I’ve been slow to pick up on this post, which apparently took the Internet by storm last year, but having just read it, and finding it so in tune with the way I believe God views us and our choices, I felt compelled to ‘reblog’…
http://theartinlife.wordpress.com/2013/07/22/my-husband-is-not-my-soul-mate/
I don’t read Donald Miller’s blog often enough. When I do, I’m usually nodding in agreement all the way through, as I was with this post. A warning though: if you’re thinking of watching M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village any time soon, you should probably avoid reading this until afterwards!
http://storylineblog.com/2014/03/24/how-controlling-people-use-fear-to-manipulate/
This is the most impulsive post I’ve yet written. It usually takes me days, weeks or months to put my thoughts in order and feel comfortable releasing them to the world. This post is in response to a video I didn’t see on Facebook just a few minutes ago. The nature of its description – about Muslims beheading a Christian, and the still image of a knife at a throat – raised such strong emotions in me that I had to fight to control myself. I avoided the mistake I would have made in my earlier days, of posting a public ‘chastisement.’ Instead I sent a private message. But I am repeating the text of that message below as a plea to anyone who reads this blog, and who is ever in a position to share similar material in the future…
Please remove the beheading video from your wall. I haven’t watched it, the still image is more than enough for me to take.
Consider this question: would you post a video of a priest committing an act of paedophilia? No, and for exactly the same reasons you should not be posting this.
It is a sad fact that evil acts have been committed by people of all religions and of no religion, and in the name of various gods and different causes. Distributing material like this does nothing to promote peace, it can only feed hatred.
This is to say nothing of the trauma that this imagery could cause to young people who come across it. I can still picture gruesome images from a video I saw on Facebook a few years ago and it sickens me. That was nothing to do with religion, just a stupid prank going wrong, but it was horrible, and I can’t imagine would it would have done to me had I seen it in my teens or earlier.
I’m not saying this video should never be seen, but there is a time and place, in a rounded discussion with consenting and prepared adults – not on a social media site.
Speak out against evil of course, but with considered words, not graphic videos.
Consider this question: why did the perpetrators film this event and then release it? By helping to spread it you are helping them to achieve their aim – whether it is glorifying themselves and their ‘faith’, further publicising and deepening the humiliation and degradation of their victim, or instilling fear into anyone who doesn’t share their beliefs.
Please, in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, delete it.
God bless you.
A powerful message from Frank Viola…
A Christian Journey 