Facebook and God

Roger Olson has a good discussion about Facebook and Christian discipleship. Here's a snippet, but read the whole thing to get a feel for what he is saying:

Facebook is a perfect vehicle for Gnostic religion and spirituality. It can lead into belief that “virtual” friendships and relationships are real in the same way physical ones are. If Christianity is anything, it is a very embodied and physical religion. The incarnation and resurrection reveal that.

<idle musing>
That's my big beef with all forms of social media—even this blog! We need real flesh and blood people in our lives; we were made that way by God. Anything less results in spiritual malnutrition.

Social media should be an optional add-on, not the main course of our friendships and social interactions,. As I look around me at the people who walk by with their heads down, reading their latest text messages, I weep for what they are missing. We are real people with flesh and blood. We need real people with flesh and blood.

Don't get me wrong; I value the online friendships I've made over the years. But, they can never be a substitute for the in-your-face interactions I have on a daily basis.

Just an </idle musing>