Well, next time you get email junkmail, have a look at what they're
selling!
Let's see.... Increased sales. More profits! More sex! Excitement!
How to attract people! Spectacular vacations! Money! Fast
Money! Power! Prestige! How to control others and get what you want
out of them! Here's something you just can't live without, and boy is
it cheap and easy to get! Yes, and pictures of not-so-clothed
celebrities/kids/whatever!
Notice how they sell it, too: Screaming in ALL CAPS -- "Look at ME!!
ME!! ME!!" And note the lies: supposedly YOU contacted them first
(yeah, right; if it says "this was not unsolicited" you know it was!),
you entered some contest on their site (sure), or they "saw your web
page" (never mind that you might get five identical copies of this
email). Hmmm, attention-seeking combined with lies and deception!
Some go so far as to not only tell you that you signed up for the
spam, but to threaten you if you take action!
Sound familiar yet? Really, overtly, almost frighteningly so?
This is the very same warning most of us have heard about the workings
of ... well, "evil"!
You see why internet junkmail just makes me laugh sometimes... it is
so amazingly obvious where the inspiration for this stuff comes from.
It would be even funnier if it didn't hurt innocent and naive people,
and if it didn't so horribly abuse the amazing communication medium
that is the Internet. I mean, what a waste of energy and
potential.... And yes, I'm sick of getting a dozen or more of these
every day!
(Link to JunkBusters -- fight
back!, spam cop and Abuse.net, plus the
US Postal Inspection Service. Also, you can report online child exploitation
here; and report
possible online obscenity crimes here. And When Spam Burns You: Why
Unsolicited Bulk E-Mail Is Bad Business (good article).)
...but wait, there's more....
And gee, that is exactly what most chain letters do. They promise
money or fortune if you spam/inundate your friends with the letter,
and they threaten dire misfortune if you don't do as they say. Is
that kind of behavior a holy action, or a diabolical one? This one
should be really easy for most people to figure out.
No wonder so many "snailmail" chain letters are sent anonymously!
(And this is not even including the "send
money" chain letters... many of which are more properly called
"pyramid schemes." They're illegal, for many reasons.)
Well, it wasn't until fairly recently that I started to get religious
(in particular: Christian) chain letters. Some of them are simply
heartwarming (or sickly sweet) stories of often unknown and unprovable
origin and truthfulness; some are extremely nasty jokes or
philosophical rants condemning non-believers (condemning them to Hell,
for example -- I mean, isn't that funny?); others are stories designed
to try to convert readers to Christianity -- though alas these last
types of stories are too often found to be full of unprovable events
and downright lies (e.g., Darwin's supposed death-bed conversion,
"scientific" evidence that the Earth stopped rotating the day the sun
stood still in the Bible, etc.). And some of these emails, to top it
all off, end with anything ranging from the implied spiritual
reward of "Send this along to 10 friends to show you care" (i.e.,
if you don't send it, you don't care, right?) to the outrageous
implied spiritual threat of "If you don't send this to 10
friends you're denying Christ" (i.e., send this or God will be angry
with you). Hello?! That's called manipulation! (Recently I got this one: "If Jesus had e-mail, he'd do the same [forward this
on] for you." Sure, Jesus, who cared for people as individuals and
spoke from Inspiration, would mass-forward email of dubious integrity. I'm
sorry, in my mind, this is bordering on slander.)
So I ask you: does Christianity use lies, exaggeration, manipulation,
and threats? Does God ask us to help others by preaching sugar-sweet
(and often fictitious) stories at them, or by going out there and
loving without judging? And when did God ever suggest we gloat over
others, as some of these stories so clearly do?
Too many atheists became that way because well-meaning "Christians"
tried to force their brand of religion down others' throats -- a fact
conveniently forgotten (or never realized) by some people who are out
to "convert." Would I, by spamming my non-Christian friends with
unprovable and clearly manipulative "Christian" email, be helping or
hurting the Christian cause?
I guess I can summarize the gist of this by saying that "Christian"
chain letters served only to turn me away from Christianity (and the
senders of the email) -- and this is AFTER I came to consider myself
somewhat of a maverick (if sadly fallen) Christian. If I were the
atheist I used to be, it would have become extra ammunition for my
dislike and cynicism toward Christianity!
