Category Archives: Pop Culture

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Why Facebook’s 1 Billion Users are Still Looking for Community

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I’m sure you heard the news the past week about Facebook. If not, I’m sure someone posted it on your timeline. What’s the news? Facebook just surpassed 1 billion users.

1 billion. Meaning 1/7 of the world’s entire population.

No matter how you slice it, that’s a lot of people.

How does Facebook get that many people to sign up for its site? There are many answers to that question, but I’m suggesting it’s more simple than we think.

They’re selling something everyone is looking for — community.

The sad thing is, many of those 1 billion souls will never find the community they’re looking for. Why is that? Because they’re looking in the wrong place.

Where community came from

Community is lots of things and I’m no expert. So instead of addressing it in a broad sense, I’ll do so from a personal and biblical perspective.

Community isn’t something we came up with. We were created out of perfect community. Genesis 1:26 says “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness’…”

Us? Who is God talking to?

This passage is commonly understood as one of the verses explaining God’s triune nature, triune meaning 3 persons, but one God. It seems odd in our finite minds, because we can’t conceive of such a thing. But nevertheless, it’s clearly stated in the opening verses of the Bible that God exists in community.

God’s love, just like that of a married couple madly in love, led to wanting to spread that joy by sharing Creation with others. Just like the married couple has children, the Trinity birthed all of life out of the abundant love of God’s community.

We were created to join in the community that exists between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

What is community?

Throughout history, people have been searching for community with God that was lost when Adam and Eve bit into the apple. We’ve done so in some very poor ways, desiring anything to take the place of the hole in our souls created by separation from God.

So what is this community we’re searching for?

There are many things that mark community, but these are some of the most important:

  • Laughter, love and joy: We were created for out of laughter, love and joy, and we long for them as a result. Unfortunately, these are usually in short supply. Community comes from cultivating those things that bring you closer to others so you can experience joy.
  • Devoted to each other and a common cause: The early church was built by an incredible community with the Holy Spirit at the center. They were devoted to a common cause and shared everything. They broke bread with one another, which is where we get our word companion today (com- means together, and panis- means bread). When we’re devoted to a common cause, we find ourselves invested in others in a very deep way.
  • Sense of belonging: We all want to belong to a group or a family. Again, this is because we were created to be a part of God’s family. He calls each of us to Him daily. When we feel a sense of belonging, our souls receive some of the nourishment it desperately needs.

That’s certainly not all community is. But the human soul has always longed for those things that breed community.

The problem with online community

That brings us back to Facebook and other online communities, like Twitter or Instagram. These places are great for connecting with other people and even building the beginnings of relationships.

But a lot of us, myself included, take it too far sometimes. We think we can exist solely in online community, so we don’t have to go have that cup of coffee with an old friend, or make that phone call to your relative.

The problem is that we will never enjoy the true fruits of community from social media.

It forms a pseudo-community that can be dangerous for our souls.

The real reason Facebook’s 1 billion users are still looking for community?

They haven’t found it yet.

Do you let yourself be deceived into thinking online community is true community?

Photo courtesy:  Richard Masoner / Cyclelicious (Creative Commons)

christians guide to social media

A Christian’s Guide to Social Media

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It’s time for all of us to take a step back and think about how we act online. As Christians especially, we’ve got to think before we type. Once you hit enter, your information, words, and pictures now belong to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Google (I know, no one really uses Google+). That’s a good reason to think before posting.

And let’s face it, it’s scary out there on some people’s walls and timelines. You can go to church and love Jesus and still not be sure what to think about the constant updates on your buddy’s Facebook with inspirational messages and 9 exclamation points.

It’s a lot like the real world: your online faith is either going to cause people to be a) annoyed, b) scared, or c) interested. We should be living our lives in a way that makes non-believers want to know what’s different about us. Our lives on the internet should be no different.

What this is is a guide to using social media as a Christian and not have all your friends unfollow you.

My pastor says there is no such thing as a spiritual life, only life that is meant to be lived spiritually. There’s also no such thing as a spiritual tweeter, only tweets that are meant to be sent spiritually. Stop sending tweets as if your words are God’s Word. You’re not as clever as you think (unless you’re Rick Warren).

PLEASE!!! STOP USING EXCESSIVE CAPS AND PUNCTUATION!!!!!!! This literally ONLY works if you’re Perry Noble. :)

I really like you as a person. You’re a good friend, even. But I will not share your Christian bumper sticker picture on my wall.

