When I first started attending seminary as a student back in 1997, the internet was a largely unknown place. The year before, I remember my AOL disk arriving in the mail, and I thought I would try it out. Over the next few years, I started to learn about things like chat rooms and the like. I have to admit that surfing the net sure wasn't in the picture, as businesses hadn't really learned the power of this new thing (new to most of us at that time). Mainly, I met a few new people, occasionally talked with them, but overall, found it to be rather boring, since I didn't know them.
Flash forward a couple of decades, and everyone (it seems) is now connected virtually all the time via their phones. Not only that, but the scope and reach of their thoughts and words can now touch countless people at practically any time. We've gotten used to words such as tweet and post without having to explain them. We can pin items, snap pictures to chat, and all sorts of other things.
Social media is now a given. Many Christians also make extensive use of it. In fact, I would dare say that most Christians regularly use at least one or two of these social media sites frequently each day. The real question that we are looking at today is, what is the message that we convey through our use of social media? Let me give you some brief examples to consider.
Take a Christian who is highly engaged in political discussions. He posts frequently his unwavering support of his candidate, even when that candidate's character may be found lacking. Seems harmless, right? However, those who read what he posts and know that he is a Christian potentially could see what he posts as though God doesn't really care about character matters of leaders, or that character even matters. He may come across as though he's okay with the sins of people whose values reflect those that align with his, but obeying God's will and law is optional as long as they agree with his values.
Or, consider the Christian who only posts items that show her family as though everything is always good. The pictures are always of the family smiling, the posts show how great her kids are, and if you read through her history, it seems like they are the example of the perfectly happy family. How many people may read through what she puts out there and git the false sense that being a Christian means that everything is always cheery and upbeat? When their life doesn't reflect that, they may wonder about their faith.
For our final example, consider the Christian whose posts show the full spectrum of what is happening in life. He posts some things of joy, but others of struggles and hardships that he faces. He is open when he doesn't know what is happening, or when his life with Christ ebbs and wans. This person shows what is "normal" for most people. He may post things that are completely unrelated to his faith, while other things may be deeply faith related. He addresses all of life with what he puts out there, and in doing so, may give a picture that being a Christian is openly involved in the world around him, and his faith informs him on these things.
Now, I am not going to say that you are wrong if you do some of these things. The thing I most encourage you to do is to read through the items you post and consider the message that you are conveying through those posts. Are they what you would hope they would be? I even suggest that you ask some of your followers or friends what "image" you are conveying, and take their responses seriously. More than anything, simply look at what you are doing and see if it fits with what you want others to see of you.
Flash forward a couple of decades, and everyone (it seems) is now connected virtually all the time via their phones. Not only that, but the scope and reach of their thoughts and words can now touch countless people at practically any time. We've gotten used to words such as tweet and post without having to explain them. We can pin items, snap pictures to chat, and all sorts of other things.
Social media is now a given. Many Christians also make extensive use of it. In fact, I would dare say that most Christians regularly use at least one or two of these social media sites frequently each day. The real question that we are looking at today is, what is the message that we convey through our use of social media? Let me give you some brief examples to consider.
Take a Christian who is highly engaged in political discussions. He posts frequently his unwavering support of his candidate, even when that candidate's character may be found lacking. Seems harmless, right? However, those who read what he posts and know that he is a Christian potentially could see what he posts as though God doesn't really care about character matters of leaders, or that character even matters. He may come across as though he's okay with the sins of people whose values reflect those that align with his, but obeying God's will and law is optional as long as they agree with his values.
Or, consider the Christian who only posts items that show her family as though everything is always good. The pictures are always of the family smiling, the posts show how great her kids are, and if you read through her history, it seems like they are the example of the perfectly happy family. How many people may read through what she puts out there and git the false sense that being a Christian means that everything is always cheery and upbeat? When their life doesn't reflect that, they may wonder about their faith.
For our final example, consider the Christian whose posts show the full spectrum of what is happening in life. He posts some things of joy, but others of struggles and hardships that he faces. He is open when he doesn't know what is happening, or when his life with Christ ebbs and wans. This person shows what is "normal" for most people. He may post things that are completely unrelated to his faith, while other things may be deeply faith related. He addresses all of life with what he puts out there, and in doing so, may give a picture that being a Christian is openly involved in the world around him, and his faith informs him on these things.
Now, I am not going to say that you are wrong if you do some of these things. The thing I most encourage you to do is to read through the items you post and consider the message that you are conveying through those posts. Are they what you would hope they would be? I even suggest that you ask some of your followers or friends what "image" you are conveying, and take their responses seriously. More than anything, simply look at what you are doing and see if it fits with what you want others to see of you.
No comments:
Post a Comment