It was an embarrassing moment. “It’s gone out on Twitter and Facebook” said our blog editor. Having been (I admit it) rude about those who regularly use social media, I was rather astonished to find that my first book review for the Good Book Company blog had also gone out on social media – and had, within a few minutes, been read by folk in South Africa and the U.S.A.!
This led me to a more considered response (!).
Twitter has done much good in exposing what is really happening in Iran, the Arab Spring countries and Syria, for example, and reading Tim Chester’s little book, Will you be my Facebook friend?, has been very helpful in reflecting upon the positive and negative sides of YouTube, emails, Facebook and Twitter etc.
Tim Chester sets out some basic facts – e.g. 100,000 tweets every day, over 500 million users of Facebook worldwide, 200 million emails sent daily – and gives a very balanced, concise, Bible-based and challenging assessment, both of the issues and the practical implications for everyday Christian living.
He looks at what can be the problems with social media, how we can recreate our world in an unreal way (giving six possible warning signs) and seek to escape our limitations through use of these media – and then contrasts this with ‘the Face Book of God’, the gospel, where God turns His face towards us (Numbers 6:26), recreating us in His image (2 Corinthians 3:18) and recreating His world through His words. He ends with twelve really helpful ‘Guidelines for Social Networking’ (do’s and don’t’s) – e.g. Set aside a day a week as a technology ‘Sabbath’ or ‘fast’.
Each chapter is brief and to the point, takes us to Scripture and contains searching questions and tests to apply to ourselves, e.g. ‘Is your Facebook self more attractive or successful than your real-world self?’, ‘Am I using Facebook to enhance real-world friendships, or to replace them?’ and ‘Suppose I told you to give up all your social media for a month. How would you respond? Easy? Or does that sound impossible?’
This is an even-handed, honest and searching book that I have recommended at church and that would positively benefit all who read it. The question is: Are we willing to have some of our habits challenged and reformed by Scripture? Why not find out by reading this book yourself?...
Richard John
Bookstall Manager, Selhurst Evangelical Church (FIEC), S.E. London
