Dear Family, Friends and Email Acquaintances,

Please do not send me anymore religious emails that threaten my health, longevity or prosperity. Or even the benign ones with the positive stories that promise good luck the next day or a call from a friend I have not heard from in decades, if I forward them to 20 people.

 Is this the kind of coercion or cajoling we are called to do to further the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ? Correct me if I am wrong, but I don’t think so. And I stop believing in luck –good or bad– a long time ago.

Sure it may be harder to get people to forward an email that promotes Christian beliefs than one that tells racy jokes, celebrity gossip or other stupid stuff. But do you really think that inferring that death, mayhem or harm may befall  me if I don’t forward an email will inspire me to send it to 10 of my friends? Do I want to saddle them with potential guilt or have them blithely sending it on for fear of breaking the chain and suffering the consequences?

 Over the years, I have received my share of chain emails, and I usually scan them before either deleting them or letting them sit in my inbox. I have passed along ones that I thought were particularly inspiring and would erase any with offensive addendum. Just last week, I forwarded a video that had been sent to me on Facebook. The story  told in the video about a college student who stood up to his atheist professor was one that I had read before in an email, and in the moment, I felt it was worth sharing with others in my Facebook group. While the push to spread the witness following the story was a bit long for me, it was not off-putting.  A couple of people who received it said they appreciated the reminder about standing up for what you believe.   

But, the one that showed up in my inbox days ago with the picture of  Jesus posted here just got the best of me. The subject line said ”FW: Look at this picture closely, don’t delete.”

 And under the picture it said:

The President of Argentina received this picture and called it ‘junk mail’, 8 days later his son died.

A man received this picture & immediately sent out copies..his surprise was winning the lottery.

Alberto Martinez received this picture, gave it to his secretary to make copies but they forgot to distribute: She lost her job & he lost his family.

This picture is miraculous & sacred. Forward to 10 people.

(The friend who sent it says she does not believe that such things would happen and that she just wanted to share the picture that captivated her.) 

Okay.

I am not giving the details of this  particular email because I want to spread it and avoid uncertain danger,  or embarrass or offend anyone. I am using it because it allows me to share a conclusion I reached sometime ago in my own faith walk:  How we represent our faith matters, even in the kinds of emails we send.

Sincerely,

Yvonne 

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