I am free of Facebook

Last week Tim Challies posted a blog entitled "Facebook Makes Us Miserable", you can read the full blog here http://www.challies.com/christian-living/facebook-makes-us-miserable#more. 

My problem with Facebook is pride.  Not all people have this problem, so don't think that I'm saying everyone on FB has a pride issue. 

Every time I made a post I automatically thought that I have something important to share with my FB friends (which may be true), but then I also assume that they want to hear it.  Why is that?  Because it's from me, that's why! 

 



After I posted something, I started to notice who comments or who "liked" my post. 

I have in the past (here comes a confession) jumped to the conclusion that other peoples posts are covertly about something I have posted.  Whether it was or not doesn't matter. What matters is why am I jumping to that conclusion?  PRIDE!

Facebook let me create a persona and a world in which I got to recreate myself.  You see it all the time with people who post wonderful things about their spouse.  Why are they doing that?  I think part of it is because we want to create a persona of our spouse that is untrue.  Why do we need to brag on them, or tell our "friends" that our "spouse works so hard, or is such a great mother/father?"  Because it's all a competition.  I think that there has to be some sort of problem if your spouse (or whoever) has to get their self-esteem from something that people say about them on FB.  The people who are close to them know the truth.  That is all that matters, or it should be.  The problem is that most of the time the people that are close to them don't recognize the persona that has been created on FB. 

This is one of the reasons why I asked my wife not to ever post anything like that about me. Why create this awesome looking FB persona (or let my spouse do it) so that people get disappointed when they meet me in person?  Why doesn't the bad stuff ever get put up there?  Have you ever wondered that.  "Brian came home today and yelled at the kids and then at me for no reason.  I wish he would've just stayed at work."   In the words of Adrian Rogers, "I can't get mad when somebody says something bad about me.  I'm just thankful that he doesn't know anything else." 

I will miss the connection that FB offers, but it's not worth the sin that it causes in my life.  Goodbye FB.  I wish I could say that it was for good, but with the new FB policy, your stuff can never really be deleted.  It's always there for you to dive back into if you want it.  Maybe one day, after God matures me some, I will be back. 

UPDATE - as of 9 May
Well........I've been back on FB now for a few weeks.  I really think that ready Tim Challies book helped me see that getting rid of FB altogether is definitely a good option, and one that may happen again, but there is also another down side to it.  This is a major means of communication with people that I am really close to.  My extended family and my church being just a few.  Should I cut communications with them, or should I work to control the problems that I have with FB? 
I have come to realize that I tend to get rid of things in my life that may cause me to stumble or sin, which is a good thing, but there is also another option too.  I can grow in my faith and maturity and learn to control myself.  I think when it comes to FB and other technology, I need to gain more self control.  Doing away with it completely will not slow down the way that technology is becoming more and more of an everyday reality in our everyday lives. 
So, to all of the FB friends that I de-friended and/or offended, I'm sorry.