Forwards (Pt 2)

Now there’s another forward type that I get that though it is well-meaning, I usually read them half-heartedly. They are the religious-themed forwards. Sure, it’s a great way to spread the message of God’s love and grace, but is it effective? The reason email scams work is because they play on Man’s base instincts. Love, Sex, Money (not necessarily in that order). People are always looking for free things, and email scammers take advantage of that fact. Email is also (relatively) anonymous, so people are free to pursue their most perverse desires. However, very few people think about religion, and probably even less about the state of their souls. It’s a topic similar to politics, where it is liable to bring arguments to unfamiliar people.

One problem I see with these types of forwards is that by their nature, they are too short to properly tell people about the full message of Christ. They have to be short, because people don’t have time to read long emails from everyone on their address book, unless it personally involves them somehow. And even then, there’s no guarantee they will read it. Believe me, I know from experience ;) Even at work, where email is vital to the communication of the company, people frequently put me on their delete list. So when I do send out important information, it automatically gets deleted. Then these same people come over to my cubicle later, mad that they never received any warning about a change in the websites or something. Then I’ll patiently show them the email I sent out, and that’s when they usually mumble an apology. So, to sum up, if you want someone to read your email, keep it short, and funny (if possible). Hmm… I wonder if that applies to blog entries as well? …. Nah!

The second problem is that I naturally don’t trust religious forwards, unless I know the speaker. The Bible is so easily misinterpreted and misunderstood. Why do you think we have all these divisions within the Church? I’m sure it displeases God to know that some of the most bitter rivalries occur within the Church itself. And pretty much all of them arise out of different interpretations of the Bible, and in some cases of just one sentence. So, if it is very easy for groups of people to get things wrong, how much easier will it be for just one person to get it wrong? I think in order for a religious forward to be effective, by necessity, it must focus on the basic tenets of the Christian faith. Thus, it will not offend any particular Christian group. But, because forwards need to be short (see previous paragraph), if they focus on one aspect of Christ, it may seem like that is all there is to know about Christ. For example, let’s say you want to encourage someone who is down. You then write up this cutesy forward, with maybe some cute pictures, and then write down a nice Bible verse about encouragement. This gets passed around, from well-meaning person to well-meaning person. And when non-believers get it, they’ll read it and think that God will always help people and He will never let them down. But guess what? You and I know that isn’t always correct. Bad things do happen to Christians, and being a Christian doesn’t mean your life will always be rosy and pain-free.

So what is the point of these forwards? Is it an easy way to let someone know you care about them without having to actually, y’know, think about it? Wouldn’t a personal letter be more well-meaning to that other person? Are the forwards supposed to offer comfort? If you mass-mail it to hundreds of your closest friends, do you think they will feel that you care about how each one is feeling at this moment? If the religious forward is meant to spread the Word, how many of you mainly just forward it to your other Christian friends? If I ever forwarded these kinds of forwards (which I don’t), then I certainly wouldn’t send them to my non-Christian friends. It’ll probably offend them and they’ll throw it away, and most likely add me to their no-spam list. And then who will I bother?