Clarity (Not John Mayer's Song)

Last night I posted the following comment to my Twitter account in two subsequent tweets:

"Ok. Sick of reading all these posts. Especially from Christ followers. Steve Jobs did less for eternity than MANY others...(continued) Steve Jobs did far less for America than MANY soldiers. I love my Apple stuff, but come on...let's stop idolizing his death."

The comments brought a firestorm of retweets, responses, and comments to both my Twitter and Facebook accounts. Instead of replying to each individual thread, I am responding in this one blog post to try to clarify my comments.

First of all, I sit here writing this reply on a MacBook Pro that I love. The tweet I sent came from an iPhone 4 that I could not wait to buy when my wireless carrier finally started offering it. Sitting on the table next to me is my iPod nano that I also love. (“Why use the iPod if you have the iPhone?” you might ask. Because I’m weird like that.) One particular tweet I read stated, “It is fitting that a great many of us would learn of His [Steve Jobs] death on the very devices he put in our hands.” How true. Steve Jobs without a doubt influenced the way I function day to day. In my opinion, Apple products are light years ahead of other technologies when it comes to user friendliness. Steve Jobs certainly played a major role in that. I am unbelievably grateful for Steve Jobs, his company, and the products they have allowed me to enjoy. My comments of what Jobs did far less of by no means were trying to belittle what he DID do.

True, many people were not posting about it over and over and over again. Most posts were a single line acknowledging his death. My comment was simply stating my displeasure of perpetual posts hoping Jobs could rest in peace. Honestly, I did not know about Jobs’ religious views until last night. It wasn’t until after I became aware that he was a professing Buddhist that I became frustrated with professing Christians hoping Jobs could rest in peace. That is why I used the words, “Especially from Christ followers.” It was as if Christians were suggesting some sort of “escape clause” to the whole wages of sin because what he contributed to the world. The fact is, unless Jobs professed Jesus Christ to be Lord (which by professing Buddhism he certainly did not seem to do) he is not resting in peace. The fact that Christians could or would suggest otherwise befuddled me.

I’d also like to say that I was not suggesting that social networking sites become the marquee for honoring fallen soldiers or martyrs. Comments like, “Repost this if you’re thankful for all the soldiers who gave their lives for you,” or, “Like this status if you’re sad about Christians being persecuted around the world,” frustrate me equally as much. Again, it’s not because I’m not thankful and not because I don’t grieve. These comments sometimes frustrate me because of their seeming insincerity or flippancy. True, Jobs did more than some. But it’s also true that he did less than others.

There were other comments and replies calling my theology into question and calling out the hypocrisy many Christians. I could write a dissertation in dialogue and response to those comments. However, I do not want to debate theology. I want to give clarity to the fact I by no means insinuated disrespect to the dead or their family and friends. I hope I’ve made that clear.

Thanks for all the lively comments. Such honest debates and discussions are healthy when done in the spirit of iron sharpening iron.

-Patrick

P.S. - I think I'll take a break from Twitter for a while ;)