The idea of being social was God’s idea, He created us to be social. The desire for interactions, companions, and friendships has been woven into who we are as human beings. In the beginning God said it was not good for Adam to be alone, so He created Eve. (Genesis 2:18) God Himself is a relational God. He is three in one, the Trinity. He has created us in His image and we too are made for relationship. (Genesis 1:26-27, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, Romans 12:4-5, Hebrews 10:24-25, 1 Thessalonians 5:11)
Social media feeds into this natural desire we have, but does it satisfy the desire? We have been hardwired by God to share and connect with others. We desire fellowship and communication. Social media plays into these desires, however does it contain the quality to sustain us? God has made us for face-to-face relationship. Facebook and other forms of social media are just imitations.
Social media has digitized what God intended for face-to-face community, and this social development has brought a challenge for us Christians. There are some questions to consider in how we should be utilizing social media. Do our digital connections reflect Christ or our flesh? Do our social media platforms consider one another to love and good works? (Hebrews 10:24) Do we speak the truth in love? (Ephesians 4:15) Is it loving to communicate a personal matter through a screen? Are we bearing another’s burdens or adding to them? (Galatians 6:2) Are we stewarding our words? Remember our words carry much weight. (Proverbs 18:21, James 3)
Our words are being expressed through a device, and because of the screen buffer between us and others, we are less aware or sensitive to the person receiving our posts or comments. (Ephesians 4:29) Social media has given Christians a global pulpit without the Church accountability which is structured for us in Scripture. This presents a danger to the local community of churches because it can become an avenue for false teaching. God intended face-to-face community. (Proverbs 27:17, Hebrews 10:25) Biblical community requires more than a digital connection. It requires commitment, mutual submission, and the transformative power that can only happen through faithful participation in a local church.
Another aspect of the screen buffer is that we can let our guard down more easily and walk in the flesh. Are we the same person on screen that we are in-person? Are we representing Christ well? The Bible tells us that everything we do, should be for God’s glory. (1 Corinthians 10:31, Colossians 3:17) Is Jesus the center of our life or does our Monday – Saturday posts look different than Sunday? Is there a dichotomy between real life and screen life? Is Christ being displaced in our digital activity? We are to be ambassadors of Christ in every tap of the screen, each comment, each post, and each share, how are we representing Jesus? (2 Corinthians 5:19-21)
Social media has a huge draw because in connects us, but because we are all sinners this medium can cause us to stumble. We become so tethered to our devices that they consume our attention throughout the entire day. What was supposedly intended to connect us to others, is actually isolating us from others. We can mistake our interaction with technology for relationship. Social media gives us imaginary friends, like Facebook friends we have never met face-to-face. We get to know them through screens but never meet them in person.
We can even become slaves to our devices. We struggle to function without them. The success of social media stems from how it pulls us in through our emotions. Our emotions reflect the inner man. Satan can use social media as a bait to hook us. Apart from our work responsibilities, if we have more face-time with a screen than face-to-face with another human being, we are in a dangerous place. Have you taken the bait Satan is dangling?
Online interaction is taking the place of healthy living. Whose face do you seek in the morning? Where does your day begin? Where does your day end? Are you resting in the Word of God? There is no rest in this worldwide web of information. There is a continuous overabundance of information coming at us through social media and other technologies, and we often mistake it for knowledge and understanding. Technology can be helpful, but do we have the capacity to put it into its proper place? It can be a useful tool, but it should not be at the core of our lives.
God made us for in person community, we are to invest into others. We are to love and serve each other. This is not meant to be, nor can it be, lived out online. (Proverbs 18:1, 1 Corinthians 12:14) When screens replace faces, we enter a world of isolation that the enemy can use to manipulate our thoughts and deceive us. The place of isolation has led people down a path of depression, despair, and even death.
The progression of social media over the last 20 years has conditioned some to confuse technology with actual human beings. Technology has entered the realm of imitating life, this is called transhumanism and it is seen with the arrival of artificial intelligence (AI). It is becoming more and more prominent in our daily life, but what is even more concerning is that people are so emotionally attached to social media that AI is a natural transition. AI has knowledge, but it does not have wisdom, and it is not perfect! AI makes mistakes. We have souls and we live physically in a spiritual world; there are spirits working behind what we can see. This is why we are told to test the spirits. (1 John 4:1)
Over the past 50+ years our society has been entertained and programmed to worldly ideologies through television and internet. Often unknowingly, we have been influenced and counseled through these mediums. Now with artificial intelligence on the scene, it has become a companion and counselor to the feebleminded. This new era we are entering is definitely a Biblical one. There has never been a more urgent time than now to get our faces off the screens into the Word of God.
Ephesians 5:15-17 “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”
In Times Like These 