The title to this post is a bit provocative. You might expect everything that has been written on those ad-riddled blogs. Things about eroding social skills, diminishing focus and a whole host of other maladies. I typically hear the ol' "it's for sharing family photos!" I'll tell ya what, folks' families ARE a lot bigger than mine ever was and my momma had 8 brothers and sisters! No, we plug into that outlet for the immediate little dings of dopamine. It's like we're those rats in a lab experiment. And as Facebook has literally performed experiments on its people...well, this rat isn't in his cage.

The angle I'm writing regarding Facebook simply is where does it place me spiritually. Instead of looking toward others experientially, I consider myself these past 23 days. In the lens of Romans 1:21-25:

1. Did I not glorify God or show gratitude?
2. Did my thinking become nonsense?
3. Was my mind darkened?
4. Did I claim to be wise and become a fool?
5. Did I exchange the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles?
6. Might God have delivered me over to the cravings of my heart to sexual impurity, so that my body would be degraded?
7. Could I have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator?

Those are challenging questions. Fast-forward to Romans 1:32 and pickup those frames:

1. Do I know God's just sentence, that those who practice sin deserve to die?
2. Do I practice sin?
3. Do I also applaud others who practice sin?

I bristle at the notion of congratulating sin! I shutter! And yet, I once stood with others that I was led to believe stood on the Rock, who in June, will be whipping about their rainbow flags with gusto like Axis WWII propaganda to celebrate men in dresses dancing provocatively for 5-year-olds! "For even their females exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. The males in the same way also left natural relations with females and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error" (Romans 1:26-27).

Yes, the world's father is Satan (John 8:44). It's just jarring to me when I run across another a (non)believer who sang the songs, took the sacraments and fellowshipped with me—we prayed together, shared our sins in our repentance! When I did the Icarus thing in college, God brought them into my life and used them to pick me up. Off the top of my head, I'm reminded of 1 John 2:19 and Matthew 7:21-23. They got jazzed up over the things of God. They shoulda joined a CrossFit gym instead, 'cause they coulda at least picked up a set of abs on the way out.

And I can only think the difference between me and them is the P in TULIP: Perseverance of the Saints. When I sin—even when I'm in a season of sin, where I'll beat upon my chest and tell the world that I am their new god—each time I'll have that sobering moment and recognize the truly great benevolence and awe-evoking power of our great God. I failingly try to consider what it might be like to just have a glimpse of an infinitely holy God. Isaiah 6:5 all the way.

I don't get that draw toward repentance from those who once kneeled to the Lord and now proudly raise the banner in DEFIANCE to God. They accept whatever new ideology is the ice cream flavor of the week. I must re-examine myself: in a quest to sit at the cool kids' table, would I accept this as well? Is that ol' frog sitting in that pot on the stove? He better look around and read the signs and hop the Hell out!

God brought me to and delivered me from Facebook. He let me experience that website so that I may realize the value of Romans 2:1. That verse is not a Get Out of Jail Free - Devil May Care - Party Card to Sin, Y'all card. It's followed up about wrath. Oh, how the world fails to interpret the Bible with their no casting stones bit! Everyone does what is right in their own eyes! No, the Bible warns us, that we too, have sin. (1 Corinthians 10:12-13)

Because of our sin, all of man is on a conveyor belt to be dropped into Gehenna for their just reward. And for reasons I'll don't know beyond His purpose, my Dad knew I'd be rolling on down that conveyor to Hell, scooped me up and adopted me as His own. Can you imagine? I'm an heir with Jesus? (Romans 8:17) I'll get full run of the Universe one day!

Interestingly, Gehenna is also where Israelite kings of Ahaz and Manasseh sacrificed their children to Molech, not unlike our leaders today who abort kids in reverence to the god of the liberal.

If I may segue for a moment, as it is a topic that pops up on Facebook in its cultural promotion, I refuse to believe that when people were kids, they thought it was OK for Mommy to murder her "frogs and snails and puppy dogs' tails" little boy or to bash in the skull of her "sugar and spice and all that's nice" little girl. Ultimately like with Satan, it's pride. Me. Me. Me. Sin got 'em into a world of hurt; sin sure ain't gonna save 'em.

This world CELEBRATES that sin. And Satan just laughs: hook, line and sinker.

No, I don't want to throw in my lot with them!

But, again, it is easy to say, "Yeah, those folks are whack." And while true, I gotta examine my own heart. So, I turn the pages to Romans 3:10-18. Lemme put those glasses on again and look at my own life:

1. Am I righteous?
2. Do I understand?
3. Do I seek God?
4. Have I turned away?
5. Have I become useless?
6. Do I do good?
7. Is my throat an open grave as I deceive with my tongue?
8. Is vipers' venom under my lips?
9. Is my mouth full of cursing and bitterness?
10. Are my feet quick to shed blood?
11. Are ruin and wretchedness in my path?
12. Have I known the path of peace?
13. Do I fear God?

My First Morning Without Facebook

I had a richer experience this morning during my Romans 1-8 study. I wasn't rushed to hop onto Facebook to wade through the sponsored spam to glean value. I sat and reread the text as the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to things I didn't read the prior day.

I love being loved by God! When I recognize how He sets my heart at ease, I trust Him for the day and the rest of my life—indeed, for all of eternity. He sets purpose into my life; He has placed eternity into my heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11). And this continues through my very limited time on earth; it does not get constrained as my bones become weak and my flesh whittles away.

As the adopted boy of Yahweh, NOTHING (including me) can separate me from the love of my Dad (Romans 8:38-39). However, when I do wrong, I don't have peace. Sin runs off with my joy. Even when I puff myself up in the world's eyes, truly, I am lurking in the shadows until the ol' prodigal comes home back to the farm and his Daddy.

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream.

Sin is totally ice cream. Oh, when I first get it, it goes down sweet—I can't get enough of the stuff! That thing is on full-throttle! The guy in charge of my appetite assembly line, well, he just throws his hands up in desperation and hits the doors—he is out, jack!

But, you see, with ice cream, like sin, this fervor does subside eventually. It gets to a point where I'm not feeling so great. I don't get the same rush. It has the same taste, but it's not the same. The texture starts to fall apart; it loses its form and melts. It's just a lousy imitation of something good! I become unsatisfied. I feel a little sick from that engorged belly full of ice cream. I have to put physical distance between me and it! And yet, if I eat it day-after-day, I'll put on lbs of a heavy yoke onto my shoulders. Each step up a staircase is one where I gotta muster a lot of power to trudge upward. And quite literally, that sin of ice cream will lead to my physical death. Sin extends this further, for not only can there be physical death, you can add the infinitely more pricey spiritual death.