Facebook is an ongoing storyline for many of us. We get friend requests from people we barely know (or do not know). We receive posted items that we do not like. We are "friends" with many people.
Over the couple of years I have done Facebook, I have maintained friend status with a lot of people who do not really interest me much. I sometimes even block their status posts (because they are annoying or something). But I never "unfriend" anyone. Until now.
I have a friend on Facebook whom I have never met. He was a fellow member of a discussion list and we had several good exchanges. When he left the discussion list, we became Facebook friends. Soon, however, I noticed an oddity in postings of his things. Put simply, he posted a lot of things related to Eastern religions.
Now, this was a problem because I had met him through a Christian discussion group and the whole basis of our relationship was our shared Christianity. Our discussions had always centered on the truths of the gospel, even those on which we disagreed. I was puzzled and wrote to him about the whole matter. He reassured me that these were merely his students in the classes he was teaching. No problem. He recently published a book soundly setting forth gospel truth. Everything was fine.
Until this week.
This week, I learned that he has abandoned his faith. He has rejected Christ. He has not only changed his "profile" description to a non-Christian position, but has posted a blog explaining why he has rejected Christ. So, I have been compelled to unfriend him.
Now, this does not mean that I "friend" only believers. I have no such rule or practice.
Nor does it mean that I refuse to "friend" anyone who holds to Eastern religions. I have no such rule or practice.
But the act of an adult, consciously and intentionally rejecting Christ after having confessed him for years, is a major act. It is not like an adult who never believed merely holding to his unbelief. It is something far more.
The scripture makes clear that we will be faced with these situations. John spoke of those who were "among us but were not of us," who left us. They were called antichrists (back before we decided to use the word to mean one person instead of using it biblically). Hebrews 6 warns of those who have "tasted" of the heavenly gift and who have knowledge but who then reject it. Such are more to be condemned than those who simply rejected from the first.
It is a sad situation, when a man you believed to be a brother turns his back on his faith and yours. It is tragic in a very real sense of the word.
He was, at one point, a brother. Now, he is an apostate. It is a hard saying.
Facebook is kind of a special relationship world. We have more friends there than in the real world, for the most part, and our relationship with them is kind of odd. But, still, there must be some standards. Apostasy is still apostasy.
So, I have unfriended someone. It is a meaningless act, in almost every way, but it is inexpressibly sad in this case. It is hard to lose a brother.
Over the couple of years I have done Facebook, I have maintained friend status with a lot of people who do not really interest me much. I sometimes even block their status posts (because they are annoying or something). But I never "unfriend" anyone. Until now.
I have a friend on Facebook whom I have never met. He was a fellow member of a discussion list and we had several good exchanges. When he left the discussion list, we became Facebook friends. Soon, however, I noticed an oddity in postings of his things. Put simply, he posted a lot of things related to Eastern religions.
Now, this was a problem because I had met him through a Christian discussion group and the whole basis of our relationship was our shared Christianity. Our discussions had always centered on the truths of the gospel, even those on which we disagreed. I was puzzled and wrote to him about the whole matter. He reassured me that these were merely his students in the classes he was teaching. No problem. He recently published a book soundly setting forth gospel truth. Everything was fine.
Until this week.
This week, I learned that he has abandoned his faith. He has rejected Christ. He has not only changed his "profile" description to a non-Christian position, but has posted a blog explaining why he has rejected Christ. So, I have been compelled to unfriend him.
Now, this does not mean that I "friend" only believers. I have no such rule or practice.
Nor does it mean that I refuse to "friend" anyone who holds to Eastern religions. I have no such rule or practice.
But the act of an adult, consciously and intentionally rejecting Christ after having confessed him for years, is a major act. It is not like an adult who never believed merely holding to his unbelief. It is something far more.
The scripture makes clear that we will be faced with these situations. John spoke of those who were "among us but were not of us," who left us. They were called antichrists (back before we decided to use the word to mean one person instead of using it biblically). Hebrews 6 warns of those who have "tasted" of the heavenly gift and who have knowledge but who then reject it. Such are more to be condemned than those who simply rejected from the first.
It is a sad situation, when a man you believed to be a brother turns his back on his faith and yours. It is tragic in a very real sense of the word.
He was, at one point, a brother. Now, he is an apostate. It is a hard saying.
Facebook is kind of a special relationship world. We have more friends there than in the real world, for the most part, and our relationship with them is kind of odd. But, still, there must be some standards. Apostasy is still apostasy.
So, I have unfriended someone. It is a meaningless act, in almost every way, but it is inexpressibly sad in this case. It is hard to lose a brother.