As you know, the Bible moves from the rural idyll of Eden in Genesis to the New Jerusalem, the city of God, in Revelation. A city is meant to be a place of the greatest potential, of humans living and working together creatively and in harmony. Sadly, you don't need to read many news stories to understand that the city can also be a place of alienation, violence and chaos. Online digital media has served to create something of a global city as you can instantly communicate with people in other parts of the world. The potential for good and harm in the online city is like that of the concrete city. We may not be physically connecting with the people we communicate with 'online' in the same way that we do even by telephone, but the potential for good or ill is there just the same. We need to be aware of this when we post our thoughts and respond to other peoples' on social networks.
Now I try and post interesting and wholesome comments or concerns. I try to be an online Barnabas (brother of encouragement) to those I communicate with. I may fail in this, but it is what I aim to do. You see, a harmful word to one person, harms one person. However, a harmful post or comment? Well, you do the maths. The other thing to be considered, of course, is that people who are not Christians will be developing their thoughts about the church and Christians by looking at your comments. There is no need to become neurotic, but we do need to be aware of the major impact that our posts can have. If we use social networks then we are people of great influence. So, before we post or comment, I would suggest that we need to consider at least two things. You might have some more thoughts to add to the list.
1) Will these words honor God?
2) Will they encourage and build people up?
Have a great day and let your light shine in the world of online social networks.
For prayer. Bring your use of online social media before God and talk to him about it.
John Martin-Jones
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