Fantasies tend to dominate our minds while the real world dominates our reality. We don't like the real world. It is too hard. Fantasies are something we can create and control ourselves. That is why they are so attractive to us.
Facebook is a fantasy world. Yes. there are real people who post real events and things that mean something to them, but the thing about it is that it isn't all the truth about our friends. When we interact with people, we can see much more about them. One fantasy world that women get involved with is chat rooms. Men can use the fact that women are looking for relationships and also want to cure their lonliness to their advantage. Scam artists abound and use their smooth words to dupe many a woman out of money. Facebook is also where we see all these lovely pictures of people that we know or maybe want to know.
What can you tell about a girl's heart who posts all these Bible verses on her wall and talks about Jesus all the time? Nothing about what her heart is really like. Only God can know that. Yet many of us men tend to evaluate a woman based on the images they see on Facebook and the things they write about. Is this a valid way to know someone? I don't think so.
What is it about Facebook, or any other social media site for that matter, that attracts our attention. For me it has been the draw of instantly telling the world how great you are and how nice and attractive you are and how much everyone else ought to like you. No wonder millions of people are hooked on this website! I have a Facebook account. Don't think I am judging people who are on it. One thing I look at sometimes is the self-centeredness that there is in me that would seek to take advantage of this social media to perpetuate the image I want others to see of me.
Fantasies also cater toward our desire for control and our aversion toward rejection (at least in my case). Masturbation, pornography, prostitution, sex before marriage, adultery, one-night stands and homosexual relationships all make up the filthy, hidden side of our outward portrayal of ourselves that we let others see. We can still be self-respecting and have all of these other things in our lives and no one will ever know on Facebook. We can be in control of every urge that we feel with the Internet. It is so easy to go to pornography when you are rejected by some girl. You can cope with life by the Internet and television. That is why no matter how poor we become we will always make sure we are connected to some entertainment.
What is the answer to all this? Reality. Reality about what God thinks about all our portrayal of ourselves. The reality that God knows all of what we do in secret and how we portray ourselves to the world and how all of this is abhorrent to Him. Also the reality about ourselves, the reality is that we love to think the best of ourselves so we put all the things we want others to see on the Internet. At the same time we have all these hidden things in our lives that we don't want anyone to know about. We need to understand the reality that the world doesn't revolve around us. The character of God is hidden from us as we spend time connected to this world and the things of it. We as Christians should be connected to God and deriving all of our good from Him and only connected to people consequentially.
No comments:
Post a Comment