Answers
By BGEA Admin • June 13, 2023 • Topics: Relationships
Q:
The Bible instructs us to avoid foolish controversies because they aren’t profitable or useful. It seems that the high amount of time spent on social media has increased this foolishness, giving people an outlet to provoke one another or to find common ground in useless emotion.
A:
From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham
How coincidental that Facebook, a 21st-century phenomenon, was conceived and given birth at Harvard. This social media networking website tapped into the deepest of human need—to belong. Forbes reported when Facebook topped a billion users—one out of every seven people on planet Earth. One blogger stated that people’s obsession with Facebook lies in the “innate human drive for social acceptance,” which is “as old as human history.”
The most popular feature is that it allows individuals to include or exclude friends, creating competition for popularity by befriending or defriending people they don’t even know. Facebook also gives members bragging rights to post how many friends a member has, and the most brutal is when a member’s Facebook page has “0 friends.” Reuters reported that a young couple was murdered in their home by someone they had “defriended.” The murderer apparently could not bear the stigma of not belonging.
Social media has become something like a personal billboard, where the most intimate thoughts are posted on a wall in cyberspace. Much of the messaging flashes, li neon signs of frustration. But one thing that is not foolish is to realize that everyone can belong to the Giver of life who saves souls from sin and the weariness of loneliness. Spending time in God’s Word will produce more good than the world can offer through any outlet. One day, we will all meet Jesus Christ face to face, and we must ask ourselves if we know Him as our Savior and Lord.
(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)
