These Walls Can Talk: Staying "Above Reproach" on Facebook

"If thine Wall offend thee, purge it. For it is better to have a blank Facebook Wall than to risk thine reputation or the reputation of one of thine Facebook friends."

That's my 2009 version of Matthew 18:9. Of course, the original version is still as relevant today as it was the day it was written. But I can't help but wonder if the apostle Matthew were alive today and were to rewrite his gospel if he would include a reference to Facebook.

It's hard for me to believe that one year ago I hadn't even heard of Facebook. Today I am an avid fan, and rarely go a day without checking to see what all of my friends are up too. It's an excellent tool for modern communication, sharing thoughts, and keeping in touch in a busy world. I've managed to reconnect with friends I haven't heard from in years. The longest-lost friend I've managed to find so far is one that I lost touch with twenty years ago, and rekindling that old friendship has been a source of joy for me.

But it didn't take me long to discover that Facebook, with all its perks and benefits, also has some potential pitfalls too. The first one that affected me personally was my near "Superwall" fiasco.

The "Superwall" application allows users on your friend list to post pictures, images and video clips directly to your profile page. Once you add Superwall to your profile, you also see in your daily feed all of the things that people on your friend list are posting on other people's Superwalls, or that your friends are receiving from THEIR friends.

It was in this inadvertent manner that I received a disturbing and arguably X-rated picture, one that had been posted by someone who was not even on my friend list, to another person who was. As my then 10-year old daughter stood looking at the computer screen over my shoulder, I innocently opened up my home page only to have this disturbing image jump straight onto my screen.

It startled me so much that I actually cried out and threw my body over the screen to protect my daughter. Fortunately I managed to cover it before she fully absorbed the image. But it was one of my first encounters with the downside(s) of Facebook.

I removed the Superwall application from my profile that very day. But the incident caused me to explore other ways in which Facebook can be potentially damaging to Christians in general, and to professional ministers in particular.

My husband shared an unfortunate story he heard recently of a minister who was applying for a position in a church. She had all the right skills and qualifications, and seemed to be the perfect candidate for the church and the position.

As so many organizations and institutions do (such as college admissions boards, secular employers and more,) this church examined the candidate's Facebook profile. Though her own profile appeared to be "above reproach," her husband's profile indicated something less than savory, and it was this that cost her the perfect job.

There are hundreds of stories of Christians and ministers who have been caught in compromising positions, circumstances and situations due to the chance taking of a photograph. Professional and lay church leaders alike have been removed from positions of leadership and authority because someone, perhaps even someone the minsiter didn't know, took a questionable cell phone picture and posted it on Facebook.

Facebook can also be construed as the gossip chain of the new millenium. Christians carelessly post opinions (even seemingly innocuous ones), thoughts and even slander, forgetting that these words are seen by potentially hundreds or even thousands of people.

Even aspects of Facebook as innocent as one's profile "Wall" are potential hotbeds for trouble. It's a good thing our walls at home don't talk, but Facebook Walls do, so keeping their language clean and respectable requires attentiveness and discernment. They may even require the occassional "purging."

I know a number of Christians who have closed their Facebook accounts because of issues like these. While this may be a respectable choice, in some ways I can't help but feel that this is akin to throwing the baby out with the bathwater. There are so many advantages to being on Facebook (quick and easy communication with masses of people, keeping in touch with friends and family, even creating affinity within your church) that a strong case can be made for the merits of keeping an active Facebook profile, and even creating pages for your church, youth group, care group, etc.

But like any other aspect of our lives, we need to apply the principles of godliness to our Facebook activities. That may mean regularly scrutinizing our Walls, being careful about the applications that we add, and even being selective about our friend lists.

When it comes to the pastor or ministry leader, we have an even greater responsibility to watch our Facebook behavior, as outlined in I Timothy 3:2, which states in part: "The overseer [pastor, leader, shepherd, etc.] must be above reproach." Reproach is defined by Merriam Webster as "A cause or occasion of blame, discredit or disgrace." This is a serious charge, one which was not meant to be taken lightly by those who purport to minister over others. Few things could be worse than your "Walls" destroying your own ministry.