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February 9th, 2013
10:00 PM ET
My take: A word to Christians - Be nice
By John S. Dickerson, Special to CNN Last week a high-profile American writer and news personality asked me a painful question: “Hey pastor, can a Christian tweet hate?” It was not a hypothetical question. He was asking because some of his 1.3 million Twitter followers claim to be “Christian,” and some of the meanest, most perverse hate-tweets he receives come from these self-proclaimed Christians. We’ve all seen folks, Christian and otherwise, lose their cool in a Facebook face-off or in the comment section under a controversial news story. But as I scrolled through the “Christian” hate tweets to this news personality, I was baffled and ashamed by these so-called followers of Christ. One user describes himself not merely as Christian but as “sharing God’s message of Grace with everyone I encounter.” The messenger of Grace recently tweeted that he doesn’t merely hate this news personality, he despises and loathes him. These are the moments when it’s embarrassing to be a Christian. I’m not embarrassed to believe the extravagant claims of Christianity: that Christ was born to a virgin, died for our sins, physically rose from the grave and is returning to rule the world. But I am embarrassed to be associated with some of the people who claim his name. I have written in the past about the bad reputation that Christians have in America. Some argue that it comes from misrepresentation by the media. Others argue that “all who live godly will suffer persecution,” and that’s why we Christians have a poor reputation. Maybe there’s some truth to those claims, but we Christians have to acknowledge another reason why we are perceived as hateful: because many of our number are. More and more, I see hateful Christians chalking up their disrepute to “persecution.” God tells us otherwise. In 1 Peter 4 we’re told, “If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed. …” And that’s the truth; sometimes we are insulted for proclaiming the good news of salvation in Christ. But listen to what follows: “If you suffer, however, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.” The Apostle Peter is more or less saying: If you suffer for sharing the good news of Christ, great, you’re blessed. But if you suffer just because you’re being a criminal or acting like an idiot, then don’t blame it on Christ. Some 2,000 years ago, Peter knew so-called Christians would be criminals and “meddlers.” He knew some would claim, “Wow, I’m really suffering for Jesus,” when they are really just suffering for being jerks. The word “meddler” means busybody: someone who inserts himself into matters that are not his own. Might this include some people involved in the Twitter, Facebook and “comments” showdowns of our day? So yes, “all who live godly will suffer persecution.” But let’s not be jerks, get persecuted and then blame it on Christ. American Christianity, with its past position of cultural superiority, gave birth to some self-righteous and condescending so-called Christians. These folks may be culturally Christian, but they know little of Christ and his actual message of humility and repentance. I am convinced that, if Jesus Christ were here walking among us, he would have nothing to do with those who claim his name and consistently spew hate. Theologians and academics will argue about that last sentence. Isn’t Jesus “a friend of sinners?” Yes. Doesn’t Jesus’ grace wash away the sins of those who trust in him? Yes. Wouldn’t that include the sin of "hate tweet"? Yes. In seminaries and churches, we tend to engage in obscure questions about theology. For example, “Is it possible for someone to truly trust Christ and spend their entire life tweeting hate?” Maybe so. But Jesus didn’t engage in such esoteric abstractions. He taught simple truth with clarity, authority and practicality. On controversial issues—“Are hate tweeters true Christians?”—I find myself drawn to the simple words of Scripture. Theologians will argue and debate, but God’s word is simple and clear. “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.” (1 John 2:9,11) “With the tongue we praise our Lord and father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.” (James 3:9,10) “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20) Jesus put it this way in Matthew 12:34-36: “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.” If we will give account for every careless word spoken, might we also give account for every careless comment typed or tweeted? Christians aren’t the only ones hurling hateful blows on the Web. But we are the only ones who claim to follow the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. So let’s be nice. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John S. Dickerson. soundoff (10,262 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44Post a comment
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Editor's note: 
Thank you, I've recently been looking for info about this subject for a while and yours is the best I have came upon till now. But, what in regards to the bottom line? Are you certain concerning the supply?
1. Of the 380 extremists indicted for acts of political violence
81 were able to obtain explosives or the components necessary to build a bomb,
Of those, 51 were right-wing extremists, 23 were militants inspired by al Qaeda's ideology, five have been described as anarchists and one was an environmentalist terrorist.
an analysis of the 81 extremists based in the United States who have assembled bomb-making materials or tried to carry out a bombing for political purposes since 9/11 shows they have overwhelmingly been motivated either by al Qaeda-like ideas or right-wing extremist ideology.
