As I have never been shy about spouting off on issues of the day (especially
emotional ones) it's somewhat of a modern miracle that I haven't become caught
up in the quagmire of social media. Probably more evidence of how God watches
over His sheep, as this sheep (in a positive sense of those following the Good
Shepard; not those drinking the progressive Kool-Aid) would be constantly
entwined in the brambles of social discordant discourse. Technically I guess
blogging is social media, but it is to Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok, etc; what
snail mail is to email. You have more time to compose and edit your thoughts
before you blast them off into cyber-space, where they essentially orbit the
world of opinion forever.
Back in the day you could (I certainly did; and do) say something you wished
you hadn’t, but it was just between you and the offended parties. It may have
been quickly forgotten, or never given much attention, but it was gone as
quickly as the mist of James 4:14. Granted, someone could have paid special
attention, maybe even writing it down, but that would certainly not be the
norm. Today however, forget it! It's not only written down, but it's available
for ANYONE to peruse, and weigh in on. Essentially, assume nothing is said in
confidence these days.
All of this as a lengthy segue to the application of James (one of my
personal favorite books of the Bible) 1:19-20, which basically says to listen
carefully and get a grip before you respond, as swift, angry responses are not
what ambassadors of Christ should demonstrate. All of the afore-mentioned
instant response social media platforms are the exact antithesis of James. The
instant gratification, look at me, 15 minutes of fame, combative nature of them
is so appealing to our culture (the World). As Believers, we need to consider
how much we want to have to do with these things. I think James makes it clear;
less is more. Less involvement with such non-sense is more better (righteous).
And I haven't even touched on the Bible exhorting to us to be humble and the
Beatitudes that clearly are not represented on these platforms.
Of course, this sinful bent in the human race (by the way, the only race;
but I'm not going down that Rabbit trail) is nothing new. What is new is our capability
(ergo temptation) to allow these "little foxes" to ruin the vineyard
of righteousness. From the Garden going forward we have always been totally
sinful. People are no better or worse than 2000 years ago; society in terms of
1. (if not acceptance) of behavior that was once considered abhorrent (if not
sinful) has definitely worsened. My feeling is a lot of this can be explained
by the accessibility for the masses to sin via all the electronic options. This
sin inherent in social media was not available in the not-too-distant past. But
I'm sure Screwtape and Wormwood (you don't know who they are, and you call
yourself a Christian!) are falling off their chairs laughing over the followers
of the Enemy making fools of themselves and damaging their witness on social
media.
I would like to close with a couple considerations:
1. Is it a sin to be on these sites; of course not. But they certainly can
be portals to sinful behavior.
2. Does anyone really care about your opinion; probably not. Let's be
honest; opinions are like noses; everyone has one and they can only vary so
much. Me too. I know my opinion doesn't matter much to anyone but myself (sad
but true), but it's still fun to share it (for me). So here we are getting to
the nut of the matter: the sharing of an opinion is more for the satisfaction
of the sharer than the sharee (did I just invent a word?). So, I suppose we can
add selfishness to the list of negative aspects of dabbling in social
media.
So, I will avoid the "instant gratification" social medias and
stick to my "Boomer blog". It has a cathartic effect for me and helps
to keep my mind engaged and hopefully my writing skills (of which I have
precious few) honed. But enough about me, what do you think
about me?
