With much love, I submit a pet peeve

Matthew 10:33: [Jesus speaking] "But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven."

An excellent synonym for the word ‘deny’ in Matthew 10:33 would be ‘reject.’

Definition of DENY

1: to declare untrue <deny an allegation>

2: to refuse to admit or acknowledge : disavow <deny responsibility>

3a : to give a negative answer to <denying the petitioners> b : to refuse to grant <deny a request> c : to restrain (oneself) from gratification of desires

4archaic : decline

5: to refuse to accept the existence, truth, or validity of

If I don't repost the following, I really don't consider that denying Jesus....

"Why is it hard for some to pray? But so easy to cuss? Why is it so hard to repost Godly bulletins, but easy to repost the gossip? Why can people worship a celebrity, but not Jesus Christ? Gonna ignore this? Afraid to get laughed at? Most of you won't repost this....The Lord said if you deny me in front of friends, I will deny you in front of my father!! I posted it....will you?"

I believe Matthew 10:33 means that if I declare to the world (or others) that I do not believe in Jesus Christ or that I refuse to accept His existence or that I don’t believe He is true or valid, then the Father has no choice but to deny me.  The choice is mine.  By denying Jesus Christ, I would be rejecting the gift of salvation that Jesus and the Father have provided for me, I would be calling God a liar.

If I find it hard to pray… I have not denied Christ.

If I cuss… I have not denied Christ.

If I don’t repost “Godly” bulletins… I have not denied Christ.  (Someone please explain to my how the above bulletin can be described as “Godly.”)

If I gossip… I have not denied Christ.

I could break down the repost sentence by sentence to show that the theology it claims is flawed, but I won’t.  I will just say that choosing not to repost doesn’t prove that I have denied Jesus or that I don’t believe in Him.  Reposting it also does not prove that I have accepted Him.

And that is why I rarely repost something that ends with “I posted it (for obvious reasons, right? [sarcasm])… will you?