Jon Speed’s Facebook account, born sometime around 2008 in
Justin, TX died a timely death this last week of August 2012 in Syracuse,
NY. The cause of its demise was a
healthy dose of repentance after a bout with common sense. “It
should have died long ago” Jon was reported to have said.
Surviving is Jon Speed himself, his family of six, and
Christ is King Baptist Church in Syracuse, NY.
It is expected that these, the most important people in Jon’s life, will
not only survive, but flourish without the distraction of Facebook. No visiting hours or funeral service will be
observed. The account will be buried in
an umarked grave and hopefully, will not be remembered by any one, at any time,
for any reason.
In lieu of flowers and cards,
friends are advised to send money and lots of it in bills that end with “zero”. How many zeroes is completely up to the
generosity and the philanthropy of the Facebook friends (aka heart stricken and
extremely giving mourners). Jon is
hoping with somewhere around 3 bazillion friends, he should be able to buy some
books, because there are not enough in Jon’s house. Kim could not be reached for comment but
weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth were heard in the distance.
Yes, I am leaving Facebook.
No doubt, those who remain will wonder why. Some will hold to its imminent usefulness,
and I agree. It is useful in its
way. Therefore Christ is King Baptist
Church will have a profile for the use of its people. It is also dangerous in its way.
This death is overdue.
Reports of it will not be greatly exaggerated. There are so many reasons to abandon Facebook,
reasons I have been warned about over the last couple of years but did not
heed. I don’t think there is enough
space in one essay to list them all, but let me give you the highlights.
1. Facebook is a good
way to cause believers, new and mature, to stumble. I have some pretty strong opinions. I have expressed opinions about books,
theology, politics, woodchucks, fishing, child rearing, and St. Swiven’s
Day. Facebook gives me instant access to
about 2600 people and I am free to let them all know what I think so that they
can “like” it or comment on it.
Eventually someone stumbles. Somewhere I read something about loving my
brothers and sisters in Christ. I have
reached these opinions through a lot of study, thought and in some cases,
prayer. It’s not fair and unloving to
unload these like a shotgun on people without some context.
I love to write and plan on continuing to write. But my best efforts should not be on the
internet buried in some file somewhere, but in books that are published and on carefully
written blogs. The longevity of writing depends on the medium
it is preserved in and diatribes in 140 characters or less is not writing. It is venting. And when we vent we tend to hurt someone who
may disagree with us no matter how self justified we think we may be.
And let’s be honest.
Sometimes I like to roll the proverbial hand grenade in the room and see
what happens. Sometimes I like debate
too much. That’s just my flesh and it
needs to die.
2. Facebook is
divisive within churches. We’re too
young as a church here in Syracuse to have seen much of this, but I have seen
it elsewhere. Largely because of the
reasons delineated above, people leave churches. Good churches. Recently someone used the involvement of
someone on Facebook as an excuse to leave a church. (BTW, if you think it is you, it’s probably
not. The fact I have to say this is sad
by itself.) The excuse was lame and
masked about a dozen other reasons, but I never want to give any believer any
ammo or excuse. In leadership, free
expression of everything and anything instantly, in the matter of a fraction of
a second, is a nice recipe for disaster.
There’s a reason I study for many hours during the week before preaching
on Sunday morning. I am accountable for
my words. I am no less accountable on
Facebook.
3. Who has time for
this stuff? Seriously, if you are called
to ministry you don’t need to know what everyone is doing around the
world. You have enough right where you
are to worry about without trying to live in community with people in a virtual
online world. It doesn’t work. I think that most of us are trying to find something
on Facebook that we’re only supposed to find (and CAN only find in reality) in
the local church. Before Facebook, we
used to do the same thing on message boards.
4. There’s stuff I
want to read. From where I sit I see the
works of Jonathan Edwards, seven volumes on Hebrews by John Owen, George
Whitefield’s Journals, two volumes on Hudson Taylor, a whole shelf on the
history of preaching, the works of Tolkien, a whole bookshelf of classics, and
a pile more. I also want to read more American history. I think I’d be better served reading this
stuff than either: 1) what someone had for dinner last night, 2) countless
internet memes, 3) invitations to Farmville, and 4) the endless reports of
people’s evangelism outings that sound strangely familiar after reading them
for the past eight years (sorry, it’s true—there’s the hand grenade).
By the way, leaders are readers. And they read books. Real ones with pages. It’s
not enough to read good blogs from favorite preacher\writers. You learn to think by interacting with entire
books, not just a couple of pages. So
repent and buy a book. And then read
it.
5. There’s stuff I
want to write. I’ve been asked to write
a book on evangelism (yes, another one, whether we need it or not!). I have at least three other book ideas. I’m contributing to Crown Rights’ Media’s
blog (which I am extremely excited about) and have another blog I may air my
opinions on. The difference is, if you
want to read it, you have to go look for it and not have it on your newsfeed
whether you like it or not. If you read
it now, you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.
6. There’s stuff I
want to do. I want to trap furbearing
animals, rip their skins off, and sell them for fun and profit (I just lost
half of my friends there). I want to
hunt meat-bearing animals and eat the meat they’ve been carrying around (there
goes a few more). Not to mention the
fish swimming around freely in New York State lakes—yum, yum, yum. I come from a long line of people who kill
things and eat them. I want to teach my
sons to be men and not to be chained to a computer screen.
7. My mother-in-law
is dying. When you watch loved ones die
real deaths, things come into focus a bit.
Stuff that doesn’t matter is exposed as not mattering. For example, how I am perceived by those who
are my virtual friends--doesn’t matter.
People matter. I need to spend
time with people I am invested in and who are invested with me. The
Lord matters. What people think of
me? That doesn’t matter a hill of
beans.
7. I’m planting a
church. Nuff said.
In the meantime, I exist in the real world on the south side
of Syracuse, NY. You may find me there,
evangelizing on the streets, standing in front of Planned Parenthood, reading
good books, selling books, writing, loving my family and killing things. Call it “taking dominion.” In short, I am doing what Paul Washer
recommended a few years ago. I’m going
to be a man and get off of Facebook. For
the glory of the Lord and the good of His church.
With Charity for All and Malice Toward None,
Jon
P.S. Thanks to Phil
Johnson, Justin Edwards and David Catoe for their examples and explanations regarding
these things.
P.P.S. The account
will be left open for one week for friends to post their well wishes, good
riddances, and Farmville requests.
P.P.S.S.S. Some of
you are real friends, believer and unbeliever alike. I have met you and know you. Stay in touch. Drop me an email at jon@lostcauseministries.com.
