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Dear Friends, Please Stop | A Short Plea



Dear Friends,

First, let me say how thankful I am for each of you. I honestly mean that. It is true that the title "Facebook Friend" doesn't inherently carry much...shall we say, weight? But as a guy who has burned his fair share of bridges and who appreciates the opportunity to share a little light when given the chance, I am grateful for our friendships, whatever depth and weight they may have.
With the niceties out of the way, I must get to the point of this post. If you've never been here before, I utilize this digital notepad as a means to clear my head, share my heart, and record thoughts and memories for my family. I have no delusions of grandeur or of even mediocrity about my writings and give very little concern to the number of clicks and views given to each post. Most posts are simply for my own benefit.

But today, I am writing to you, my friends. 

My goal is to keep this post short, at least shorter than usual, or at best, short for me. I hope that you read this post. I hope that you read my words and hear my heart. This blog post started as a simple status update late last night after I received a private message. But as I'm sure you can already tell, it was a bit too much for that tiny status update window. So this is my answer to the question: "What's on your mind, Tracy?" that I tried to answer last night.

Dear Friends,

I am thankful that you reached out to me but I am not opening your message. I am not going to click on that link before it is taken down. I am not shocked over censorship of any kind. The censorship may be real, like the kind that we all agree to when we sign up as users on these social media platforms and gave permission to the site hosts to allow or ban whatever they choose. In all likelihood, it is probably imagined or made up for the sake of fearmongering, hatemongering, political-warfare, or some other nonsense created by bored, faceless trolls seeking to fuel the fires of chaos and division. 

I know that you sent it to me because you want me to see what "THEY" don't want us to see and it's up to us to get the truth out there. Charles Spurgeon said, "A lie will travel around the world while truth is pulling its boots on." He said that in 1885. Imagine how fast lies can travel today in our digital world! I know that none of my friends would intentionally spread lies. But any time an article, video, link, or even a blog like this is shared with the information stated as facts with no due diligence, evidence, or even a simple secondary search completed for the purpose of fact-checking the information, we are contributing to the chaos.

I'm sorry, friend.  I am not going to read that article, forward that message, watch that video, or let all my friends know about the true evils of the Right or the Left. I'm not going to copy and paste a link to the "truth" about the pandemic or the real agenda of a particular political party. I don't want to play the game. I don't want to contribute to the chaos, the fear, the hate, or the division. It will be plenty strong enough without my share or forward. You don't need me. I have to be honest, I'm not sure what I have said or what I have posted that gave the impression that I was down to clown in this circus?

I guess because I am a White, Evangelical, Christian, Baptist, and Bearded that I fit a certain profile. But check my actual profile. Check my timeline. There's the occasional silliness, pictures of family, ministry updates, theological posts, and the things that I'm tagged in. You won't find any political rantings, endorsements, opinions, or my take on epidemiology. To be clear, I have opinions, personal endorsements, and views on things like the pandemic, the government, and the other issues swarming our culture. But I don't want to play the game here. Social Media won't be my platform.  The fact is, if you knew where I stood on most of these issues, you would have probably unfriended me by now.

Dear Friends,

Please stop. Stop sending me this stuff. I don't want it. Last night I received a message that seemed innocent enough. The message was a link to a video. The video was a parody song, which I would normally enjoy, but this was no Weird Al. It was political paranoia, xenophobic ramblings, and racist overtones to the beat of pop-culture. In short, it was the kind of stuff I get all the time. I don't want it.

I know that most of you will never see this. Even if you happen to see it, and you are one of the friends who has sent me the sort of things I've mentioned here, I can't stop you from continuing your campaigns. But I can control myself and my engagement with you; my Friends. 

If our friendship is limited to our engagement in the scroll of a timeline, I've determined that by the Holy Spirit's help, I want to engage you with a Philippians 4:8 filter: "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about (post about) these things."  In the end, what I have to say and what I "think" about all of these other things, is irrelevant.  The only hope for our world will not be found in a political system or the efforts of keyboard jockeys and trolls.  There are no sides to choose and there is no winner in the madness around us.  There is only the authority of God's Word and the hope of the Gospel of Christ.

Dear friend, please stop.


Sincerely,
TT

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