After seven years of battling pancreatic cancer, Steve Jobs has died at age 56.
Fans and followers are mourning the passing of the Apple visionary and founder of one of the most successful businesses in the world with memorials and testimonies, often created with devices that Jobs invented or inspired.
Some of the statements following his death, however, focus more on the religious aspect of the afterlife than the accomplishments before his death.
Margie Phelps, daughter of the Westboro Baptist Church founder, announced Wednesday night that the church planned to picket Jobs’ funeral, as they have in the past with multiple soldiers and public figures to further their hateful agenda. Phelps took a new approach to her delivery, however, and tweeted “Westboro will picket his (Jobs’) funeral. He had a huge platform; gave God no glory and taught sin.”
The more stunning part of her announcement was not what she said, but how it was sent to the world. Nestled under her controversial tweet was a line often seen: “via Twitter for iPhone.”
After being widely criticized (as the church members often are for their outlandish statements), her response was that the iPhone had been created by God (not Jobs) to inform the world Jobs was in hell. She even crafted the handy hashtag #hellgreetedhim.
Across the social networking platform, users can be seen bashing Jobs and his choice to dedicate his life to technology instead of theology. “Following Jesus Christ is the only thing that matters in the end,” a Facebook user said at the end of a long rant about his lack of Christianity that she had posted not from her iPhone…but her iPad.
Disagreeing with the religious choices of a man is one matter, because despite how callous the opinions might be, everyone is entitled to them. To use his work to belittle and discredit Jobs is not only a slap in the face, but also an accidental testament to the products he spent his life perfecting.
Jobs changed the world forever with his innovative mindset and “never give up” attitude. His last full day on earth was dedicated to the release of the iPhone 4S, set to release later this month, which eerily matched one of Jobs’ more famous quotes:
“If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?”
Release one final technological advancement? I think so, sir.
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Posted via my iMac