I have thought about this often. For many years I have discussed and listened to the novel idea about whether Jesus would be a democrat or republican in today’s society, and as you can imagine it stirs passion among many. So I thought, why not place Jesus under the glaring white hot light of that which has consumed our society at this moment in time… social media? I think it is safe to say that Jesus was controversial when he lived 2 thousand years ago, and he is just as controversial today among certain crowds. I have no intention of expounding upon my own personal religious beliefs here, and I know that talking about religion makes some people nervous and queasy. I am not the first person to ask this of course, but I just want to pause for a moment and daydream a little.
So I ask the question… if Jesus were walking among us today, would he have a Facebook account?
To make a valid argument on this, I think it behooves me to describe what I think are some of Jesus’ defining characteristics. If we list the defining characteristics of his personality and life, then I think that will give us an idea of the types of things he would spend his time on.
Jesus cared deeply for others, and that’s probably kind of an understatement. He spent vast amounts of time connecting with others. He grew up a carpenter, working and creating things with his hands. He told lots of stories. He traveled around to lots of places, so he was aware of other cultures and people. He was just about as anti-establishment as you can get. So much so that they killed him for it. He was controversial, misunderstood, disruptive, and passionate about a bunch of things.
Now you tell me if those things don’t describe social media? Misunderstood, disruptive, anti-establishment. Social media is all about being creative. Spending vast amounts of time connecting with others. People bare their souls in social media and tell stories constantly. Social media is international and you will be able to connect with people from other cultures and races.
Yes, Jesus would not just participate in social media, he would tweet constantly, he would of course blog, and he most certainly would try to make as many connections as possible on Facebook.
Now, to the question of whether he would play Farmville?? I don’t think so. I mean, after bringing all creation into being, spending your hours making digital versions of crops seems a little boring, don’t you think?
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Nice Lisa!!
Yes. And the answer to the question about politics is, neither…,and both. (Clearly, he was not one to be dominated by the “tyranny of the OR”.) However, I do think he would’ve had the good sense to know that changing one’s profile pic to a cartoon character doesn’t REALLY do anything to “help fight child abuse”; he was definitely an advocate of “walk the walk; don’t just repeat the tweet”. 🙂
Good point! What is that expression…. angels among us??
First, how do you know Jesus is not already on Facebook or in Facebook? Second, it would not be fair for him to play Farmville, his crops would miraculously multiply.