Hi there,
I found myself asking this question the other day when I was listening to a YouTube video from someone who is skeptical about faith healing presentations. It got me thinking...
* If Jesus had come during this time period, how do you think He would have felt about people filming the miracles He performed on their phones, and then uploading the videos to social media?
* Would He have wanted it to reach as many viewers as possible, or would He have somehow wanted to keep the events kept private? (And how on earth would that be achieved today?)
Please note that this thread is not meant to be a debate about whether or not faith healings exist today, but rather, how Jesus would have reacted to His work being put on social media. It's purely a rhetorical question meant for critical thinking and probably not really something we can answer either way in this lifetime. But I thought the discussion about it would be interesting.
The reason I was thinking about this is because I went to Lutheran schools from kindergarten to 12th grade. During that time, there seemed to be a great emphasis on discerning those who were false prophets and/or had the spirit of the anti-Christ because many then believedthat we were in the last days of the earth's existence.
One of the things I remember one of our pastors pointing out during our classes was that sometimes Jesus wanted news of His miraculous works to be known. For example, after commanding a legion of demons to leave a man (and they subsequently entered a herd of pigs that drowned themselves,) Jesus then told him, "Go back home and tell everyone how much God has done for you." (Luke 8:39.)
In contrast to this, when Jesus brought Jairus's daughter back from the dead, "He commanded them strictly that no one should know it." (Mark 5:43.)
The pastor had told us to beware of anyone was was preaching and performing works in Jesus's name for the sake of drawing attention to themselves.
I often wonder what God thinks of, and how He would utilize - or avoid - social media today.
To summarize the idea behind this thread:
If Jesus were here today and was performing miracles in front of the people, do you think He would want bystanders to record the process and upload the footage to the internet?
Why or why not?
I found myself asking this question the other day when I was listening to a YouTube video from someone who is skeptical about faith healing presentations. It got me thinking...
* If Jesus had come during this time period, how do you think He would have felt about people filming the miracles He performed on their phones, and then uploading the videos to social media?
* Would He have wanted it to reach as many viewers as possible, or would He have somehow wanted to keep the events kept private? (And how on earth would that be achieved today?)
Please note that this thread is not meant to be a debate about whether or not faith healings exist today, but rather, how Jesus would have reacted to His work being put on social media. It's purely a rhetorical question meant for critical thinking and probably not really something we can answer either way in this lifetime. But I thought the discussion about it would be interesting.
The reason I was thinking about this is because I went to Lutheran schools from kindergarten to 12th grade. During that time, there seemed to be a great emphasis on discerning those who were false prophets and/or had the spirit of the anti-Christ because many then believedthat we were in the last days of the earth's existence.
One of the things I remember one of our pastors pointing out during our classes was that sometimes Jesus wanted news of His miraculous works to be known. For example, after commanding a legion of demons to leave a man (and they subsequently entered a herd of pigs that drowned themselves,) Jesus then told him, "Go back home and tell everyone how much God has done for you." (Luke 8:39.)
In contrast to this, when Jesus brought Jairus's daughter back from the dead, "He commanded them strictly that no one should know it." (Mark 5:43.)
The pastor had told us to beware of anyone was was preaching and performing works in Jesus's name for the sake of drawing attention to themselves.
I often wonder what God thinks of, and how He would utilize - or avoid - social media today.
To summarize the idea behind this thread:
If Jesus were here today and was performing miracles in front of the people, do you think He would want bystanders to record the process and upload the footage to the internet?
Why or why not?