One sure way to lose all your followers: tell them how bad social media is to their spiritual health.

You can still be a hypocrite even though it’s online. Don’t post a Facebook update about how good church was and then post pictures from your crazy night at the club on Instagram.

Christians have given the world enough reason to scoff at God. Pay attention to what you post so you don’t give it any more.

Think about this before posting anything: many people who are unchurched or know nothing about God will make their first assessments of God and his people from what they see about their friends online.

Using social media to share your church is cool. Using it to blast a church is not.

Do make yourself sound like a human. Don’t make yourself sound like a televangelist commercial.

Do use social media to stay connected and send prayer requests. Don’t use it as your only place of community. Digital community should compliment, not replace, actual community.

Don’t use 5 hashtags after your tweet to let people know you’re spiritual. If we didn’t get it without a tag, you didn’t get it to begin with.

God is not solely on the side of your political party. Stop acting like it.

If you’re not a pastor, don’t critique pastors. Come to think of it, even if you are, don’t do it.

Do not. Under any circumstance. Engage in a religious debate. In the comments section. No atheist was ever converted by a snarky reply.

Just be yourself. People get weird when they go online. But what I’ve found is that people are after the same things online as they are in person — to be inspired, encouraged, built-up, and spoken to authentically.

I’m not here to judge you. I’ve made all the mistakes above, and then some. Social media is still very new in the scheme of things. We could all use a little more discernment in how we act online.

Finally, stop retweeting Rick Warren. We all follow him.

mumford

What the Popularity of Mumford & Sons Teaches Us

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I don’t know about you, but I’m pumped for the release of Mumford & Sons’ new album tomorrow, called Babel. I came onto the band late last year after they had already broken onto the scene in a big way. I was devastated by the powerful lyrics and their epic sound.

Most fascinating to me were the spiritual undertones in almost every song from their debut album, Sigh No More. Take the opening lines for instance, from the track bearing the same name as the album:

“Serve God, love me and mend

This is not the end”

That opening line is a far cry from everything else you hear on pop radio these days, in a good way.

The fact that Mumford are as popular as they are is intriguing in itself. But even more intriguing is what the popularity of Mumford & Sons can teach us.

People are interested in the spiritual

Regardless of what the media tells you, people are interested in the spiritual. Between the UK and the United States, Sigh No More went 6 times platinum. Sure, some people just bought it because they heard it on the radio. But most people were engaged by something they heard, just like me.

How else do you explain the anticipation of a new album with a single containing words like these?

“So break my step

And relent

You forgave and I won’t forget

Know what we’ve seen

And him with less

Now in some way

Shake the excess”

“You forgave and I won’t forget” awakes feelings of grace and connotations of God and the spiritual in people. Time and time again, history has shown us if you tackle the spiritual in interesting ways and with great storytelling, people will listen. It’s why Shakespeare’s influence is never ending, and why the life of Mother Teresa still captivates the world.

You can talk about God in popular culture

I know, it seems like God has been relegated to the corners of popular culture. Actually, that might be a generous statement. But Mumford has shown as people are willing to engage in the conversation of God and the spiritual.

Since people are interested in the spiritual, it opens the door to engage in conversations of faith. But how has Mumford done this?

By engaging in the conversation in an honest way.

I make things like inviting people to church much more awkward than it is to them. It’s all in my head. Sure, it will be awkward no matter what. But that’s not going to kill me. What I’ve learned is how important the approach is. If I come at the conversation with uncomfortable pauses and any sort of condemning tone, forget about it — I’ve lost them.

But if I approach the conversation with love and I meet them where they’re at, it changes everything.

What do we do with those lessons?

Now that Mumford has taught us people are not only interested in the spiritual, but they’re open to talking about, what do we do?

Engage them.

Engage in conversations about faith with people you’ve never thought about doing so with. Take them to coffee. Invite them to church. Email them an encouraging note.

Engage someone by listening to them. Don’t just nod and say “mm…hmm….” Pay attention to their words and try and understand them. Chances are they’ll say something showing you they’re interested in God. That’s your opening to let the Holy Spirit speak through you.

Whatever you do, don’t let those lessons pass you by.

What will you do with these lessons?

Photo courtesy: Rolling Stone

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Why Our Society Isn’t Flourishing, and How it Could be

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What we say says a lot about who we are. Not just in conversation, but in written word as well.

