Unsocial Media

I'm going to try not to rant during this post.
Excuse me if I do....
As far a technology goes, I'm a dinosaur.
I don't have a smart phone....
I have a dumb phone...
I don't own a "pad" (I nor Me or You) of any shape, form or fashion.
I have a desk top computer at which I sit every morning and do my posting here at the Greene Street Letters....
But there are some things that just don't seem right, no matter how current culture you may consider yourself to be.

I keep hearing the word "Social Media".
Now I know that it is referring to tall the different sites that allow people the perception of social interaction. You know....Facebook, Twitter, and about a gaxillion other sites.
People can text and chat and shoot the proverbial cyber-bull with one another any time they feel like it. But the trend I see is one that is becoming all to prevalent on social media. The need to air conflicting views and opinions. To me the whole social media thing is fast becoming "Unsocial". I am speaking about believers who feel the need to correct others who may have a differing view of Scripture. Am I saying that we need to sit back and let every thing devolve into a spiritual pit of wrongness and bad theology? No. But I do not believe that social media is the place to address these things.

Guess what?
There are other's watching all this take place. Other's who may have been wounded by church and now are seeing this theological feud played out for the world to see. Our public display of disagreement only adds fuel to the fire of those who are looking for one more reason to hate the church. One more reason to say that this whole Jesus thing is a bunch of bull. We need to stop such behavior. I've had to repent of my own entering into such discussions. Discussions which can easily move into name calling and hateful words.

Ephesians 4:29 reads: Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth (and computer), but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.

"So what are you saying Michael? That we should never correct one another. That we should sit by and watch anything and everything be posted about Christ and His church?" No! I'm not saying that. What I am saying is that we HAVE to take the instruction of Christ to heart when it comes to disagreement. If I have a problem with something that is posted or said by another, then I am told in Scripture to go to that individual and talk with them. 

Our disagreements are not to be done in public for the world to see.
What I find most interesting about the whole social media thing, is that we can sit in the comfort of our homes (or wherever you social from) and say whatever is on our minds and hearts without every having to look the person we are addressing in the eyes. Seems to me that such is a cowardly way of trying to be the body of Christ. If I have a leading by God's Spirit to address a wrong, then I am to go to that person, engage them in a conversation, and seek to resolve the issue. I do not have God's blessing to sit back and bomb them from a distance. 

I have followed a rule that was given to me by a friend of mine some years ago. I have used it more times than I care to admit. I don't like the rule because it goes against my old nature that seeks opportunity to resurrect itself. What is the rule?

When my need to be right is stronger than my need to love the individual, I have missed the heart and teaching of Christ.

I'm not naive enough to believe that everyone agrees with what I teach or write. But I pray that we, the body of Christ, would grow and mature to the point that we could love each other in spite of our theological views. In the end, I think we are all going to be surprised by how wrong much of our views are. Such is why my theology has never strayed from the cross. The cross is where the old life ends and the new one begins.

There has been and always will be disagreements over theological points. But if love isn't the rule of the kingdom over our disagreements...well, we haven't grown much, have we?
Think on this today...

God on you...
mb