Borrowed Light

How Facebook Is Taking Away Your Freedom of Access

April 6, 2018Mike Leake 5 Comments

Many of our readers will never see this article….

Imagine with me that every road is now a toll road. This means side roads, gravel roads, highways, everything. Thankfully some roads will be occasionally free. The department of transportation, by some random algorithm, decides which roads are free on which day. So if given a choice between taking a free route and a paid route, which one do you take? You take the free one almost every time.

Now imagine that this algorithm isn’t entirely random. Let’s say the department of transportation has control over which ones are free. And they tend to make a road free if the businesses on that road decide to pay up. This means that the Wal-Mart’s of the world are always going to have their road wide open, while the mom and pop stores are going to be at the whim of whether or not Big Brother wants to open up their road that day.

What I’ve just described to you is what happens to Christian bloggers on Facebook. Tim Challies explains it well:

We may think that when we like a page on Facebook we are indicating to Facebook that we desire to see that page’s content. But it really doesn’t work that way. The algorithm still stands between us and the content to silently and programmatically make that determination. For a content-creator like myself, I cannot count on more than one percent of the people who like my page actually seeing my content (unless, of course, I choose to pay Facebook to extend that reach). The algorithm keeps it from people like you who may wish to see it.

Facebook is closing the highway on Christian content. They’ll post some things. Every so often the algorithm will gracious slide something through. But unless I’m willing to pay them, many of my Facebook followers will never see what I post. Those are people who have signed up and said, “I want to see what Mike Leake has to say today”. And Facebook now says, “I’ll let you have access to the road if Mike pays or if you go out of your way to search for his name”. And who does that? Who doesn’t just scroll down their timeline to see what’s new for the day. But Facebook is controlling what you get to see for the day. They are curating content that you’ve already said you wanted to see.

This is terrible for Christian bloggers. All of us have witnessed a downward spiral in our traffic coming from Facebook. This is not because we’ve all of a sudden become terrible writers. It’s because Facebook is intentionally blocking our content. The algorithm doesn’t like Christianity. It doesn’t like conservative views. This isn’t tin-foil hat stuff. This is something that many have witnessed (see here). And I’ve seen this with my own eyes.

So what do we do?

Don’t let Facebook have this kind of power. I think Tim Challies has come up with the absolute best solution. Start using an RSS reader. It isn’t difficult. Sign up for Feedly and subscribe to the all of the blogs/websites that you want to read. There isn’t a super-secretive algorithm that hides content from you. It updates every time the blogs you subscribe to updates. Check it every morning and you’ll get every single article that you subscribe to. Nothing hidden from you.

We should not be giving Facebook the power to sift through what we do and do not want to see. The Scriptures say what we should pursue: that which “is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Facebook doesn’t use this filter. Take back the power!

Use Facebook to see pictures of people’s dinner at Applebee’s and the cute new tricks your grand kids can do. But it’s not the greatest for having a conversation (social media never has been). And it’s certainly not to be the choice for curating content. They are taking away our freedom of access…and we’re letting them. By using Facebook the way they want you to, you’re essentially saying, “Here, tell me which plays I can drive. Tell me what businesses I can shop at, tell me what places I should turn my head today.”

Now…how to figure out how to get anyone to read this article….

Maybe I’ll have to pay the man to show this one…

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Photo source: here

Read This! 04.05.18

April 5, 2018Mike Leake

How To Control Your Calendar

A few helpful tips there.

Doing Church Biblically Can Be Messy

Which is why we so often don’t do church biblically.

The Future Belongs to Churches That Send

Amen. Which is one of the reasons I’m casting my vote for J.D. Greear in Dallas.

When Marriage Becomes an Idol

Even the best of things can become idols.

Mike Bird and Tradition

I appreciate this thought.

The Gospel-Shaped Pastor

I needed this today.

Your Church Music Might Be Incomplete

Helpful questions to ask of the way we do music in church.

Let’s Rethink Our Language of ‘Calling’

Amen.

Matt Chandler answers whether or not the western church will die out:

The Gospel Gets the Last Word

April 4, 2018Mike Leake 2 Comments

All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
²⁵but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

Picture a scene. You are standing before the Lord and book upon book is being read telling the story of your life. But this isn’t a sitting around the fireplace and hearing grandpa’s old stories occasion. This is a trial. Your life and your words are testifying as to whether or not you’re to be considered a good person.

Now this isn’t the type of trial you get on the day of your funeral. That’s the day when mostly your friends and family show up and everybody works to remember all the good times and to minimize the bad. This trial isn’t like that. You’ve got critics and sycophants present. You’ve got words against you and words for you. Evidence of words you’ve spoken, written, and even things that you’ve thought. A display of the impact of your life. It’s social media run wild and you’re the topic. It’s your fifteen minutes of fame. And you’re getting torched…with only a few positives throw in here and there.

“He was a hypocrite. His words didn’t match his lifestyle.”

“He was one of the best counselors I ever had. He helped me more than anyone else.”

“He was a terribly sloppy pastor. His hair was often wilder than it should have been, his beard wasn’t neatly trimmed, he seldom wore a suit. He was a bad representation of what a minister of the gospel ought to be.”

“He was the one who shared Jesus with me.”

“His theology was sloppy and inconsistent. He didn’t believe some of the things that I’ve believed for years. I’m not even sure if he was a believer”

“He was incredibly selfish. He viewed everything through the lens of himself.”

“He was a gossip. He slandered others and then was mortally wounded when he was slandered himself.”

“He hurt me.”

“He failed me.”

“He was lazy and passive. He never became the person that he could have been. He buried quite a few talents”.

Some of those opinions are grounded in truth. They match the replay of your life. You really were more selfish than you should have been. You really did cause hurt. But you also were used by God to help people see the glory of Jesus. It’s a mixed bag. Connected with all of these opinions is a mountain of evidence against you. And the Accuser is quick to point out every one of these flaws.

He’s correct. He’s not fabricating a bit. He’s right. You are cursed and gone astray. You fall short of the glory of God. You did hurt people. You did sin against the God of the Universe. You aren’t holy. You do not have any righteousness of your own. You did bury a few talents. You’re not clean. You’ve mucked up your life at times.

Then Jesus stands up…

The gospel gets the last word. That is what 1 Peter 1:25 means. All of the critics, all of the defenders, they don’t get the last word. Neither do we. “I did many great things in your name…” The gospel speaks last. And it’s word is definitive.

That’s either really great news. Or it’s terrible.

I picture this scene in my mind and it brings me to tears. It brings me to tears because I know what Jesus will say. I don’t know the specific words that he’ll use. But I know that he has my back. Not because of my own righteousness but because of His. I know that He has truly changed my heart and my life. I know that he sees every ounce of my toil and labor and every bit of my sloppy obedience. I know that he sees my every failure. He knows my every sin against him. And yet he stands in my defense.

“He’s mine.”

Maybe that’s what he’ll say. And when he belts out those words…nothing else matters. All the critics. All the applause. All the mountains. All the valleys. All the days in the darkness of depression. The mountain of my sin against him and others. Every drop of sweat in ministry for others. It all crumbles. And only his Word remains.

It’s not that sin doesn’t matter. It’s not that good doesn’t matter. It’s just that it isn’t definitive. It doesn’t get the last word.

Jesus does.