(On the note of friendship: If the primary email communication from a
friend of yours is comprised of unprovable sickly-sweet stories of
pure people doing pure things and lost people being converted to a
single stock answer, wouldn't you start to wonder if your friend would
really listen to you if you had a problem? Me, I'd be afraid to talk
to the sender for fear of receiving judgment, platitudes, and
quick-fix stock answers... whether this fear is justified or not.
Moreover, I don't enjoy receiving promises and threats (the ones
encouraging me to inflict this on MY friends) that remind me of the
opposite of good religion! What a waste of a potential
friendship!)
For goodness' sake... we have God-given minds. We perhaps should hold
off on the store-bought, unknown-brand, cookie-cutter, trite stories;
instead, we might make a habit of reaching into our own unique,
God-given hearts and minds and experiences. And maybe we'll find
the action of doing so changes us ... and has a far better chance of
really helping others.
(A couple links: Truthminers: Christian group
that's against this kind of spam, and SNOPES religious urban legend
site. Here is Break the
Chain.)
It's true the highest religious teachers have had "special powers"
that influenced the world -- but they had it due to their deep love of
truth, their sincere, overwhelming compassion for people, and last but
not least, the humbleness of their hearts. And I also have no doubt
that those who are a blessing to others receive countless blessings
that can sometimes translate into friends, influence, or even wealth
-- but by golly, that's a side effect!
Suppose an ad were to offer the little lure of, "Get money and power
so that you can help others!" I find this one particularly
dangerous, as it lets one lie to oneself: I'm being selfish for a good
reason!
There's also the variation of "Help others so that you get money
and power." Well... could you really serve both causes -- getting
power, AND helping others? If you must, try it. Try doing both. See
what happens. It may be a step in the right direction for someone in
a rut: numerous self-help books teach the idea that vitality comes to
those who adopt a caring attitude... a gentle push which helps many
people (including myself sometimes) take the first steps out of
self-absorption. But keep your eyes open and watch your heart
carefully, because it's a slippery and treacherous path -- and I'll
bet at some point (or many points) you'll have to choose between
getting ... or giving.
Personally, I think it comes down to this quote: "Seek first the
Kingdom of God...." Your true motivations are what really count.
Even if you can't get yourself 100% perfect and sincere immediately
(and which one of us normal people can?) you can always ask: Whom or
what do I really want to work for? Your answer to that question may
well be the most important one of your life....
True wealth and power flow out of a heart filled with truth and
compassion, selflessness and discipline, and, dare I say it, love of
God, or at the very least, His divine principles. Wealth and power
that come from pursuing wealth and power ... well, that's a different
thing entirely, and I personally can't recommend doing business with
the salespeople of that philosophy. For some reason, I just can't
trust them.
(And one last note on religious teachers: It is possible for a person
to feign (pretend to have) humility, compassion, and a love of truth,
and to display special abilities. There are ways to see through this,
and after all, much of my site is devoted to
the question of deception. However, you may wish to read some Good Signs and Bad Signs ... they apply to
people both in the flesh and in spirit.)
Plain Junkmail/Spam/Junk Email.
Here's something I've noticed that often makes me crack up when I see
it. Do you recall the stereotypical lure of the devil? You know, "I
will give you wealth, fame, fortune, power, in return for your
soul"?Chain letters
It has been observed (on this page on
Ben's site, in fact) that those who promise what you want and
threaten what you fear are liars. Religious Chain Letters
A short discussion of religious chain letters...."Spiritual" offers of power and rewards
...Next time you see a "spiritual training" course that theoretically
leads to the ability to manipulate the world, more and better sex, or
wealth and power, then step back and take another close look!
It's up to you, but you DO have the ability to filter what you read,
to try to figure out if the message is a good one, a really bad one,
or something in between. Is it something you want to be a part of?
Is it a philosophy you want to promote? Is it true? Even the
small act of forwarding -- or choosing not to forward -- a piece of
email can be a declaration of whom we'd like to work for.