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.  

A powerful video by Grace Gems

We often look at power "natural disasters" and think about the wrath of God.  Maybe you don't, but I do.  I wonder, "Is God justly pouring out His wrath on mankind?"  All of us our deserving of God's wrath.  That is the starting point we should have whenever we look at pictures of earthquakes and tsunami's.

As you watch this video, remember that the ark was a type and shadow of the Messiah to come.  Jesus is the ark.  Jesus is the way of salvation for us, just like the ark was the way of salvation for man in the day of Noah.  If we are in Him, we will be saved from the wrath of God.

Is Faith a work?

Just to give some background.  I am currently going through the book of John in my personal Bible study.  I have RC Sproul's commentary, and I recently started using Calvin's commentary (which you can find for free online at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin?show=worksBy).  I love the way RC has laid his commentary out.  Each section of verses is covered in one short chapter.  This gives me plenty of time to read the whole chapter, then read the Bible verses again, and then take my own notes.  Calvin goes into more depth, which is wonderful and greatly needed in some sections of John. 
I am currently in Romans 6 in the area of verses 25-34.  Whend I came accross Calvin's commentary on verse 29, it struck a chord with me.  I understand that we are not justified by our works or anything in us, but how does faith fit into all of this?  I do understand that faith is a gift of God, Ephesians 2:8, but it is something that we must do to be saved.  I know that I've probably heard this before many many times, but God used this commentary to open my mind a little more on the topic of faith this morning. 

That you believe in him whom he hath sent. What is the import of the word believe, we have explained under the Third Chapter. It ought always to be remembered that, in order to have a full perception of the power of faith, we must understand what Christ is, in whom we believe, and why he was given to us by the Father. It is idle sophistry, under the pretext of this passage, to maintain that we are justified by works, if faith justifies, because it is likewise called a work First, it is plain enough that Christ does not speak with strict accuracy, when he calls faith a work, just as Paul makes a comparison between the law of faith and the law of works, (Romans 3:27.) Secondly, when we affirm that men are not justified by works, we mean works by the merit of which men may obtain favor with God. Now faith brings nothing to God, but, on the contrary, places man before God as empty and poor, that he may be filled with Christ and with his grace. It is, therefore, if we may be allowed the expression, a passive work, to which no reward can be paid, and it bestows on man no other righteousness than that which he receives from Christ. - From John Calvin's commentary on John 6:29

RC Sproul's lays out the love of God

I love RC Sproul’s response to those people who say that if God loves the whole world, He will provide multiple ways.

Suppose there actually is a God in heaven, and suppose this God created the world and everything in it. Suppose that, in the process of making myriad species of birds, fish, and animals, He formed human beings in His image and gave them the most exalted position in all of creation. Suppose He said, “You will be holy, even as I am holy,” and gave them only one command to obey – but fifteen minutes after He made them, these human beings revolted against Him by doing the very thing He had commanded them not to do. Suppose God then said, “I’m going to provide a way for you to escape My judgment,” and then He called Abraham out of paganism, brought him to Himself, and said, “I’m going to make you the father of a great nation.” Suppose that He blessed all the descendants of Abraham, expanded them to a whole nation, and said, “Through this nation I’m going to bless the whole world”- but this nation repeatedly turned against Him. Suppose God sent prophets to these people to tell them to come back to Him, just as an unfaithful spouse returns to his or her partner-but the people killed the prophets. Suppose God finally said, “I love you so much, even though you are a stiff-necked people, that I’m going to send My eternal, only begotten Son to you” – but the people rose up against His Son and crucified Him. Suppose that God loved the people enough in all of this that while they were in the very act of killing His Son, He transferred the sins of His people to His Son and said: “if you’ll put your trust in Him, if you’ll confess your sins and believe in Him, if you’ll turn your gaze upon Jesus, you will not experience death. I’m going to give you eternal life with no pain, no tears, no evil, and no darkness.” If God were to do all that, would you have the insolence to say to Him, “God, You haven’t done enough for this world that hates You?” 1

Our culture says “If God provides only one way of salvation, He doesn’t really love the world.”
REALLY?? How much more loving could God be? People today don’t understand the depths of God’s love and the depth of their depravity.
Has any other religious leader ever died for you?  To even think that there may be some validity to those false religions is blasphemy.  There is only one way and that is Jesus Christ.


[1]  RC Sproul, “John” (Sheridan Books, Inc.) 45