All New York Times bestselling author Jon Acuff did was suggest that churches cancel services this Sunday in light of Christmas, but he was swamped with unwarranted criticisms that labelled him as an "idolater."
"Shoutout to churches cancelling services this Sunday. We pastor's kids often leave faith because the church stole our Christmas every year," he wrote on his Twitter account (@JonAcuff) on Dec. 20.
People became livid with his comment and did not hesitate to bombard the author of "Do Over" with nasty tweets, according to Charisma News.
"I feel like [you're] an idolater who needs to be called to repentance and marked as such. Repent," one netizen told him, while another added: "If you're an enemy of the cross, I'll surely pray for your salvation."
In response, Acuff posted a photo of these comments on his Instagram account (@jonacuff) asking Christian netizens to stop bombarding him with mean tweets.
"Dear Christians, whenever atheists say we're unloving, this is why. We do this to each other. We've become the people Christ fought against most, the self righteous religious who have all of the rules but none of the grace. Why do people who don't know my Lord show me more forgiveness than those that do?" he wrote.
Still, netizens did not stop. "I can't get past how worldly this post is. Christmas is about Jesus, NOT presents and family. I'm thankful my church is having service this Sunday. This post comes off as extremely selfish. Some people have no one to spend Christmas with," one person wrote.
"You are advocating for people spending time with family rather than worshiping together on Christmas. That's about priorities," another added.
Some people were more reserved in their comments and asked Acuff how the church stole Christmas for pastors' kids. "If your dad is doing four services on a Sunday and isn't home all day, your Christmas was impacted," he explained.