Take this recent study where, using the 5.2 million Google Books archive,  researchers studied, “the appearance and frequency of words ‘related to moral excellence and virtue’ in American books from 1901 to 2000.” What they did was study the frequency these books contained words related to moral character. Words like honesty, patience, honor, kindness, sincerity, courage, generosity, mercy, wisdom, humility.

The findings were not shocking, but they did display the moral decline of our country in a new way. As this article from The Atlantic Wire stated,

“If the books are to be believed, we may be in a moral decline.”

I think the word “may” is misleading. I would say there’s no doubt. Nevertheless, the research showed these words to have a negative correlation with time, meaning their use declined as time went on. 74% of the words designated to denote moral characteristics significantly declined during one particular study.

What does this mean?

According to the same article,

“Analyzing these words as used in books is a way to highlight a culture’s consciousness, they [the researchers] told The Atlantic Wire: ‘The words in a book reflect what is salient in the minds of a culture’s members, and simultaneously make these words even more salient. It’s a feedback cycle whereby people make cultural products and the cultural products make people,’ they wrote by email.”

Basically, they’re saying the analysis of word frequencies in books lets us peer into the hearts and minds of the society that wrote them. Or,

“Simply, fewer virtue words in books means that the concepts those words stand for are less a part of the individual and societal consciousness.”

It would seem we’re “morally unconscious.” The article goes on to say these virtuous words have most likely been replaced by egocentric, or individualistic words. Again, not surprising when you survey the cultural landscape.

Friends, this is why our society isn’t flourishing

This is why we aren’t realizing the Kingdom on earth. This is why our lives lack meaning and direction.

Morality isn’t something defined by each person, as the coming generations will say. Morality is truth espoused by the Word of God. Unless you believe in Truth, you can’t believe in morality. Otherwise, everything’s relative. It’s counter-cultural these days, but right and wrong do exist and they have a definition.

We can’t begin to flourish until we accept the morality recorded and handed down to us by revelation. Even the authors of the studies mentioned, who miss the immediacy and urgency of the problems they cite, understand the significance of morality in a well-functioning society.

“Virtues are vital to both individual and societal flourishing…’a virtue-salient culture would provide a more fertile ground for individual and societal flourishing than one where concepts of moral excellence are at the fringes of public conversation.’”

When morality is relegated to the fringes, we will no doubt witness a decline in our quality of life. Our intelligence was never meant to be separated from our spirit. They’re meant to be intertwined, woven into a beautiful tapestry of wisdom and discernment.

Our intelligence is designed to include morality. Once divorced, intelligence becomes like a small child left unattended, leaving a wake of mess and disaster behind. This is why when you have biblical wisdom, you can easily see whether someone’s knowledge is worldly or godly.

But it doesn’t have to be this way

In fact, it was never meant to be this way.

If we embrace morality back into every corner of our lives, we will see the birth of something that thrives, something that brings life. We will witness the flourishing of a society instead of the downwards spiral we’ve been a part of the past 50 years.

The choice is mine and yours. We can bury our heads in Truth, or we can bury them in the sand. We can choose to embrace the morality defined for us by God himself, or we can continue to let the chasm between our beliefs and actions widen.

But make no mistake, whether or not we flourish together or die alone will be decided by not only those who are in power, but by the people who are reading this today. Morality can’t be embraced by society as a whole until it’s embraced in the lives of the people.

Are you helping society flourish? Are you turning a blind eye to immorality somewhere in your life?

Keeping Up With Pop Culture

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This is a guest post by my friend Thomas Mason. Thomas writes a great blog about living the story that’s still being written. You can keep up with him on his blog and follow him on Twitter.

“Love to hate it or hate to love it, what you think about pop culture matters.”

So reads the quote from an article on Relevant Magazine’s website.

Our society has become obsessed with pop stars. Just turn on the radio and you’ll sure to catch Carly Rae Jepsen’s addictive song “Call Me Maybe”. It recently made it to the top spot on the Billboard 100.

Pulled into the fray

Carly is just one example of musical pop stars. One click of the radio and Rihanna, Bieber, Adele, and other identifiable one name people seem to be on an endless rotation giving us ample opportunities of hearing their songs over and over again.

When we’re not listening to the radio or iTunes, the entertainment media can give us our fill of these artists. We end up knowing their lifestyles more than we know our own family and friends lifestyles.

