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Are We Losing Our Souls?
I’m been very disturbed the last few years by the types of posts I’ve seen on social media coming from Christians. Full of lies and hatred, they divide Christians from one another and paint those who disagree as monsters. Jesus famously said, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me and because of the gospel will save it. For what benefit is it for a person to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his life?” (Mark 8:34-36). In context Peter has just…
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My Sin is Not Sexy
I have come to the fundamental understanding that I am LAZY! I even googled it! I WikiHow’d the title “How to stop being a slob.” While we all joke about being lazy now and then it goes far beyond that. After much denial I am ashamed to say I struggle with the sin of slothfulness or laziness. We're past procrastination. I dream about accomplishing things that I never start. I miss deadlines. I am often late. I have a problem. Waking up is the beginning of my troubles; I am the type of person that sets the alarm 30 minutes early so I can hit the snooze button a dozen…
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When Things Get Crazy on Social Media: Responding Biblically to Firestorms
Over the weekend, a firestorm erupted over some viral videos of some high school students allegedly harassing a Native American veteran who was chanting and banging a drum. In a frenzy of name calling, people quickly ascribed disrespect, racism, and hatred to the students. The veteran made statements about the event that were also shared virally. Some media figures and a lot of Twitter users blew up the internet, condemning the students for their interpretation of what they saw. But then, more and longer videos showing the true picture of what happened became available online, and the student at the center of the original viral video released an articulate statement…
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To Tell the Truth: Integrity and Social Media
The United States has just past through a particularly contentious news cycle. What about in your country? Are people working out problems or are they viciously debating issues and name calling? I wrote this post several years ago, but its message still seems necessary today: Are you like me? Controlling my words is an area where I have to be vigilant. Lately negative social media posts are on the upswing, and lies and exaggerations are not uncommon. The “share” button is another potential pitfall. I am convinced that words matter—whether spoken or written. Psalm 34:12-14(NET) challenges me: Do you want to really live? Would you love to live a long, happy…
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What is it like to be “Unseen”?
Do you live your life wanting to be seen or unseen? Whether seated in an office maze of cubicles, standing behind a podium before a grand audience, or mopping up spilled milk and cereal for the third time today, we want to be acknowledged, understood, and liked. Our current world of social media has not helped our helpless and desperate desire to be noticed. These days if we do not post a photo of our dinner out, our vacation, our birthday, our promotion, or our child’s new accomplishment, it’s as though it never happened. Additionally, we want our online friends to see, like, or love our posts. Only if the…
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Am I Who You Think I Am?
Have you ever read any statistics on how social media is affecting our sense of identity? In a world where we can post who we want others to perceive we are, we can end up with an online-induced case of plural identities. Not only does this create confusion, it also is exhausting to maintain. My daughter, Kari Ciliberti, recently in a paper on this very subject, cited “Mary Aiken’s, an expert in cyberpsychology, comments on the feedback loop of one’s cyber self, saying, “… The cyber self is always under construction, physiologically and digitally. Even when …sleeping, the cyber self continues to exist. It is always on- evolving, updating, making…
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Integrity, Words and Social Media: Three Principles
Are you like me? Controlling my words is an area where I have to be vigilant. This year, violence in our world and lately in my own city, as well as election coverage, means that negative social media posts are on the upswing, and lies and exaggerations are not uncommon. The “share” button is another potential pitfall. I am convinced that words matter—whether spoken or written. Psalm 34:12-14(NET) challenges me: Do you want to really live? Would you love to live a long, happy life? Then make sure you don’t speak evil words or use deceptive speech! Turn away from evil and do what is right! Strive for peace and…
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Are you OK without your Facebook, twitterfeed, instagram…? A report from the front.
True story. Last weekend a group of teens gathered in a nicer than average home in the American suburbs to celebrate the fifteenth birthday of a pretty, popular teenage girl. We’ll call her Miranda. Miranda, her mom and her grandma had knocked themselves out for days making tasty food, decorating the pool, deck and house, and devising a hilarious line-up of games and activities. They even had some movie choices to watch before they settled in for the sleepover. Confident she had everything to keep the girls enjoying themselves for the duration, Miranda’s mom greeted each girl at the door with a promise of great fun and a gentle reminder…
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When Did “Good Workers” Get Labeled as “Haters?”
People are sometimes described as “glass half-empty (negative)” or “glass half-full (positive)” types. A recent study took those descriptors a step further by looking at how such dispositional attitudes affect productivity in the workplace. Believe it or not, those employees who stayed task-focused in order to get their jobs done were labeled “negative,” “grumps,” and “haters.” Haters?! When did “good workers” get labeled as “haters?” My husband Ron, a Fox News contributor, was on Fox News Radio a couple of weeks ago (listen here) discussing this topic because of a Parade Magazine article released online June 23, 2014 titled, “Could Negativity Benefit Your Career?” The two researchers, who were referenced in the article,…
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Kicking the Whine Drinking Habit
Do you get several forwarded emails per day from your friends filled with outrages regarding our “dying” culture? I do. Add to that the myriad of Facebook posts sharing a cleverly worded poem, a scathing video, or someone’s blog about how bad our society has deteriorated. Alarm signals constantly ring through our social media. We “drink” the whine. Then, we get riled up, pass it along to rile others up, and wait for the next one to come that we can share. A lot of whining, but not very effective. I get so tired of receiving those forwarded emails. Rather than passing those emails along, I delete them. I don’t…
