# Jesus, in a chain letter...oh boy



## Robot the Human (Aug 20, 2010)

Not exactly a chain letter, but that's what I see it as. Anyways, here it is.

"If you believe in Jesus Christ put this on your wall. Don't ignore this because the Bible says if you deny Him, He will deny you in front of His father at the gates of heaven. This is a simple test. If you loveGod and you are not ashamed then copy this on your wall."

I almost gave into this. I hope the author had good intentions, but it began to make me angry. I rejected the request. I felt as if I was being tested by a human being (which always angers me) and not by God himself. I just think it was trying to use guilt in a very subtle way, and have power over people's emotions and minds. I don't know. Do you think I handled this the right way? The only thing that bothers me, is we should always stick up for Jesus but do we really have to prove ourselves on the internet of all places? The fact that it was a chain letter message, on the internet, and using God's name made me angry. Maybe I'm at fault for not just doing a simple copy and paste. I really don't know, and this could be due to lack of sleep lately.

I wanted to reply to this person by saying "I feel more comfortable with a gun to my head, forcing me to deny God, than to have a gun to my head forcing me to accept God."

I'm just really bothered by this, and it's confusing to me. It kind of ruined my morning. Good intentions perhaps, but it really stepped on my toes. What do you think?:|


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## Neptunus (Oct 29, 2007)

I'm not Christian, but I'll throw in my 2 coppers worth anyway...

The fact that a silly internet letter from a stranger bothered you so much shows how much you value your relationship with Jesus.



Robot the Human said:


> I almost gave into this. I hope the author had good intentions, but it began to make me angry. I rejected the request. I felt as if I was being tested by a human being (which always angers me) and not by God himself.


You have already answered your question - you need only validate your faith to Him... and yourself.


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## BoostedSol (Aug 21, 2010)

I think how you responded was perfectly appropriate. The letter is deceivingly written to make it as if, were you to not post their letter on your wall then your denying Jesus! Which is fallacious because your not denying Jesus at all.

1. The statement "If you believe in Jesus then put this on your wall"

1. Is obviously false for it could be the case that you believe in Jesus and not put it on your wall. As well as the counter factual, you could put it on your wall and not believe in Jesus. So the statement does not even follow logically, and is irrelevant to the belief in Jesus.

And

2. "Don't ignore this because the Bible says if you deny Him, He will deny you in front of His father at the gates of heaven."

Don't ignore what? This message or Jesus? The statement commits the "am fallacy" where a statement or word is used that could take on different meanings or is ambiguous, so the statement is logically invalid. The bible does say that if you deny Jesus then he will deny you before his heavenly father, but not putting their statement up is not a denial of Jesus as your savior, so it's just utterly fallacious and nothing follows from it.

So I think you did the right thing, what matters is your response to Jesus himself and your belief in Him. Not only that but the person who wrote the letter is doing a disservice to the body of Christ (meaning his followers) by spreading misleading and fallacious messages not based on scripture.


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## VagueResemblance (Apr 17, 2010)

Since the Bible has things to say on the subject of charity and good works, you should send me two hundred dollars. This is undeniably a good work, since I'm broke and in need of a new motorcycle. Denying me means you deny the word of the Bible and are a bad Christian...

(of course I'm not serious)
That's the same argument as you received. The one playing on your emotions and trying to test you was only some random guy on the internet, maybe he has good intentions and maybe he was just bored enough to start chain emails. In either case


Neptunus said:


> The fact that a silly internet letter from a stranger bothered you so much shows how much you value your relationship with Jesus.


This. Sounds like your faith is strong. Good for you.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

If you believe in Jesus Christ, don't send chain letters......send PRAYERS!


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## Still Waters (Sep 18, 2008)

What is it with these odd religious emails? I've gotten some too-"send this to x amount of friends by _____ time-and your prayer will be answered". - God doesn't put stipulations like that on prayers and he doesn't deal in veiled threats. It always irritates me and I can't believe people fall for it.


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## Robot the Human (Aug 20, 2010)

Thanks so much, really. This was really bothering me big time. I was just afraid I messed up. I'm still really hard on myself, even when I don't screw up it seems.

Now I realize how important other people are in my life. I can't totally be in a cave, or else it would be impossible to get helpful advice like this.


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## erasercrumbs (Dec 17, 2009)

Whoever created that chain letter lacks the authority to tell you whether or not you love Christ. Seems to me that if the author truly cared about Jesus, he or she wouldn't use Him as a vector for Spam.


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## Sunshine009 (Sep 21, 2008)

If you believe in Jesus then you follow Jesus, not man. He has no authority to tell you what to do.


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## Belshazzar (Apr 12, 2010)

I don't think this chain letter guy read his Bible.

"But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:6)


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