My dad always told me, "Son, you have to have thick skin if you are going into the ministry. If you don't you won't survive." How little did I know how true that would be the older I get.
Social media has become the new attack zone for people that don't like something you do, something you say, or something about you. This is the land of the free and the home of the brave. We do have the freedom of the press and I'm thankful for that. However, people who disagree with you over something often get on one of the social media sites and try and use that as a weapon against you.
I'm not writing about those who express their opinions or their beliefs, but I'm writing about those who say something that impugned the character and/or integrity of another person. They blatantly express their disagreements trying to justify their position and also to make the one they're in disagreement with look bad. It's happened to ordinary people, it's happened to celebrities, and guess what it can happen to you.
I remember about two and a half years ago when I left my former church some of dearest "friends" put things on one social media sight that I never saw, but others who knew me did. They were so incensed about it that they were willing to do whatever was necessary to protect me from those kinds of attacks. In fact the slurs and comments referring to me, made by a couple of individuals, were erased by them because the individuals they thought they were going to be sued for defamation of character. It's no wonder that some have called these outlets last day tools of the devil because of the ability to hurt someone without ever physically touching them by posting lies on a social website.
I, on the other hand, have thought about how good social media sights can be if you do the right thing with them. Again, this is my opinion, but we ought to take everything at our disposal and use it for good if we can. These are just some simple suggestions I believe will help all of us put social media to good use:
-Don't use any social media site to attack, defame, or denigrate someones character. We are all fallible people that can and do make mistakes. Let us not glory in some one's failure or capitalize on someones misfortune. If you have an issue with someone individually do what the Bible says and go to them and make things right. Make it a private conversation and not one that everybody can read and form a different opinion about. You can state your opinion or disagreement if you desire, but don't try to suggest or refer to someone personally. All you could be doing is starting a fire that doesn't need to be started.
-If you make a decision for a change in your life don't use social media to continually try and justify it. Facebook and Twitter allow you to express your words, thoughts, and opinions on any subject that you desire to within their allowable info streams. Yet many have again tried to use these outlets to justify changes in their lives that are questionable by posting thoughts, pictures, and other things that others really don't need to know. If something changes in your life it's nobodys business but yours. I get very frustrated by those who want to continually justify the reason why they are doing something so that they will look good to others. Often times it leaves the question out there-Why? Once that question is asked things begin to escalate and that's where the problems begin. If change happens in your life just go on with it and leave it as that. Your decision is your decision and yours alone. The only one you have to justify it to is God.
-Don't let any kind of social media take away from what is Biblical and right.
Hebrews 13:5 "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
Hebrews 13:7 "Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation."
1 Peter 2:12 "Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation."
Over the years I have received letters from one particular family with an unusual last name-"Anonymous". They must all be related because I've had one of their family members in every church that I have served. They are an unusual family because they don't have the nerve to talk with you face to face, but they sure can let you hold it in written form. These folks also must have a hotline to God that I haven't found yet because every one of them have told me if I would just do what their letter said things would change for good. They've also told me that if I didn't heed their warning that trouble was going to come my way. Sadly, not a one of them ever came to sit down and talk with me face to face, which is what the Word of God instructs us to do. They expected me to live in fear or intimidation from their words written on a piece of paper.
Receiving anonymous mail is one thing. You can ball it up and throw it in the trash, but when some one makes a derogatory statement that refers to you on one of these sites or attaches pictures or posters that contain words you are not associated with it's embarrassing and hard to explain.
So in conclusion they best thing to do is use social media for good. If you can't, don't use it at all. It's not worth your time to write it or the time of others to read it.
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