Reconciling Social Media with Faith

  • Thread starter Thread starter ArtoriusRex
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
A

ArtoriusRex

Guest
A few weeks ago, I wrote a Reddit post regarding my struggle to delete social media due to some of its sinfulness. I succeeded at first, even praying a Novena to the Holy Ghost for detachment from especially Snapchat. But once school started, I began to feel like an outcast. Obviously, I know popularity or any relevance at all doesn’t matter in the eyes of God, but every week when I go to in-person school, I see all of my friends on snap in their free time, and I can’t help but feel left out. So I downloaded it again earlier this week. I know that some of the sinfulness with using it now exists again, but then again, I usually engage in that (mostly just crude jokes and participation in modern social life, which is quite secular) when I go to school either way. Mostly everyone knows I’m devoutly Catholic, but there are times that I don’t act like it or at the very least don’t overtly display it. So I want to Christianize my use of it.I was thinking that I could perfect my usage of snap to reconcile it with the will of the Trinity, but I don’t know if this wouldn’t be sinful. If I just delete it again, people are going to think I’m crazy because I just got it earlier this week, and if I feel tempted to get it again, it’ll be a sort of cycle. There’s also this problem which pushed me to ponder this further, and without snap I would not be informed of it: While getting into a debate about Christianity, I discovered that two of my friends, whom I had always thought to be just left-leaning/leftist Christians now practice Neopaganism.They posted these crystal full moon rituals and I am going to pray for them every night now. I don’t know if I can still talk to them or not (obviously not about neopaganism or any occult things) What should I do? Obviously, I’m going to pray to the Holy Ghost, as I always do, however some lay human counsel won’t hurt. Is there any way I can ‘Christianize’ my use of Snap or other social media and my social life, or is it objectively repugnant to God in my situation Is it possible to be like Queen Esther, a righteous and holy Israelite ruler amidst a kingdom of gentiles? How do I (apart of course, from the primary peace of God’s Spirit) make peace with my social life and not constantly crave to at least have Snapchat and not be an outcast. I don’t want to engage in sin like everyone else, I just want to be known and not forgotten by a lot of the people I talk to. Also, without social media, it is much harder to get a girlfriend. Obviously not a priority, but I’d be nice, especially since I might have a vocation to the priesthood, and I heard some dating experience is good before then (I’m a freshman in high school, so it’s not nearly as important, but still). Also in one of my daily reflections, the prayer was perhaps relevant and incurred by God: It was about neglecting the guidance and inspirations of the Holy Spirit, and a prayer to fulfill them. I am afraid I will commit blasphemy against Him if I use Snap, or at least if I don’t stop using it for sinfulness. Is it possible to avoid such obstinance if I simply Christianize my use of social media? Or must I completely detach myself? Thank you so much in advance.
 
If you are not strong and are easily drawn into sin by others then you can’t be an Esther, you need to flee. If you are sinning on Snapchat then it is a sin for you to use it. You must think of it as a matter of life and death, do you want hell or heaven? This matters more than physical death. “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28) I have gone through this and am going through it. It is painful and annoying but we have to do what we have to do, we’re weak humans suffering with original sin.

As a sidenote: dating experience is not needed for the priesthood, look up Fr. Mike Schmitz on YouTube on discernment
 
I don’t use Snap so I only have a vague idea of how it works. Is there any way you can just follow friends who don’t post questionable stuff? Surely you must have friends who don’t post blasphemy, pagan rituals, dirty jokes, etc? It sounds like maybe you need to make some friends who post less offensive things.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top