage as "GLURGE". Glurge is a great example of how children who were never disciplined have grown into adults and begun to spread lies and embellished truths without consequence. Many (MOST) of these e-mails are religious in nature, but all have good intentions.

I want to note here: the senders themselves are not who or what I have issue with. They are usually caught up in the moment and emotion of the e-mail. I have no problem with forwards, or even the emotional e-mails that do NOT contain what I'm discussing here. However...! here's my statement. Quit sending this junk around, and address the people that do. I'm talking specifically about the e-mails that have the wording similar to, "If you love Jesus, you need to send this e-mail to at least 5...10...or 15 people." (By the way...the number is usually directly proportional to the plight. For example, an e-mail regarding someone who lost their car keys, prays to God and then finds them only needs to send the e-mail to 3 or more people to show they love God. But if there is a child who needs a lifesaving surgery in a small village right next to a polar bear cave, then the e-mail needs to travel to a minimum of 10 people...just so you know. The implication here is that the child will not make it if you don't forward the e-mail, as if me not forwarding the e-mail is allowing the child's life to continue hanging in the balance.) First off, if my child ever needs a lifesaving surgery, I'm probably not going to hop up to my computer and start banging out e-mails, complete with my childs entire medical and growth history. And if I do...IF I do...I won't hold you in contempt if you don't send it to your friends. Thanks.

The ending of these e-mails is usually followed up with, "If you delete this e-mail, then you don't love Jesus." Although not in those exact words, that is the "spirit" of the e-mail. And to further kick you in the head, the verses Matthew 10:32-33 are often thrown in for free...mostly in big, bold, different colored letters. In Matthew 10:32-33 Jesus says "If anyone acknowledges me before men, I will acknowledge him before the Father. If anyone denies be before men, I will deny him before the Father."

Are you kidding me? Is this for real? Has humanity lost its mind? (...actually, yes, but that's not the point.) How is not forwarding *your* ridiculous e-mail filled with untruths denying Jesus?

It's not that this stuff "affects" me, well... I guess it does...or I am insecure in my relationship with Christ. But in the end, this is condemnation from one Christian to another. We've got enough of that from the enemy. When we forward this trash, we are saying two things:
1) Look at how holy I am
2) You need to be this holy.

Taking these e-mails to what seems to me to be their logical conclusion says that God in Heaven is looking down on me as I am checking my e-mail and waiting to see how much I love Him by whether or not I click the big red "X". As if my entire salvation, my walk with Christ, my relationship with my wife and children, all my sins and compassion and love and struggles and hunger for lost souls is balanced upon the needlepoint that is me forwarding this e-mail to 10 people.

Is there a Bible verse that says "For God so loved the world that he forwarded his Son to all people, that whosoever forwardeth Him to 25 people will not perish but have enough MegaBytes available in their Inbox forever?"

God sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins, and to give us eternal life in Heaven with HIM! Your...OUR...salvation is not dependent upon sending that e-mail. Our love for Christ is not determined by how many Contacts we have in our address book. It is determined by the Spirit God has put in each of us. Maybe in a way I've unintentionally turned this blog into a glurge...but this condemnation from Christian to Christian has got to stop.

In addition, what kind of message does this send to the lost? Those unsaved people that read these things and believe them? It's the liberal Christian mentality that encourages them to think, I'm a good person, I love Jesus, I'll send this on and "spread the word". We are actually condoning and even empowering that mentality. God wants a sacrifice. God wants our hearts and lives turned over to Him, and it is not conditional upon encryption or attachments or forwards or the little stupid paperclip-helper-thingy that keeps trying to help me copy and paste stuff.