Is FACEBOOK Unchristian?
A Christian friend is proud to announce, “I’m not a fan of FACEBOOK, TWITTER OR LINKEDIN. I have a FACEBOOK account but only check it once a week for birthdays. Social media is unchristian.”
Ways of communication have changed drastically since the time of Christ. In 1450, the Gutenberg Bible revolutionized printing and brought the Word to the common people for the first time in history. The Internet and social media have sparked a modern day communication revolution with FACEBOOK hosting 750 million active users of which 50% log in daily. Seventy percent of users are outside the U.S. and 30 billion pieces of monthly content are translated into 70 foreign languages. If FACEBOOK were its own country, it would rank third in population behind China and India.
Everything that God has made good can be misused for a sinful purpose. FACEBOOK, TWITTER, AND LINKEDIN can be destructive when they:
1. become your God
2. fulfill a need in your life like coveting your neighbor’s life or his wife
3. distract you from God, your spouse or your children
4. allow you to put on a false-self, or
5. encourage you to confuse on-line reality with real life.
But then it’s not FACEBOOK that’s the sinner, it’s you.
Instead of sinful behaviors, social media can be used by Christians for good purposes such as teaching, inspiration and spreading the Good News. Posts of a Christian’s heart being revealed and transformed encourage others.
The God of the Bible is a sender by nature. Instead of being unchristian, FACEBOOK, TWITTER and LINKEDIN are tools to be used for God’s purposes. As Christians we are commanded to love one another and God expects us to cast our nets wide. With Christians composing 1/3rd of the world’s population, what it would be like if every third post, tweet, and update proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and reached 375 million people in 70 languages each day?
I pray that you use your FACEBOOK, TWITTER and LINKEDIN accounts to glorify God, be a Christian witness of God’s love, and bring people near and far to know their Lord and Savior, even people who you may never meet.
Let’s start the communication revolution today, proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ with each post, tweet and update!
Blessings,
Agatha
Is FACEBOOK Unchristian? -(click here for MP3 file)
A FACEBOOK "Friend" who I've never met in person just reached out to ask for prayers for his family. His father is in a hospital and will probably not make it through the night. I and many others reached out on my "friend's" wall to tell him that we are praying for him during this time. I hope that it brings some comfort to know that there are other Christians out there that do care. Without FACEBOOK, this interaction would not have been possible.
I hope that it also encourages others to pray for one another even when we don't know each other as "live" friends. It is encouraging to me to see how many people responded with prayer.
Blessings,
Agatha