I censored myself today
A friend of mine today posted “Got Christ?” as his Facebook status update. I immediately replied “Not yet, but we have men on the ground in Pakistan combing the countryside for him.” Shortly thereafter, I went in and deleted it.
Why? I decided that comparing Jesus to the world’s most notorious terrorist, no matter how hilarious, could be construed as offensive. Not to Christians at large, an issue I really don’t concern myself with overly–whatever you do, someone somewhere can find a way to take offense about it–but more directly to my friend. And the guy didn’t ASK for me to come in and snark all over his wall post. Although if you’re going to friend me on Facebook, it’s implicit in the contract.
On the flip side, I didn’t ask for any Christ in my Facebook stream either, although I really ought to expect it by now.
Bottom line, I had a chance to be a jerk to a friend of mine because we have differing beliefs, or to avoid saying something I thought was really funny. Ultimately I opted not to be a jerk, and I’m OK with that decision.
I just hope it doesn’t mean I’m becoming an accommodationist.
Tim, I appreciate your sensitivity to your friend. After your “Doesn’t playing GTA make all the pictures of Jesus fall off of your walls?” comment you made to me at lunch several years back, I think it’s a definite sign of growing empathy.
That said, I also appreciate that you posted it here, as I found both the GTA comment and this one pretty hilarious.
Haven’t seen you for too long. I need to plan another game night.