I thought I’d post some personal thoughts about Social Media. But I really want to focus on the Christian’s use. When I say Christian, I mainly mean me. What I write may or may not apply to you to any extent. When I say Social Media I mainly mean Facebook and Twitter.
I’m no preacher…
Also, I don’t want to come across as sounding preachy. That’s one of the last things I want to be doing. I have my own set of problems, for which God is dealing with.
Frustration
Last year I’d contemplated de-activating my Facebook account. One reason was the platform’s propensity for censoring and so called “fact-checking” COVID and election-fraud grievances. Facebook ignored instances of hateful comments against certain groups. Yet it often determined that anything less than full support of chosen narratives needed to be weeded out.
Several times I tried posting articles from a Christian website on Facebook. Each time it was intercepted by the generic message that the site didn’t meet “community standards.” Each time I filled in their form to ask “Why?” – I was ignored.
Bad behavior
Frustration often leads to bad behavior. We can get so worked up we say things we later regret. We write things we oughtn’t as Christians. Keith Mathison calls it the “Jekyll & Hyde Effect”:
For lack of a better term, I would call this phenomenon a “Jekyll & Hyde Effect” (If someone else has already coined this term for this phenomenon, I haven’t seen it. I don’t get out much.) It’s easiest to notice when it happens to you or to someone you know very well. It usually happens when the topic is something controversial – like politics during an election year. You see people writing things in Tweets and Facebook posts, and in comments about such posts, that they would never say to the face of another living human being.
Mathison also talks about gossip and unverified stories. Have I engaged in gossip? Have I seen other Christians do it? Yes. Have I been snippy? Yes. Have I linked to unverified articles? I try not to, but – yes. That last one is tough to deal with when there’s so much conflicting information. The point is to do diligence as much as possible.
The Christian in-fighting is another thing. My pinned post on Twitter is a quote from John Flavel. I put it there to remind me. Sadly, many times I’ve ignored the message…
Avoid every thing which is calculated to irritate your feelings. It is true spiritual valour to keep as far as we can out of sin’s way. ~ John Flavel
Our Mission Field
One reason I didn’t leave Facebook is because I’d have lost contact with geographically distant people I like and love. Several events leading to Christmas have also caused me to reassess a few things. I saw people suddenly lose loved ones. And we have had our own grief to deal with.
Life is tenuous and short. What do we do to glorify Christ in the time we have left on this earth? One thing’s for sure getting into online tit for tats isn’t the way. But whether on social media or anywhere else – wherever we are – that’s our mission field. We need to be missionaries even where we are censored. This isn’t to say we are not to contend for the truth. But we ought to take care how we do it.
Who is watching?
Years ago I had instances where non-Christians remembered something I said or did, which I’d forgotten. They happened to be positive ones. However I’m under no illusion that I’ve said and done more things that wouldn’t have left good impressions. People watch, and often they don’t forget.
With all this in mind I have social media friends who aren’t Christians. I need to ask myself how I may be impacting them in my interactions with others. Am I being a good witness? More to the point, if Jesus Christ sat me down at His desk every night, and went through all my social interactions – what would He say? This question bothers me.
Dear Lord, help me to glorify you daily for I know my time is running out!
Maranatha!
Further reading:
Christ’s Call to Reform the Church
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