To begin let us open up our Bible’s to where Jesus talks about Instagram and if we can use snapchat… You guys there yet? Having trouble finding the verse? Yeah me too. The obvious truth is that the Bible does not mention social media. So how do we know if it is harmful for our faith or not?

We may not be able to read about social media in the scriptures, but we can try to understand what makes social media dangerous for us as followers of Jesus. 

What we do know is that there are pros AND cons to social media from a Biblical worldview.

Here are some cons from the podcast we did on the topic:

• Comparison (Duh)
• Laziness 
• Lustfulness
• “Cherry picker faith”
• False perceptions 

And here are some pros to social media:

• A neutral platform
• Global reach
• Communication
• The ability to preach the Gospel 

If we want to answer the question of if social media is harmful to our faith, we must seek what the Bible says about these concepts. We must understand that social media may not be the foundation to these problems we have stated, but there always lies a deeper evil. 

The truth is that sin is in all human beings. Its not social media that is inherently sinful, but humans. 

So, what does scripture say about the sins we regularly encounter or fall into with social media?

• “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” 

Ephesians 4:29

It can be so easy to say things that do not glorify God when we are behind a screen. Social media is full of everybody’s opinions, the Satan would love nothing more than to have us fall into the sin of slander and malice of words. 

• “Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God”

Ephesians 5:1-5

Not only does social media make it easy to lust after the flesh and engage in sexual immorality, but it opens doors for coveting and idolatry. Even if you follow just friends and family of your social media, it can be so easy to see them doing something you like and covet their situation.

But is it something we should avoid altogether because of these pitfalls? Or can we learn to use the platform of social media for the good of the Kingdom? 

I believe that things like wealth and popularity, social media can be used for the glory of God. (Shameless plug for our AskUsWhyy Instagram). Now does that mean every Christian should have social media. Of course not! For example, if you struggle with lust you should probably not be following certain people. Or if you struggle with comparison you should probably not follow people that only post about their travels across the world. You get my point. 

 I think that it would be foolish if as Christians who know the good news of Jesus Christ that saves sinners we did not share that light and hid it under the metaphorical bowl. There might not be statistics for this but I am willing to bet that so many people have either heard the Gospel of Jesus from social media or even accepted Christ as their Lord because of something a faithful believer shared on their platform. 

My friends what if the people of the church stopped promoting their vacations, dogs, new cars, and political views and instead preached the saving grace of Jesus Christ our Lord. 

What if we reminded ourselves every morning that there are millions of people who are on the wide road to destruction, and it was our purpose to help them onto the narrow road to life everlasting. 

My friend’s social media hopefully will never be the main way you live your faith, but it would be foolish of us to believe there is no benefit for the kingdom through these platforms. 

Let the words of the apostle’s ring in our heads if and whenever we log into Instagram,

“Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” 2 Timothy 4:2