Those Troubling "Jesus Emails"

I ran across someone else who gets frustrated with the endless stream of well-meaning, but often misguided "Jesus emails" that come into our email boxes almost every day. As a general rule, I usually read them and delete them. Sometimes I don't even read them before I delete them.

Shocked? I'll bet I'm not the only one who does this.

Keith Plummer at The Christian Mind has written a well-thought-out treatise on this topic. Here's a sampling of what he had to say:

"Messages like this appeal to our fear of the opinions of others in order to get us to act a certain way. If this weren’t the case, it wouldn’t be necessary to include the person who forwarded the e-mail to you among those to whom you forward the message. According to the Bible, the fear of man brings a snare (Prov. 29:25). Who among us hasn’t felt imprisoned by our own craving for the acceptance and praise of others? While it may be of proven effectiveness to make people act in various ways, the fear of man can never produce the fear of the Lord that should be every Christian’s strongest motivation for obedience."

Keith goes on to talk about how these emails often bypass our minds altogether and appeal strictly to our emotions. Many times, the message is not even Biblically accurate such as the example he gives in his article. Does the sending party ask to be included in your forwarding list? Is there some kind of promised blessing for following the sender's instructions? Keith offers some good questions that we might consider asking ourselves prior to automatically hitting the forward button on our email program:

"Is this message appealing more to sentimentality than biblically sound instruction? Is it trying to target my emotions by bypassing my mind? Is it relying on man-centered shame or emotional blackmail as motivation to what may be a good thing? Is the presentation of God’s nature and character true to what He has revealed of Himself in the pages of Scripture?"

Keith has given us some food for thought. If you can spare a minute or two, take the time to read his thoughtful article. And don't feel guilty next time you delete one of those "Jesus emails."
http://christianmind.blogspot.com/2005/04/forward-if-you-love-jesus.html