Friendly Facebook
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. Colossians 2:8
Today I heard there are 500,000,000 people on facebook. 290 of those are my “friends”. I am still amazed at what I see there. I don’t know if 290 sounds so intimate compared to 500 million that we feel free to say whatever we want or if many are still oblivious to how many readers have access to what they say.
Repeatedly I see posts that attack, whine, cry out loud, defame, slander, and even accuse others of wrongs done to the writer. May I remind everyone that this is a public forum? Not all spats are or should be public.
Recently there have been a couple that have really troubled me. One was a woman admonishing an unnamed friend (or maybe acquaintance) for behavior toward a daughter and some grandchildren. I was clueless but from the comments some others knew who she was talking about.
There was another making a derogatory statement about her Pastor. He had done or said something she didn’t like. Rather than go to him with her complaint – she posted it on facebook where she had several members of the church as “friends”.
The third one was a facebook mother-daughter spat. This was heartbreaking to see little or no honor being offered either way. They aired some fairly large problems and – as far as was evident – with no resolution, just some more words to be angry and bitter about.
The last one is more general. People complain about their jobs, their bosses, their specific tasks at work, their co-workers – even their pay or the temperature of their office. I am assuming no one they work with has “friended” them on facebook. Imagine that. I have also heard stories of people who have been fired because of their facebook posts.
The Bible is pretty clear that if we have something against someone then we are to go that person privately first. If the person has no faith it may end there. If they refuse to see the problem we have to leave it up to God to change their minds or their hearts. But, if they are Christians and they refuse to hear us then we can take a witness to discuss it with them. If they still refuse to see their sin or repent then we can take them to the church. (Matthew 18)
I really do fear that we, that is Christians, are being taken captive by worldly philosophies and empty deceit that have been made more public by social networks and technology that tempts us to say too much to too many. It is easy to think like the world that everyone needs to know our grievances with each other so that they can judge how good a person we are compared to how horrible the other guy is. Since when did other people become the standard for us to be judged by? Our only standard is the perfection set by the life of Jesus Christ.
God’s word is clear. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, taught them, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Ephesians 4:29
James, when he was addressing the evil that comes from our tongues and how impossible it is for us to tame it without God said, “but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.” James 3:6-10 Facebook posts come from our tongues, we just put it in print.
As I see these posts I am often embarrassed for the person writing them, not the one they intend to harm. It concerns me that they are posted without considering the reputation of the other person, our own reputation, or that of our LORD to whom we are to bring honor and glory in everything we say and do.
If someone wrongs us we certainly have Biblical ways to confront them with their sin. From that standpoint there is only one “public” place these things can be aired and that is in the church. I am not one to say we have to be best friends with everyone. If someone is bad for you or for me then we can avoid having Sunday dinner together. However, that doesn’t mean that we have to publicly malign them. In fact, in Luke 6:28 Jesus tells us just how we should handle such people. He said, “bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” If we follow His advice we will completely avoid being taken captive by ” philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world” and we will be following the command of Jesus who said, “If you love me you will keep my commands.” John 14:15