There.
I said it. I’m addicted.
Not the kind of addiction where I’m actually engaging the friends I have. But the kind of addiction that sends you to the fridge every 5 minutes after 9 o’clock hoping something miraculously appeared since the last time you checked. Truth is, all you find is crap that’s no good for you anyway, but since you’re there you grab some Snickers and the last roll of Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies that you’ve been hoarding and eat that junk like there’s no tomorrow.
And I’m not better for it. By the time I go to bed I feel like an 8 year old that just went trick or treating at the rich golf club with no adult supervision to stop the candy binge.
Maybe for now I have the metabolism to handle that. But here’s what I don’t have…
I don’t have the spiritual life that mirrors my freaking “bumper sticker Christianity” status updates.
What I have is the crazy sense of needing approval and I’ll check Facebook a thousand times after posting something to see how many “likes” I get.
I don’t have the compassion that I should have for others after spending time reading 200 people talk about their day.
What I have do have is a growing impatience for God’s people. And all of sudden the things that break your heart no longer matter to me. The overload of info caused me to stop caring.
I certainly don’t have deep relationships with the majority of my Facebook friends, and when I comment on something that you posted
..it’s more than likely so the rest of my friends can see that I’m exercising some form of 21st century “ministerial care.”
This is what hit me: For the Christian, social media shouldn’t be about “you.” It shouldn’t be about how many friends you have or how many people follow you on Twitter. Rather, for us, social media should be a way that we cultivate more meaningful relationships during the times we aren’t together in a building or formal group.
What do you think? How can we use the gift of social media to establish stronger faith communities?
Brothet Danny, you again have brought our attention an uncofrable topic in “todays church. We should everything and every tool that God has given to point others to Him. Whether it be facebook, sermons, or playing you christian music slightly louder that the person next to at the red light, all is given to give God the glory. Thank you for the challenge. let us cast aside what seperates us as a body and be united in Christ.
“Every tool.” You are so spot on. We forget that God is a global God and we have a global mission. Social media is a great tool in that mission if we would use it!
This one really gets me. Half the time I don’t even interact on FB, just snoop. It’s sad that we’ve been called to share Jesus with the world, and with the world at our fingertips all we’re sharing is self-centeredness and gossip.
Yep, Facebook has turned us all into the people that peep out the blinds to see what’s going on around us! Maybe, we can do something with the conviction to change that!
I think you have hit the nail on the head with this post. Both Facebook and Twitter allow us to be voyeurs into other peoples lives without the guilt of sin. Imagine, you can see someone’s status about the new car they bought, and you may find yourself coveting what they have. Or, you may see a status that has bad news, and your immediate thought is, “I am so glad I am not so-and-so”. The temptation is so great to give into our fallen nature that we, as people, forget that we are called to be His Church on Earth. Not a weird, pseudo group, but the Visible Bride of Christ! I am guilty of what I have said here, and my the Almighty God forgive me for not using all available platforms to proclaim His Glory, and the Sacrifice of His Son that allows me back into full relationship with God. May God continue to bless you, my dear brother in Christ.
You’re right on Nick! We all need this confession and God’s forgiveness.
See, I think I have a differing opinion of social media than most. I think it *can* be used as a tool to spread the love of Christ, but I see it used in a way that is not conducive to sharing love. I think it is a double-edged sword. There is a prayer we pray as Catholics, called the Act of Contrition:
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you, and I detest all my sins, because of your just punishments, but most of all, because they offend you, my God, who are all-good and deserving of all of my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your Grace, to sin no more, and to avoid the near occasions of sin. Amen.
To me, facebook has become the “near occasion of sin” so to speak. I just wonder, all the time spent reading about 200 other peoples lives and goings on, if I spent even half of that time working on myself, and praying and devoting myself to God’s work, how much better off I would be, and how much simpler my life would become, and how much easier it would be to focus on what God has put right in front of me. It is easy to read and see what I think other people should do to change their lives, and I think it can easily bring about “plank eye” syndrome. I will readily admit that I am guilty of that sin.
Also, it is so easy to say anything to anyone through social media. But we have all had instances where words or meanings didn’t convey across the interwebs in the way that we meant them to be. You cannot read tone over the internet, you cannot see hurt and pain, and you cannot clearly see love and care. Through social media, we as a society have lost the art of personal interaction. People keep to themselves and always have their heads buried into their various electronics, and people are hurting, and having empty lives, and I think it would be better to show them the love, and how to feel that empty space, rather for them to read about it on facebook or twitter.
And lastly, it is easy to appear one way on facebook, but then in real life, to be someone else. And it works both ways in the sense that people can be very Christ-like in real life, but you would never know it by looking at their facebook page or twitter posts, or they can appear very Christ-like through social media, but in real life they show a different side. As Nick said, we are the Visible Church on earth, the Visible Bride of Christ. We need to ask ourselves what people see when they look at us, and if we are going to use social media as a tool to reach others, what do people see when they look at us there. It is too easy to become 2 different people.
I am actually giving up facebook for lent this year. I am excited about it. I am interested to see what changes it will bring about in myself, and I am yearning for a simpler existence where I will have my interactions with people around me in my daily life. I do not think I am denying a tool that can be used to share God’s love, instead, I am going to focus on using the other tools God gave me.
Hi Catherine! You offer a lot of great viewpoints. You’re dead on with the way that we use social media, and I’m as guilty as the next. The goal, I think, is to stop talking about how we “can” use it, and start actually using it for Him!
One of the things I’m trying to learn is how to redeem the things that we have and use them for God’s glory. I know that sometimes that becomes an excuse for me and in my attempt to use things for His glory, I use them to satisfy myself. I’m praying that I can stay away from that self-centered attitude.
I’m encouraged by your decision to give up Facebook for lent. I can’t imagine it being anything other than beneficial for you and your family!
Oh, and you are SPOT ON with the appearance issue. That was by far the largest conviction I had that led to writing this post.
More than I desire people to be true to self in social media, I’m longing for a church that is true to self in church. The stain glass masquerade has got to end.