Do I need to “like” everything mentioning God on Facebook?
Question:
I liked a page on Facebook that puts a lot of Christian-related pictures in my news feed. A lot of them say things like: share this if you love God, or like if you love God, etc. I know Matthew 10:33 says "But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven." It's not that I don't like liking them, I "like" plenty of them, but I feel like it's too much. Sometimes I just like them blindly because (I know it may sound weird) but I feel I'll go to hell or something because I feel like not liking them counts as denying Jesus. I am a young teen and was wondering if we have to like and share every single Christian post for the sake of Jesus not denying us when we get to heaven.
Answer:
The "deny" Jesus talks about in Matthew 10:33 has nothing to do with liking Facebook posts or sharing them with other people. It would be similar to believing that saying you believe in Jesus is somehow equal to faith (James 2:17-18). A. T. Robertson notes that the wording here: "This is a solemn law, not a mere social breach, this cleavage by Christ of the man who repudiates him, public and final." Jesus is talking about someone who will not put his life on the line to be a follower of him. "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26).
I find the posts that demand "likes" to be annoying. I don't need to prove who I am by someone else's demands. I am who I am as demonstrated by what I do and what I teach. Passing on catchphrases is certainly not teaching anyone. Nor does it give true glory to God. "If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen" (I Peter 4:11). Notice that you don't really even pay attention to what you like at times. How sincere and real is that?
