Facebook. Conditionally.

I have gone back and forth and up and down and all around about Facebook in the last 6 months. Deactivated it numerous times. Deactivated others. Said too much. Said nothing. I'm still trying to work out the kinks of using Facebook in a positive way and working the kinks out of not seeing posts that aggravate me. It is a blessing to me so many times to see posts by people I love about their journey in life, but it is not a blessing to read thinly veiled criticisms or ones posted to cause others sadness or grief. Since this is a blog post resulting from reading a post I perceived as such on Facebook, BEWARE! You may not like what you read. I like having a blog because I can write to my hearts content and you can CHOOSE whether you read it or not.

Facebook. Fast communication. Instant, efficient, a platform for quotes, insights, backhanded scoldings and...mostly unaccountable. Rarely researched. Usually accepted as true, yet many times it can be proven upon deeper reflection, flawed.

A recent post I read on Facebook gave me pause - a comment that love provided to the person "without conditions and expectations" was "the spirit of what Christianity was all about". That statement has prompted these following statements as my way of wading through them in an effort to gain clarity if they are essentially true.

Christianity was about Christ, the son of God. Christ came as a child  - divinity humbling himself to be confined in flesh. Immortality to be made mortal. The condition of the process of redemption. As Christians we acknowledge Easter as a time of celebration for the end result (resurrection) from the submission of Jesus to conditions put upon him regarding his time on earth.

Marriage. We expect fidelity. A condition of marriage vows is to love and honor and keep oneself only for the other. Do people fail in this? Yes. Are they forgiven sometimes? Yes. But that does not mean that to truly love the other person you don't put expectations on their behavior nor does it mean there are not consequences when those expectations/conditions are not met, even violated.

The "unconditional love of God". People sling that phrase around so easily sometimes that I wonder if they are confusing God's love with their own will. God loves therefore I can do whatever I want. If that is the case, then there are no standards and conditions in life and I believe there are. And when they are violated, are there consequences? If the violation is acknowledged, then the forgiveness is always there, in the love of God. So maybe it is more true to say that God loves always and forgives you unconditionally when you ask to be.

Words are tricky. You may mean one thing and choose an inappropriate one in which to convey that thought which results in people misunderstanding what you are trying to say in these formats. That happens all the time in Facebook, Twitter, Text and Email. I understand that. I acknowledge I could have done that in the post that prompted this writing. So be careful when we are sure we have something to say to others we are appreciating and to the ones we are attempting to correct through the long arm of social media.