If You Love Jesus, You'll Share This...
A clickbait meme deserves a clickbait title. In the spirit of the meme go ahead and give this article a share just to prove your holiness (kidding). This meme (pictured here) is the next iteration of MemeBusters. If you’re not sure what MemeBusters is, it is a blog series I created inspired by bad Christian memes. The idea is based on the show MythBusters where they proved wrong or right different myths from TV and movies. We’ll similarly evaluate Christian memes to see if they stand up to the Bible.
Overview
The point of this meme is to manipulate the reader into sharing their post. This is beneficial to the poster because it increases their post engagement allowing them to gain a larger following by preying on people’s faith. If you see a meme like this, know that Jesus did not prompt them to share this. If you want biblical evidence, check out Ephesians 2:8-9 (CSB) which reads “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— not from works, so that no one can boast.” Being a Christian is based on nothing more and nothing less than than believing that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ — God in human flesh — is sufficient for salvation. On top of this, the evidence of being a Christian is described in the Fruit of the Spirit passage in Galatians 5:22-23 (CSB) which reads, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.” There is no part of that verse which says “The fruit of the spirit is sharing every Christian-like meme.” God would absolutely not prompt someone to share a meme that promotes lies about salvation.
Satan
Let’s look at the characters portrayed in this meme. On the left we have Satan. He looks like he could compete in strong man competitions and has spent too much time in the sun. His face seems menacing and confident. He also has little horns. He says, “My people will not share and listen to you.” Look at the major components of this claim. Who is he talking about? He is talking about “his people" referring to those who do not follow Jesus. This could imply that all non-Christians are Satan worshippers. What will his people do? The answer to this is twofold. His people will, first, not share. We are beginning to get a taste of what these supposed Satan followers are like. Second, “his people” will not listen to Jesus.
Jesus
Let’s move onto Jesus. His face is serious and determined. He is a white man in a white robe with long brown hair and a short beard. Frankly, this resembles my Scotch-Irish husband more than it does the actual Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus was Middle Eastern and would look more like a modern Middle Eastern man than a European man. If you want to learn more about how Jesus probably looked and dressed, check out this BBC article. (It’s an interesting read to see how different Jesus likely looked and dressed than how He’s typically portrayed even outside this meme.) Jesus says, “My people will type amen and share.” We have the “other” group of people now who are Christ followers. We also see two attributes of what these people will do. First, they will share the post likely to prove their loyalty to Jesus. Then they will type amen to, I assume, show their agreement to the claims presented in this post.
Claims
Let’s take a look at these claims again:
Satan is buff and dark. This means he’s scary. Also, he apparently has goat horns which is not supported at all in scripture.
Jesus is white and glowing. This means he’s holy.
Satan and Jesus are arm wrestling. This means Jesus and Satan are actively battling for Facebook shares (or maybe for the soul of the reader).
Satan’s followers are those who don’t share the post and don’t listen to Jesus. Note that a follower of Satan must do both of these things. So, if you don’t share the post, but you do listen to Jesus then you might not be Satan’s follower after all.
Jesus’s followers are those who share the post and type amen. If you don’t do both, you’re not a real Jesus follower.
Theology
The theology of this post says that the evidence of your salvation is based upon sharing or not sharing a meme. This is ludicrous. Your salvation is based on the literal blood of Jesus and on the continued work of the Holy Spirit. This post also divides people into Satan followers and Jesus followers. This is also ludicrous. I am not affirming that all religions lead to God. Only Christianity holds the key to a relationship with God. However, it is ignorant at best and insulting at worst to claim that all non-Christians are Satan followers. People of other religions have a variety of reason for holding to whatever faith they are part of. Our job is to form relationships with them, tell them about the good news of Jesus, and let God do the saving. Our job is not to call them Satan followers as this meme highly suggests.
Lies & Manipulation
This meme offers a clear way for Christians to express their faith in Jesus Christ. The problem is this way is unfounded by scripture. Anything that says you have to share something in particular to prove your loyalty to something is a lie and that is true of this meme as well. What’s worse, this meme is manipulative. As previously mentioned, the original poster is using it to gain a larger internet following. Put more directly, if you share this meme, they are taking advantage of you. I respect your desire to express your love for Christ, but I hope you will choose to avoid doing so by sharing these kinds of memes in the future. You are just as much a follower of Jesus if you don’t share the meme. Again, your salvation is based on the blood of Jesus — nothing less.
Suggestion
If you want to share about your faith on the internet, you could share apologetics blogs and podcasts, share about what your church is doing, share the most recent sermon from your pastor, or share a Bible verse. Those are some excellent ways to share about your faith with your friends on social media.
Conclusion
Busted. This meme is full of lies and false depictions. It is used to manipulate Christians rather than edify or educate them. Reject it. Don’t share it.