I recently saw an ad on my Facebook wall that made me just a little frustrated. I’ll get to that in a second, first some background.
According to persecution.org, there is a wide range of persecution in the world:
In some instances, that suffering can be as horrifying as the execution of Christians for their faith. In others, that suffering can be the loss of a job for representing Christ in the workplace. Both are forms of persecution that exist in the modern, and both must be addressed.
In that same article, they listed 7 countries where Christians suffer the most.
America is not on that list.
Yet, for some reason, many Christians today feel persecuted in America. In fact, some will even argue that this article is a form of “persecution” against American Christians. (In a world where Christians are killed for their faith, I don’t pay much attention to claims that a blog post by a no-name pastor is actual persecution against the church.)
So here’s the ad that frustrated me:
When I saw this Facebook ad, I clicked on it to see whether it would be about actual persecution happening in the world, or whether it was just feeding into the American persecution complex.
You don’t have to watch very much of the trailer to see which of the two categories this film fits into: http://youtu.be/z4FslottUKo
Is this really the movie EVERY Christian must see? Or just every American Christian?
In America we spend millions of dollars on entertainment, (and rake in even more) from movies about the so-called persecution of religious freedom in America.
Yet, here is a list of the top 50 countries who suffer from religious persecution:
(Learn more here: http://www.worldwatchlist.us/world-watch-list-countries/)
At just a glance, you can see how a movie about “American Christian persecution” is a mockery of the larger Christian community that’s suffering.
We’re suffering so badly that we spend millions of dollars to make and watch a movie about just how bad it is, while others are just killed, tortured, or forced to relocate. If they had it as bad as us, they’d be making movies too. (Sorry for the sarcasm).
If we are going to make a movie about Christian persecution, let’s tell the stories of those who are faithfully serving God in places like Eritrea, Iraq, Nigeria, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and Sudan, instead of raking in money off of the American persecution complex.
Why not tell their story? Why not lift their countries up in prayer? Why don’t you hear people say “Oh with the state of affairs in Eritrea today, we should really pray for their country and their leaders”?
How many of you even knew Eritrea was a country? Let alone that it was one of the top 7 worst countries for Christians? Can you find it on the map, without the help of Google? (I’ll be honest, I wasn’t able to.)
So stop your whining. Instead, learn more about actual persecution in the world by going to one of these websites:
And remember:
If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it (1 Corinthians 12:26).
Joe Graves 