I do not say that I will write something every day (Day 1, Day 2, etc), but I have noticed some things with actually less than a day (1/2 a day) following deleting my facebook account. For all of you readers of Bring the Books, our facebook page is still there, the President didn't take it down by an executive order via the FCC or anything. I know you checked! Maybe not because who would actually think that would happen? My life without facebook means that I have been going through facebook withdraw. I wonder if this is what being addicted to nicotine is like. Facebook was an idol for me. The I word. If you use facebook, it is probably an idol for you too, but not necessarily. My mom uses it and she hardly gets on. Now I am not trying to view myself as better than anyone because I left my idol behind. In fact, it is still an idol. Let me explain why I deleted my account. I did so because it was a waste of time. I'd be working on my sermon, and I'd distract myself by checking my email and once there I'd then automactically right-click on my facebook bookmark and open up the page. I did this a lot. "Oh, I got a message and a notification. Yippee, I'm important."10 minutes later after checking the message and scrolling through everyone's updates, clicking on a link that had to do with guns or politics or something to do with Christianity I'd go back to sermon prep. A waste of time. Spending time with family and there I am checking my facebook, even responding to my wife's comments on her facebook. She was sitting right there next to me. I could've been talking with her.
How do I know facebook was/is an idol to me? Even now I'll open up my browser and look for the facebook bookmark I deleted, it won't be there, and part of me inside says, "I wish I could check my facebook to see what is happening." That's an idol. Where are my thoughts of, "I wish I could check my Bible to see what else God has said" or "I must pray so I can have communion with God right now or have that time with Him unceasingly"? My life, in fact, is not filled with prayer as I am commanded by Him for my own good and His glory. I care more about my own glory.
After I deleted my fb account, a friend (Pastor) emailed me shocked that I would leave, but then said the following:
Do you think I should leave Facebook too? [My wife and] I have talked about it.
Pro 1. I waste huge amounts of time.
2. My church members can see that I'm wasting time
3. I get frothed up over stupid things that stupid people say and are Facebook friends but not really friends. I haven't seen some of them in decades.
4. There are privacy issues with using Facebook.
Con 1. I can't send Christian related material out to people who don't otherwise get it.
2. I can't network with people in our denomination.
3. I can't track interesting material and so on from "interest pages" otherwise.
4. I can't share pictures and so on with family and close friends
You might be able to think of more pros and cons.
What say you?
I thought that was a pretty good Pro/Con list, except for Con #3. That could be both Pro and Con because you can live without most of the 'interesting material' you see on fb, but the Christian/Biblical stuff is usually pretty good. I responded by telling him I couldn't answer that question for him or for his wife, but here is the answer I came to: it's an idol. If Yahweh is God, then I can't be on fb. What do you think about fb?
I think that I'm glad that you're now blogging about (ostensibly) books instead of Facebook. Books are superior tools, with much fewer cons.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the con reason number three is concerned, "I can't track interesting material and so on from 'interest pages' otherwise", most of that is posted from blogs and webpages anyway. If it is that good you can email it to your friends. The rest of the Christian Church will find it on outstanding blogs such as this one.
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