I’m pulled into the fray of pop culture as well. I have to admit I love the music of Maroon 5. I would even venture to say I have a bit of a man crush on Adam Levine.

Why do we crave these musical figures of today?

Is it because we want to feel better about our sometimes mundane lives? Does it give us a reason to excuse our unrealized hopes and broken down dreams? Do we long for the extravagant and flamboyant lifestyles of the “rich and famous”?

“Maybe it’s because we use pop culture to make statements not just about what we are, but more importantly–what we are not.”– Corrie Halluga, writer for Relevant Magazine

Keeping Up With Pop Culture

But what if…

What if we engage with the neighbor down the street and stop waiting for someone else to drop in and say hello?

What if we use our gifts and talents for doing good and changing lives instead of relying on someone else to step up?

What if, instead of complaining about the choice of candidates and the next presidential election, we fight for change right in our own communities?

I’ll admit I need help in these areas. Being an introvert allows me to stay cocooned in my own little world with little concern for the outside world.

Let’s turn down the radio, let’s turn off the television, let’s step away from the computer screen, and listen…

Do you hear that?

That’s right, silence.

Silence can be extremely uncomfortable in a world of constant noise and activity. Just try being still for one hour doing nothing. Let your mind take a break. It probably won’t be easy because we’re so accustomed to doing and doing without ever stopping. But if we’re to make any real difference in the world, if we’re to be used to be change agents for injustice in an unfair world, we need to stop for a while and listen to what God wants to do through us.

Are you engaged with keeping up with pop culture? What one tangible thing can you think of that you could do to disengage from pop culture and engage more with God?

Photo courtesy: Flickr (Creative Commons)

Why You Should Keep Trying

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Trying gets a bad wrap. It feels like failure’s twin brother these days. “Well, at least I tried,” we snarl to our friends when we try and fail.

You can feel your self-esteem in your throat as you fight back feelings of inadequacy and regret. Each time you have to justify your trying is like one more kick while you’re down.

Photo courtesy: Flickr (Creative Commons)

So we do what everyone else does. We stop trying.

We go back to what always worked. But ironically, that’s not working.

I think we’re missing something. We’re listening to the wrong voices. Marching to the wrong drum beat.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of justifying my trying to those who seem to be doing little more than existing.

It’s time to take back our lives and start trying again.

Why we stop trying

We don’t stop trying because we fail. We don’t stop trying because it’s hard. These are realities, but they aren’t true barriers. I think everyone believes success follows hard work. No, we stop trying for another reason.

We stop trying because someone said we can’t do it.

In one way or another, someone told you you would never make it. You’ll never be a writer. You’ll never be a pastor. You’ll never be a real man. You’ll never be good enough.

Maybe it’s a dead-beat father, a controlling boss, or a “friend” that’s been told one too many times they can’t do it.

Or maybe it’s you. Maybe you’re the one telling yourself you’re not good enough.

Regardless who it is, their words have power. They have power because they’re an indictment against something very dear to each of us: our character.

Failure is one of the most steering emotions we have. By that, I mean it can steer our lives in all sorts of directions. But only if we let it.

No matter how bad the wheel is spinning out of control, all we have to do is reach over and grab ahold.

But why should you?

We need you to

It’s hard to even want to try sometimes. I often feel like these words from Jason Walker:

“I shot for the sky
I’m stuck on the ground
So why do I try, I know I’m gonna fall down”

We can feel the crash before we ever take off.

But if others never took off, we wouldn’t have flight, the printed word, or the iPhone. We wouldn’t have countless churches or ministries working to bring justice to the afflicted.

I like to think humanity is not done. Like John Mayer said,

“I like to think the best of me

Is still hiding

Up my sleeve.”

And that includes you. So why should you keep trying?

Because the world needs you to. That’s right: this world needs you.

So many of us don’t try because we don’t feel we’re needed. That’s partially true. But here’s the whole truth:

The world needs you if you are willing to try. The world does not need you if you aren’t willing to try. If that’s your deal, the world will get on just fine without you.

Just keep trying

What is it you gave up on? What is it you have a heart for?

Fill in the blank: I wish I had never stopped ___________. Whatever it is, give it another shot.

Maybe you’ll write the next great novel, start the next big company, or serve the needy who are calling out for justice.

Whatever you do, just keep trying.

What do you feel like trying again, or maybe for the first time? What fills you with passion?

Share in the comments.