If all that non-Christians know of Christianity is what they see from Christians on social media, then what is their understanding of our faith?
I’ve been pondering this recently because I’m often shocked at the things I see Christians posting on their social media pages. There are some things we just need to avoid sharing. Here are four that I see particularly often.
Things Christians shouldn’t share on social media
1. Posts that ask others to type “amen,” like, or share
I’m pretty sure we’ve all seen images on social media that are accompanied by the following types of instructions:
- “Like and share if you are a part of God’s family.”
- “Repost this if you love God. He already saw you read it. 97% of Facebook users won’t repost this, but if you are part of the 3% who really cares, then like and repost this.”
- “Type ‘amen’ if you need a miracle today.”
- “Like and share this in order to receive a special blessing today.”
There is no Biblical precedent for “typing ‘amen’ if you need a miracle” or sharing a post “if you are a part of God’s family.” Moreover, there is absolutely nothing in the Bible to lead us to believe that the simple act of sharing a post will bring us special blessings! Some Christians may claim that sharing these posts demonstrates that you are not ashamed of the Gospel (Romans 1:16). However, these posts are not the Gospel.
The Gospel is that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose from the dead so we can have salvation (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Non-Christians take the Gospel seriously when we love them, meet their practical needs, and keep ourselves from being polluted by the world (Matthew 22:37-40, James 1:22-27), not when we share these types of posts on our social media accounts.
Another significant issue with these types of posts is that they are often created by disreputable organizations or individuals who are engaging in “like-farming.” When you like, share, and repin these posts, you are helping publicize these groups and individuals so they can find more scam victims or make money off of unsuspecting followers. Here’s how Consumer Affairs explains the process:
“Like-farmers start pages and fill them with content dedicated to collecting as many ‘likes’ or ‘shares’ as possible in the shortest amount of time.
Since Facebook’s algorithms place a high value on popularity (as measured by likes and shares), these highly liked and shared pages therefore have a much higher chance of appearing in people’s ‘Feeds’ and being seen by other Facebook users.
Then, once the page has a sufficiently high popularity rating, the like-farmer either removes the page’s original content and replaces it with something else (usually malware or scam advertising); leaves the page as is and uses it as a platform for continued like-farming in order to spread malware, collect people’s marketing information or engage in other harmful activities; or outright sells the highly liked site to cybercriminals in a black market web forum.
…
Many like-farmers rely on appeals to emotion: anytime you’re urged to ‘like’ or ‘share’ a post that pulls at your heartstrings or pushes your buttons, there’s likely a like-farmer behind it.”
This is scary, isn’t it? It’s likely that the like-farmers aren’t Christians and that they actually have malicious intentions.
This doesn’t mean that we can’t share Bible verses, inspirational stories, or prayer requests. It just means we should be loving and respectful in our approaches. If you want to share an inspirational picture, then do it. It you want to share a verse, then do it. Just don’t badger people into liking or sharing your post!
Stay tuned…
Though this is a lot to take in, it’s only the first of four types of posts I want to address. Join me next week to look at the other three.
Are you familiar with the types of posts I’ve described above? How do you usually respond when you see them?
Shared at the following link parties:
Coffee and Conversation, Shine Blog Hop, Grace and Truth, Faith ‘n Friends, Making Your Home Sing, Titus 2 Tuesday, and Faith Filled Wednesdays.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
I’m glad I’m not the only one bothered by these posts! 🙂
Not to mention the guilt trips people are trying to lay on others. . . .
Hi Susan,
Good point! It’s not our place to make others feel shame or guilt.
I can’t stand guilt ridden statuses in the name of the Lord. Christ took our guilt and shame on the cross and for people to stir it up is just awful! I never EVER forward that junk!
Great reminder, Lillian! “Christ took our guilt and shame on the cross…”
Agree!!!! I didn’t know about the “like farmers,” that’s really interesting and makes these kinds of posts so much worse. It just always bugs me about how they don’t do anything worthwhile, and I think it would be so much more beneficial to have good, beautiful, transformative posts that actually spread the Gospel instead of trying to yell out to the internet, “Hey, if you believe in God, like this picture and if you don’t, you’re a liar!”
I think you are right, AnneMarie. If all of these posts were replaced with good, beneficial posts, we’d actually see the Gospel spread instead of seeing people roll their eyes or feel guilt.
High 5 Shannon 😄😉
I hear you.
Blessings
Thanks for stopping by, Ifeoma.
YES!!! I hate it when I see people post those for several reasons-one of which is the reason you mentioned. Being in the special needs community, I personally know several parents whose children’s photo were stolen and used for one of those posts. It’s called digital kidnapping and it’s an awful thing.
Hi Hannah,
I have read about this happening. Individuals and organizations should only use pictures that are their own, but it is especially awful when they use pictures of sick, injured, or special needs kids for their devious purposes. Thanks for sharing about this!
It looks like many of us agree with you, Shannon. I really like that you’re asking the question about the message we are sending to the rest of the world. I can’t wait for the next three! Blessings! I’d love to have you share this at my Blog Hop! I’d really like to help you spread the word!
Hi Deb,
Thanks for sharing about the link party. I’ll check it out!
I feel like giving you a hug through my laptop.
I’m sharing this on Facebook right now.
I always delete all such posts on contact. They stir up righteous indignation within my spirit.
Thank you so much. Your words are clear, candid and powerful.
You are blessed.
Chizobam
Hi Chizobam,
Thanks for your kind words. Perhaps discussing this and sharing about it will make a difference so we see it much less often.
You have hit the nail on the head. I am glad i read this. Thank you Shannon and God bless.
Hi Mary,
I’m sure I’ve stepped on some toes in the process, but I think it is an important topic. Thanks for visiting!