PROOF RIGHT IS CRAZIER THAN THE LEFT. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
of the 4,781,095 punks, every one was a god-hating retarded, immoral, abortionist
@(Oh No!) I caught him with a blow to the chest
(Oh No!) My hollow put a hole in his vest
(Oh No!) I'm bout to send two to his dome
(Oh No!) Cry babies go home!
Hey, you want WHAT with me?!
I'm gonna tell you one time,
don't F__K with me!
Get down!
Cause I ain't got nothin' to lose,
and I'm havin a bad day,
don't make me take it out on you!
can't fight the numbers, just check it out and find that you religious right nutters are the ones causing all the problems not use liberal, equal right fighting left.
George Carlin on religion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPOfurmrjxo
asp;dfhna;snfd
God loves us
BS
As the deer pants for the water so my soul longeth after thee. When there is no joy you are my joy my strength my shield, to you alone may my spirit yield you alone are my hearts desire and I long to worship you. Truer words were never spoken. Are you feeling like you have never been loved or had a hard day then run into the arms of the one who loves you. That knows all the ups and downs and longs to be the comfort in your life.
you need dorothy's approval to do anything. if she says hitler was a lovely christian fellow, then he was a lovely christian man. do not dispute her unless you want to suffer the consequences. dorothy is not to be crossed
Thanks for helping to make my point for me, Richard.
Mistakes have been corrected.
Let's move on.
"Jimbo
Because there are so many possible gods, you need to be more specific so we know which one you are talking about."
31, 17, 65, 11,221 and 8
???
slavery or starvation. take your pick
who wrote john, mark, Luke, Matt? 1 and 2 Pete, Hebrews, revelation, Jude, Philemon, James, 1, 2 , 3 john? the boogeyman? they felleth from heaven. no body wrote nothin. did you see anything? not me. that proves it!
them atheists r geniuses.
but we believe mein kampf, baby. now that's proof.
that's ridiculous. i know for a fact that they had food stamps and a nice UC plan. 423 weeks @95% gross wages based on your one day's best earnings, whether you worked or not. Yea, herod pushed that through cause it was a campaign promise.
and get this, them fundies honestly believe we landed on the moon!! hardy har man. believe it? you say prove it and they say look at them pictures man. yea, like they don't know how to photo shop pictures!
You said what faith...................profound................how many pages. are missing................faith
Christians Be Nice CNN.............google it.....
About 75,100,000 results (0.25 seconds)
May 16, 2013 at 12:27 pm | Report abuse |
Numbers work........................light
When Christians become a 'hated minority'...........google it.
About 6,900,000 results (0.22 seconds
When Christians become a 'hated minority' facebook
About 4,320,000 results (0.21 seconds
May 16, 2013 at 10:58 am | Report abuse |
Ghandi was a super-calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.
God is great!! He is an all powerful all knowing God. He knew you before you were born. You owe everything to him.
Because there are so many possible gods, you need to be more specific so we know which one you are talking about.
I love Anvil head
biggles chad too ...................the bells are in your head banging away !!!
Science
faith ...............the peach...................any words of wisom know ?
i think little fatty sambo urging xtards to commit violent suicide is wonderful. i particularly enjoy the way not one god-hating Nazi fascist has ever posted any criticism of their beloved Nazi for her disgusting posts and sick mind.
i also find myself warmly amused when dodo plays the role of ms integrity and chastens reborn xtards for being mean. that is beyond hilarious.
May 18, 2013 at 2:55 am | Report abuse | Reply
Science
Science
In Santa we trust
You know faith...............Christians be Nice.............does se-x education work for you faith ?
With the RCC goes the oldest of old the damn bedVROOOOOOOM..............they need to stay the FVCK OUT OF IT !
You know with is partner...............the red thing
May 16, 2013 at 6:38 am | Report abuse | Reply
May 18, 2013 at 6:15 am | Report abuse | Reply
Science
You know faith about all the pages that went bye bye......................becuase of the
SE-X EDUCATION quetions...............does it work for mom and dad !..........on the Christians BE nice artcle faith?
May 18, 2013 at 6:33 am | Report abuse |
Science
END TIMES AYE CHAD !................chad has so many webs ?
8, 2013 — An international team of physicists has found the first direct evidence of pear shaped nuclei in exotic atoms
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130508172151.htm
Plus new woodland lizard found in Peru !
May 12, 2013 at 12:21 pm | Report abuse |
May 17, 2013 at 3:00 pm | Report abuse |
May 18, 2013 at 7:09 am | Report abuse |
Science
Education works for children.................Do you have any faith/chad ..................morals ?
Where do morals come from?.............the answer is not the bible read and find out !
