The REALLY Social Network

I'm on Facebook and so is my wife and so are hundreds of people we know well, and some we know only as FB friends.  And we like it, and it's fun, so no problem.

I have 600 and some-odd friends.

Except for Rev Cedric Miller, who tells his New Jersey flock that they can't be married and be on Facebook because being on FB makes people want to "know" their friends on that biblical level.

I like the quote from Ms Dawson of that church: "It can be a useful tool, but it also can cause great problems in a relationship. If your spouse won't give you his or her password, you've got a problem."

Here we go with the snooping and the computer checking and the steaming-open-of-letters and the listening in on phone calls and so on and so forth.  If you are married or otherwise committed, you should trust the person you are with.  If you can't trust them, why are you there? 

Peggy does not need to give me her password.  We use the same password all over the place ("O U C I 8 3 BLTs", a tribute to my favorite sandwich) so there is nothing to hide.  Peggy has been keeping a journal since the early days of our marriage, and none of that will stand up in court  I have no need to snoop into any of the 47 volumes she has written about her life and ours because we have nothing to hide.

It's like this:  People always drag out the old tales about how, if you just don't talk to teenagers about sex, they won't be interested in it.  And you saw how well that works, didn't you, Sarah?  Teens are interested in each other and they will find ways to get together.  The job of their parents, guardians, teachers and mall security guards is to arm them with wisdom and encourage proper choices.

Facebook is a microcosm of society and, as such, there are opportunities to shine and opportunities to sin.  If you are really interested in getting horizontal with someone who sat next to you in 7th grade US History, you can locate that person and recreate the Battle of Big Ol' Horndog if you care to.  If you enjoy sharing stories and pictures, thoughts and inspirations, with friends old and new, it's a delightful place to do so.

And if you feel that you are a bit short on self-restraint and maybe you might be too tempted if you see one more picture of your old flame at a cookout, then you also might be tempted to tell everyone else that they shouldn't look at cookout photos either, lest they be so tempted.

But that would be overlaying your values and issues over an entire group of people, wouldn't it?