Sunday, March 23, 2014


The Ten Commandments Of Facebook



God’s ethical principles are binding upon all spheres of life. Those of us who call ourselves disciples of Christ must be willing to bow before the Lord’s demands whether in public or private.

Today I want to apply the Ten Commandments to our Facebook activity.

1.- "Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

Does Facebook occupy more time than your spiritual communion with the Lord? Has social networking become more stimulating to you than the presence of God? If so, the Spirit calls upon you to repent. Nothing must take the place of God in a believer’s heart.

2.- “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.”

Making an image of God had to do with misrepresenting the character of the Almighty. The Israelites were forbidden from making any physical images of the Lord. Such images were a distortion of who the Lord really was. In the same manner many times the ‘Facebook God’ we encounter today online has nothing whatsoever to do with the Sovereign of the biblical account. The social network deity is a ‘Barbie Jesus’ or a ‘Teddy Bear Jesus’ who just wants to hug and kiss and tickle you to death. This- I’m afraid- is not the awesome God of Scripture.

3.- “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”

The Lord’s name is taken in vain on an hourly basis on Facebook. How many times a day do you read of flippant folk who upload comments saying, “God told me…” when God never said a word? That is false prophecy. God’s name is also mocked by these nonsensical posters that manipulate people into clicking ‘Like’ i.e. click ‘Like’ and send this image to ten people for God to bless you, etc. It’s nothing other than modern day blasphemy.

4.- “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

The fourth commandment shows us that we must take a break from the computer. Too much laptopping is not good for you! Our brain noodles and bodies need a rest from electronic stimuli. When was the last time you just took some free time to spend the day with your loved ones and looked them in their eyes to show them how much you cherish them? Surely people are more important than machines! Or am I wrong? Don’t sacrifice real-life relationships for cybernetic ones.

5.- “Honour thy father and thy mother.”

Let me be very direct: Facebook is not the place to hit out at your family. I can’t believe it when contacts of mine say horrifically damaging things via their statuses for public viewing. Private family matters are supposed to remain private. It takes a real coward to publish something demeaning about their family for everyone else to see. Why not be a real man or a real woman and talk about things heart-to-heart before reaching out for your keyboard? You should glorify your family online and spread good things about them to others. How would you like your loved ones to upload hurtful remarks about you for all to see?

6.- “Thou shalt not kill.”

Jesus explained that killing is hating. Not only should Christians be on their guard so as to respect their families, but we are also called to respect all men and women regardless of their condition. Every human being is made in God’s image and that theological fact alone means that they are worthy of our patience, love, forgiveness and kindness even when they spurt out venomous filth to harm us. We should always be quick to forgive and not to slay others with our tongues.

7.- “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”

Unfortunately one of the biggest problems with social networking has to do with photos. Some of them just simply verge on the pornographic. Over the years, I’ve deleted various contacts for uploading dirt. They dressed up like a piece of meat and shared it online to get attention from dogs. Why would any self-respecting (not to mention God-fearing person) ever act in such a manner? You should be jealous for your body. At the end of the day, it’s not yours but God’s. You’re called to glorify Him with your members; not to draw attention to yourself. None of our images should provoke ungodly desires in others.

8.- “Thou shalt not steal.”

Stealing means taking what isn’t yours without permission. I think it’s a good ethical principle to always give credit where credit’s due. If a particular quote catches our attention then it is always a good idea to make mention of the person we are quoting (and the same could be said of anything else we upload).

9.- “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.”

False witnesses are liars, gossipers and slanderers. These type of activities are always found amongst the lazy (Paul made this connection in 2 Thessalonians 3:11-12). We shouldn’t misinterpret people’s words without understanding the context in which they were expressed. And we should also be wary of spurious breaking news reports that are totally fabricated by troublemakers. Every believer must check the sources of every story to make sure they are trustworthy and authentic. Just in the last month alone Michael Schumacher had supposedly died and President Obama was having an affair and heading for a divorce. Such lies spread on our Pages give our enemies a great opportunity to slander the Gospel.

10.- “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house.”

And finally, coveting. There are some people online who just want to get well-known and make a name for themselves. Rather than rejoicing when another Christian Page progresses and uses its influence for the Good News, some folk get madly envious and dream up man-made schemes of getting their own names in lights. God demands us to be content with what we have. Facebook is meant to be for social interaction; not self-glorification. 

 Written by Pastor Will Graham

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