An Identity You Cannot See
On my facebook profile, I listed as my favorite TV shows: A-Team and Airwolf because they are hilarious 80s references, Battlestar Galactica because it’s practically required for geek cred, and Arrested Development and Flight of the Concords because they are cool shows that cool people know about.
But I have a confession to make. I only saw like one video clip of Flight of the Concords, and I’m not sure I really got why it was so funny. Please, please don’t tell anyone!
Don’t worry, this isn’t an article about why facebook is evil and dumb, how to use facebook biblically, or why I quit facebook. What I’m interested in is how engaging in social networking – whether it’s biblically, atheistically, muslimically, or whatever – shapes the way we look at ourselves and the way we see those around us.
I Am My Avatar, and my Avatar is Mine
I believe that any tool, whether we use it for good or bad, right or wrong, truthfully or untruthfully, shapes the way we look at the world. Just as a photographer sees the world in pictures and a stockbroker tends to see the world as a business transaction, we all see the world through whatever we use most. A wise man once said, “We become what we behold.”
Let’s consider my above confession. I basically lied on facebook, which is unbelievably lame. But what if I had told the truth? Certainly, I would be guilty of one less sin, but I still would have engaged in the act of labeling and defining myself through lists of interests, products, quotes, and so on.
A Constantly Visible Identity
In college, I remember quite a few Bible studies on “Identity in Christ.” I remember them saying that God the Father looks at me through the image of God the Son, Jesus Christ. Like our photographer friend who sees the world in the best possible way through his lens, the Father sees me in the best possible way though the Son.
So how do we see ourselves when we look through the lens of a social network? Our online personas can be quantified, analyzed, and numerically valued at any moment.
But our offline lives do not have this ever present record. I cannot quantify the value of crying with a friend over a tragic loss or playing basketball with a fatherless kid (whether or not I twitter about it). Rarely, if ever are such strong realities recorded. Meanwhile, the mundane, ethereal things of life are ever present and neatly organized on our profiles. Which feels more real, more permanant?
In my own life, I have noticed that on days when I don’t receive much electronic contact (no wall posts, no @replies, no text messages), I often feel insignificant. This is probably because I have begun to value myself through my online identity and how much interaction I see it receive. Rather than believe what the Scriptures say about my significance being rooted in the image of God imprinted upon my soul, I see myself through the lens of social networking. I have become what I beheld.
Believing in an Identity We Do Not See
This isn’t meant to be a warning against using social networking, because there are plenty of great reasons to use it. The point is that social networking requires us to create an online identity which will always be different from our true identity. No matter how accurate it that profile becomes, and even if there’s some kind of Princess Leia 3D hologram, it will never be our true self. We are each unique creations of God which cannot be copied or duplicated by any technology. And those of us who have believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, also have our identity in the redemption and victory offered through his blood.
So, come, be my friend on facebook, twitter, and the rest, but let us not behold the images we post and the words we write, but less us behold Jesus Christ, who is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3) and the very Word of God (John 1:1), and let us not anchor our identity in the things posted about us online, but on the fact that God has called us “friend” and “sons and daughters.”
About The Author
John Dyer is the web developer behind sites such as Best Commentaries, and Dallas Theological Seminary. He holds a graduate degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and is a teacher at Irving Bible Church.
Robert
I love theology and the challenge of making deep teachings non-boring. Let's face it, most of the time we hear theological teaching, it really is boring. Does it really have to be that way? Nope.
