What Would Jesus Post?: Seven Principles Christians Should Follow in Social Media
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About this ebook
Social media gives each of us enormous power to influence others for good or ill. But far too many Christians ignore the opportunities and undermine their own reputations through thoughtless words shared online. This book comes directly from the authors experiences as an attorney and a church leader and offers seven simple guidelines for exercising Biblical wisdom in social media.
Brian D. Wassom
Brian D. Wassom is a partner in a Michigan-based law firm and chairs the firm’s Social and Emerging Media team. He authors a popular blog and other resources on the legal aspects of social media and has traveled across the country—from New York to Honolulu and many points in between—speaking and teaching on these issues to legal, academic, and business audiences. Brian is also a lifelong Christ-follower and active in his nondenominational congregation, where he was elected to serve as an Elder in 2011. Brian lives with his wife, Sheri, and their two children in the metropolitan Detroit area. You can find more of Brian’s writings on Biblical wisdom at ProverbialPath.com.
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Reviews for What Would Jesus Post?
2 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I read What would Jesus Post in exchange for honest review from BookLook Bloggers. I finished post of the book in less than an hour. I loved the book. The book teaches people how their behaviors online affect their reputation and relationship with God. What we post doesn't affect us only. We need to think about what we post before we post. We also need to consider how our actions can affect others' behaviors. We can lose a job over social media based on what we post. We can lose friends based on what we post. We can lead others to fall based on what we post. We also may become more accepting of ungodly things, based on what we see and comment on social media. While social media is a good thing, we can't control how people will interpret our statuses and pictures. This was a great read.
Book preview
What Would Jesus Post? - Brian D. Wassom
Table of Contents
Introduction
Seven Principles For Using Social Media
Think Before You Post
To Your Own Self Be True
Guard Your Heart
Don’t Miss The Forest For The Trees
Don’t Be A Stumbling Block
Be A Peacemaker
Build Genuine Community
Conclusion
Endnotes
Acknowledgements and Dedication
This book would never have materialized without the encouragement and insights of the pastors and elders of my faith family, Rockpointe Community Church. Many of the thoughts developed here originated during conversations on how to best guide our congregation through the spiritual challenges of an always-on digital world.
Nor would I have seen this project through to completion without the emotional and editorial support of my wife, Sheri, who makes each of my days better by being in it. Special thanks as well to Mickey Badalamenti for helpful feedback on text and design.
I dedicate this book to Eva and Dayton, for whom today’s media will be a quaint relic by the time they reach adulthood. May this text be only one of many influences leading them along the path of Biblical wisdom for the rest of their days.
Introduction
With great power comes great responsibility.
If the Spiderman movies have done nothing else, they have certainly ingrained that particular phrase into the public consciousness. But Jesus told us something very similar two thousand years ago. In Luke 12:48, he says, When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.
In other words, when God gives us the power to make a difference in the lives of others, He expects us to use that power, and to use it well.
And make no mistake: social media gives us great power indeed. As a society, we’ve already become so accustomed to the internet that we rarely stop to appreciate what a revolutionary achievement it is. Never before has virtually every person on the planet had an opportunity to communicate with every other person, let alone in real time, through text, images and video. Book publishing, recorded music, filmmaking, news reporting, banking, and retail are just a few of the industries that have been radically transformed or nearly eliminated by this advance in communications technology. It is only relatively recently that the technology became ubiquitous and mobile enough to insert itself into our daily social lives and interactions with friends. But in a few short years it has already reshaped the way we engage in even those basic activities every bit as much as it has reshaped the way we shop for books or music. That is a level of power that the greatest kings and most successful despots in human history could scarcely have dreamed of wielding.
That is why I believe it is vitally important for we who identify as Christ-followers to pay attention to social media. If we take seriously Jesus’ command in Matthew 22:37-40 to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind … [and] love your neighbor as yourself,
and if we recognize the power that social media can have both on our own hearts and minds and on our relationships with others, then we need to be asking ourselves such questions as, Am I honoring God with how I use social media?
What effect are these sites having on me as a person?
and How could I use this technology to be a better friend to the people in my life?
I wrote this book because I couldn’t find another one that was asking these questions or suggesting answers from a Biblical viewpoint. The need for these types of conversations is abundant. In my professional life, I spend a lot of time both litigating commercial disputes and writing legal commentary. In both contexts, I constantly encounter new examples of how people misbehave in social media, and how they allow themselves to say and do things online that they likely would have never done in another context. Likewise, in the leadership role I hold within my church community, I have seen far too much evidence of social media’s corrosive effects on the lives of those around me. Loose words and poorly thought-out actions online have ruined relationships, caused offense, and even soured people on faith altogether.
Yet despite all of this fallout, I’ve also seen much good come out of interactions that took place, in whole or in part, online. People have been drawn back into fellowship by their Facebook friends. Others have delivered encouragement to people in times of need that they wouldn’t have known about if not for social media. But social media itself is morally neutral. The ability to interact with others online is a