Voices

Just Joe: Globes, maps & GPS

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Joe Ligon

Oklahoma Baptists’ Interim Executive Director-Treasurer @marlowpreacher

Back a few years ago, when I was still in elementary school, every school classroom had a globe in it. Every chance we would get, we would give that thing a good spin—sometimes slapping it several times to really get it going. And then we would use our finger to try to stop it at the exact place we were located.

Of course that was basically impossible. Even if you did get it stopped on the right continent, the possibility that your finger was in the right part of that continent was basically slim to none. Even if you stopped it in the right section of that continent, the possibility that you could pinpoint your location was just about impossible. One of the lessons that we took away from this was that this world is a great big place, and we are just a very small part of it.

From there we graduated to road maps. You remember those things? They were as big as a king size bed but were miraculously folded to fit into your back pocket. Once you got one of those spread out, with any luck, you could eventually figure out where you were. But while you were doing that, you couldn’t help feeling a bit miniscule compared to the rest of the map.

The problem with getting one of those maps unfolded, was trying to get it folded back up. Don’t let anyone fool you. That was basically an impossible task that often caused the one who was attempting to fold the cursed thing back into its original size to mumble stuff under his breath.

In fact, many people wrongly believe that the great magician Houdini died trying to escape from one of his tricks. The reality is Houdini died from a case of terminal frustration caused by trying to fold a road map. Yes, terminal frustration is a real thing. Just ask the mom of a middle school boy. Just ask a man who is waiting for the bacon to finish cooking. Just ask a Dallas Cowboy fan who is waiting on another Super Bowl win. (Calm down. That was a joke.)

Now of course we live in the age of GPS, smart phones and apps that are called maps. To top it off, there is this woman who lives in our phones who not only knows exactly where we are but also knows exactly how to get to where we want to go. And she will give you step-by-step directions to your destination.

She is incredibly smart and helpful, but she is also a bit stubborn and even sarcastic. Just miss one of the turns that she told you to take, and she is relentless in getting you back to where you should be. And if you have ever made the mistake of yelling at the woman who lives in your phone, she will just keep telling you what to do. (Not that I have ever yelled at the woman in the phone, but I have heard of lesser men being guilty of such roguish behavior.)

But I have digressed. Unlike a map that we unfolded or a globe that we spun, the map on our phone always puts us at the focal point, and the rest of world just sort of exists around us. There is the circle that represents us and the line that represents the road we are on. And there is that woman who keeps telling us how to get to where we want to go. But through it all, that circle that represents us remains the focal point.

That’s actually a pretty good depiction of how a whole bunch of folks live their lives these days. The problem is if you are intent on you being the focal point of your life, then you really aren’t living. Life is always lived best when it is focused on those around you.

If you want to know what that looks like, look at Jesus. You can never go wrong living like He did.

Sword & trowel: Pearls, swine & social media

Brian Hobbs

Editor of the Baptist Messenger @BrianGHobbs

According to a new Pew Research Poll, a vast majority of the population still uses social media. The new survey showed that the social media apps “YouTube and Facebook continue to dominate the online landscape, with 81 percent and 69 percent, respectively, reporting ever using these sites.”

This continued widespread use of social media means a lot of people are spending a great deal of their daily lives on social media. Moreover, it also means a lot of people are talking about many things these days.

As author Amy Jo Martin said, “Social media… gives a voice and a platform to anyone willing to engage.” From politics to sports, foreign policy to theology, you do not have to look far these days to find people using social media to amplify their voice.

Christians are among those riding this wave of social media, many of whom are attempting to be a faithful presence on social media and be salt and light in the online world.

Now that we are 15-plus years into this cultural experiment of social media, it’s a good time to reflect on the good, the bad and the ugly of what has come from our involvement.

Popular pastor and author John Piper wrote a valuable article in 2009 about why he was joining the social media bandwagon. He said, “I see two kinds of response to social Internet media like blogging, Facebook, Twitter, and others.

“One says: These media tend to shorten attention spans, weaken discursive reasoning, lure people away from Scripture and prayer, disembody relationships, feed the fires of narcissism, cater to the craving for attention, fill the world with drivel, shrink the soul’s capacity for greatness, and make us second-handers who comment on life when we ought to be living it. So boycott them and write books (not blogs) about the problem.

“The other response says: Yes, there is truth in all of that, but instead of boycotting, try to fill these media with as much provocative, reasonable, Bible-saturated, prayerful, relational, Christ-exalting, truth-driven, serious, creative pointers to true greatness as you can.”

Piper’s assessment rings true even today. I think Christians are finding out the hard way that it’s more likely than not that social media will have a net negative effect on the people who participate in them.

Jesus said, “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you” (Matt. 7:6).

There are a lot of Christians today casting their pearls of wisdom on social media. They then seem to act surprised when people trample it under their feet. I would therefore encourage Christians to manage our expectations of the social media world. Think about it. It’s highly likely those pearls you put out there will get trampled upon, even if you hope it will spread salt and light.

I have heard reports of Christians, who were once active on social media, taking a break from it. Others are deciding to get off social media altogether.

But if, as the polling data suggests, social media is here to stay, Christians will need to learn to be even wiser about what we say and what we do online. After all, we don’t want our precious pearls like the Gospel to be trampled on social media.