Church Life: The Controversial Meme I Put Out

About three years ago, I made a meme (pronounced like meem) that was based upon a T-Shirt I got from the Voice of the Martyrs. The shirt from VOM had something on it that said, "This Shirt is illegal in 52 countries". They also had hoodies and Bible covers with the same saying. I thought it would be thought provoking to make a picture (before I even knew what the word 'meme' was) related to this, so I made a picture with a Bible and a lamp, with the words around it saying, "If The Bible Is Just A Book Of Fairy Tales, Then Why Is It Banned In 52 Countries? No One Goes To Jail For Reading Aesop's Fables, The Odyssey or the Iliad."

Well, when I first posted it, three years ago, there were many, many shares. I had well over 1,000 people share my 'meme'. I didn't have anyone comment on mine though, but I could read the comments on those who shared the meme.

It was quite interesting to read. Many were offended by the picture. I saw family arguments from those who posted it. I lost at least one Facebook friend over it. Some people pointed out the there are other books banned in other countries as well as in America, and so they discredited the meme.

The sharing of the pic stopped, at least for the next couple of years. I was well pleased at how it was shared. But, someone reposted the meme last week and I have gotten several interesting comments on the picture.

Some of the commenters were people who were agreeing with the message on it. But again, there were the critics and the skeptics. People were critical because they claimed that the information was not accurate. Some said that 52 was a stretch. Others didn't believe that the Bible was banned in other countries, or maybe just a few. Some commented blasphemous things. What else could I have expected? This was totally unplanned by me. I just don't have that kind of time to respond to people who want to make a opposing point.

Some of the good things that came out of this experience were; I learned and practiced once more, how to be kind to nasty people. The picture was shared over 8,000 times. It really was a dividing point between those who truly understand the Gospel and those who try to discredit the Gospel. God gave me good answers to give to those who were critical, and it helped to soothe the 'beast' so to speak. I even got a few friend requests this week.

Some of the people were critical of the number, so, I decided to contact the Voice of the Martyrs to see what the actual number was. Three years ago, it may have been 52. Today, the actual number of countries which ban the Bible is around 40. There are 63 countries where persecution against Christians is taking place.

It is interesting to note how people even get upset over the number of countries which are persecuting Christians. Why get so upset over this? Why try to find some kind of error or fault with this? I think it is because the fact that Christians are being persecuted in places around the world shows that there is something valid in Christianity. If Christianity is truly from God, and if Christians are holding onto their faith even through death, that is a death blow to the idolatry of America that we so gladly hold tightly onto. We are not willing to give up our idols. It is hard to not be an idolator.

So, I made a new, updated meme, similar to the first one. I changed the words that said, 'in 52 countries' to 'in many countries'. Of course, there will be those who will try to find discrepancies in that meme too. No one likes to hear or read truth when they love their sin.

We will see how far this goes, and how many arguments we get. I will allow people to ask questions and express their opinions. However, I will delete the comments that are blasphemous. Feel free to download the memes here if you want. If you do post the one on the 52 countries, you will probably want to add a note saying that this was the statistic in 2012. The other one should be ok.