By Kelly Murray, CNN
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/04/12/where-do-morals-come-from/#comments
Gravity is not up for debate ! ............E = mc2..........(U–Pb).................two math formulas..........that do not lie !
May 18, 2013 at 7:20 am | Report abuse |
Oops ...................NOW !
The planet is waiting faith / chad ?
Wow! They're down to February posts now? A month and a half of posts gone? What the heck? And in reading the posts, lol?? is completely gone from February? What is going ON? This isn't right. Stop the quashing of people's speech.
Posting here doesn't do much good.
Contact Belief Blog Editor – eric.marrapodi@cnn.com
Eric is a waste along with how this blog is set up its not for information or rational debate. Eric thrives on controversy and that is how the blog is structured. His writings along with all those he gets to post here are all the same ideals. He is not into teaching and is actually against true Christianity. I doubt CNN would post anything in favor of Christianity just like most of the controlled media these days. I am glad I found out about him and all those who write articles here put them in your names to boycot because these are the true deceivers. The atheists here are just doing what was allowed and what is in their nature. But the ones that cause real destruction are the ones like Eric Marropdi. Can you imagine the stupidity of the writer of this article how stupid he is to lent his name to this kind of opening? He ia a pastor of a church also I cant imagine what they teach there it may be a case of the blind leading the blind.
So the opinions of other christians are not welcome to you? Why is it that christians can't agree on their own religion? How in the world can you expect to convert others if you can't even agree upon what you are supposed to be converting them to?
Pretty presumptuous considering you have no idea of what a Christian is, why don't you refrain from judging and commenting till you actually learn. You seem to criticize that in others why don't you take your own advice
Endmass, you don't get to decide who is a christian and who is not. There are thousands of versions of christianity and each one of them believes itself to be right. Tens if not hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in disputes over which brand of christianity is real, because people like you are unwilling to accept other interpretations of the same book.
You have violated every thing you say you stand for in judging what I am saying and not being a Christian and not knowing what really makes a Christian. You speak out vehemently on this even in this last post yet you have not a clue, sorry, how sad. Why don't you practice what you preach?
Wrong again, endmass. I am exactly practicing what I preach. I believe we are all free to believe as we chose to believe. I have chosen to look at the facts available and to conclude that there is no god.
You are trying to say that yours is the only correct version of a religion that has thousands of versions. Unless you can provide indisputable evidence that yours is the only true version, your claims are hollow and arrogant. As I very correctly pointed out, many thousands have died because of hollow and arrogant claims about who god likes better. And the sad thing is, not one of you can prove your god exists, so claiming that your way is right and all others are wrong is rather like fighting over who would win a fight between Batman and Superman.
Out of the mouth of babes, I was lost but now I'm found, how sweet the words of the Lord are to those who know His grace and peace. Thank You Lord that you never left me nor forsake me even when I didn't know you.
And one for you Austin and chad fred l4h loomy biggles faith doogie topher and all creationists thiests Chad.
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/05/05/when-christians-become-a-hated-minority/
Science
Hey Sara.................what can't they understand ?
Hey Bobie and As-stin Chad/rachel l4h fred Robert Brown loony bethany kev bx fred topher etc etc All creationists and ID believers ........................
Was the bible around back then .................bible thumpers ?
Human Y Chromosome Much Older Than Previously Thought
Mar. 4, 2013 — The discovery and analysis of an extremely rare African American Y chromosome pushes back the time of the most recent common ancestor for the Y chromosome lineage tree to 338,000 years ago. This time predates the age of the oldest known anatomically modern human fossils.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130305145821.htm
No god(s) needed or required to graduate from public schools in the US
Remember : Adam had to POKE himself hard with his OWN BONE to create Eve.
Peace
March 11, 2013 at 7:06 am | Report abuse |
May 15, 2013 at 7:24 am | Report abuse |
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/05/05/when-christians-beco
Messed-Up Bible Stories – 2 – Adam and Eve
Evolving Genes Lead to Evolving Genes: Selection in European Populations of Genes Regulated by FOXP2
Apr. 18, 2013 — Researchers have designed a method that can universally test for evolutionary adaption, or positive (Darwinian) selection, in any chosen set of genes, using re-sequencing data such as that generated by the 1000 Genomes Project. The method identifies gene sets that show evidence for positive selection in comparison with matched controls, and thus highlights genes for further functional studies.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130418124905.htm
Peace
BedVrooooom.............and the red devil................not funny !
May 15, 2013 at 10:54 am | Report abuse |
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/05/05/when-christians-become-a-hated-minority/