A Centre for Christian Living Open Night, discussing how to use social media wisely for the glory of God.

1. Face to Face or
Facebook?
Theology on Social Media
Monday 20 February 2012
CCL Open Night

2. 1. how does it work?
2. a crafted identity…
or a window to the soul?
3. the social impulse
4. using it for good
5. how technology changes us
6. Facebook: the corporation
7. ancient wisdom for the public square
8. how’s it work again?
9. opting out: the Amish option?

3. Jesse Rice,
The Church of
Facebook: How the
hyperconnected are
redefining community.
Colorado Springs, Colo.:
David C. Cook, 2009.

4. Tim Challies,
The Next Story: Life and
Faith after the Digital
Explosion.
Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, 2011.

5. 1. How does it work?

6. communicatejesus.com

7. 1. How does it work?

9. 2. Crafted identity or window to the soul?

10. 2. Crafted identity or window to the soul?
The pastor
„The mouth speaks [or, the status is updated with]
what the heart is full of‟ (Luke 6:45); that is, I can
usually tell what‟s most important to someone,
what/who they treasure, by reading their posts for
about a month.
But it‟s not an exact science, and it‟s not advisable to
rebuke and discipline a young adult under my
pastoral oversight simply because I „read into‟ his
latest status update. A face to face conversation is
always better

12. 2. Crafted identity or window to the soul?
Rice, pp 213-14
„Take a look at your profile – the pictures you‟ve
posted, the information you‟ve shared. Does the
content reflect your God-given nature? Is it „true‟ to
what you really see? If you‟re funny, by funny. If
you‟re artistic, be artistic. If you‟re neither, just be
you…
Are you being ‘you’ in the way you interact with
your Facebook friends?”

13. 3. The social impulse

14. 3. The social impulse

16. 3. The social impulse
Jesus: ‘… greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy,
slander, arrogance and folly …‟
(Mar 7:22 NIV)
Paul: „… quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger,
selfish ambitions, slander, gossip, arrogance…‟
(2 Cor 12:20 HCSB)

18. 3. The social impulse
A graduate student
“Not being on [Facebook] allows me to envy being
in on who‟s saying what on Facebook… I am a little
out of the loop… Not being on has hindered being
able to maintain light-level relationships [and] could
have hindered being able to develop deeper
connections. It‟s doubtlessly hindered me from
knowing what people really think about various
things too”

19. 4. Using it for good
 … our standard way of evaluating new technology
 … long list of excellent suggestions in booklet

20. 5. How technology changes us
Brock, Brian. Christian Ethics in a
Technological Age.
Eerdmans Publishing Co,
Michigan. 2010.

21. 5. How technology changes us
Young woman ‘A’
“the sub-text that you have to have a home computer
or an iPhone to feel part of a church community.
Event invitations can sometimes be sent purely via
Facebook; therefore if you‟re not on Facebook, you‟re
not invited.
I fear for those in our churches who don‟t have easy
access to expensive technology, and who may
already be feeling a sense of exclusion for other
reasons”

22. 5. How technology changes us
Young man ‘B’
“What I hate is all the time and energy devoted to it
takes my gaze off my own reality… I have plenty of
people in „this world‟ to get to know and yet my gaze
is taken off the immediate reality of my life to the
intangible reality of my life – connections from long
ago and friends I do not see in my street, my café or
my workplace.”

24. 6. Facebook: the corporation

25. The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over
her because no-one buys their cargoes any more –
cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls;
fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of
citron wood and articles of every kind made of
ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; cargoes
of cinnamon and spice, of incense myrrh and
frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and
wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and
bodies and souls of men.
Revelation 18:11-13

27. 7. Ancient wisdom in the public square
A fool does not delight in understanding, but only
wants to show off his opinions. (Proverbs 18:2)

28. 7. Ancient wisdom in the public square
A fool does not delight in understanding, but only
wants to show off his opinions. (Proverbs 18:2)
A shrewd person conceals knowledge, but a foolish
heart publicises stupidity. (Proverbs 12: 23)
… how are your comments looking?

29. 7. Ancient wisdom in the public square
It is honorable for a man to resolve a dispute, but any
fool can get himself into a quarrel.
(Proverbs 20:3).
… making flames or putting them out?

30. 7. Ancient wisdom in the public square
One that has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
(Proverbs 18:24).
… what sort of friends are they, really?

32. 7. Ancient wisdom in the public square
Wisdom is the focus of the perceptive,
but a fool's eyes roam to the ends of the earth.
(Proverbs 17:24).
… living in fantasy or reality?

34. 7. Ancient wisdom in the public square
Young woman ‘A’
“I think it‟s important to not let it replace “meeting
together, as some are in the habit of doing” and that
we use it to „spur one another one to love and good
deeds”. (Heb 10:24-25)

35. 7. Ancient wisdom in the public square
Young woman ‘A’
“I think it‟s important to not let it replace “meeting
together, as some are in the habit of doing” and that
we use it to „spur one another one to love and good
deeds”. (Heb 10:24-25)
Church:
1. gathers

36. 7. Ancient wisdom in the public square
Young woman ‘A’
“I think it‟s important to not let it replace “meeting
together, as some are in the habit of doing” and that
we use it to „spur one another one to love and good
deeds”. (Heb 10:24-25)
Church:
1. gathers
2. trains

37. 7. Ancient wisdom in the public square
Young woman ‘A’
“I think it‟s important to not let it replace “meeting
together, as some are in the habit of doing” and that
we use it to „spur one another one to love and good
deeds”. (Heb 10:24-25)
Church:
1. gathers
2. trains
3. includes

39. more about how
church forms us …
chs 18, 25, 34

40. 8. How’s it work again?
Rice:
1. Not when you wake and before you sleep

41. 8. How’s it work again?
Rice:
1. Not when you wake and before you sleep
2. Mindful and authentic facebook-ing

42. 8. How’s it work again?
Rice:
1. Not when you wake and before you sleep
2. Mindful and authentic facebook-ing
3. „Adopt a friend‟
(but we add: of same gender)

43. 8. How’s it work again?
Us:
4. Try Facebook‟s „Lists‟

44. 8. How’s it work again?
Us:
4. Try Facebook‟s „Lists‟
5. Protect yourself from envy

45. 8. How’s it work again?
Us:
4. Try Facebook‟s „Lists‟
5. Protect yourself from envy
6. Tap into people, pages and blogs that
increase your awareness

46. 8. How’s it work again?
Us:
4. Try Facebook‟s „Lists‟
5. Protect yourself from envy
6. Tap into people, pages and blogs that
increase your awareness
7. Don‟t practice self-deception

47. 9. Opting out: The Amish Option?

48. 9. Opting out: The Amish Option?
„We don‟t want to be the kind of people who will
interrupt a conversation at home to answer a
telephone. It‟s not just how you use the technology
that concerns us. We‟re also concerned about what
kind of person you become when you use it.‟
- Amish man

50. Thank you for joining us.