"...And The Love of Many Shall Grow Cold" : Is Facebook Making Your Relationships Superficial?

Facebook and other social networking platforms allow us to keep in contact with more people including family, friends, acquaintances, and people whom we never met in person.

And this is a great tool, especially if like me, you have family and friends who live very far away from you and you cannot see them face to face that often.

But I noticed a considerable downside to this. It seems that because we are almost constantly connected to Facebook via our phones, tablets, and other devices and we interact with those people daily often by liking their content, commenting on what they post, and occasionally exchanging a few words by a Facebook chat, that it gives us an illusion of continuing relationship with them and it often begins to replace other more comprehensive forms of communication with the people we care about.

It is only an illusion, because liking someone's content, commenting on their photos, and occasionally exchanging few words cannot really maintain  real relationships. Those activities DO NOT equal having a real conversation with them.

Now, I get the fact that not everyone on your friends list is your real friend and when you have several hundred people there, you really cannot maintain real relationships with them all, so it will be natural that you will have this superficial relationships with most of them, but what is most disturbing to me is the fact that Facebook can turn even those real close relationships we used to enjoy with  friends and even family to the very superficial relationships we have with acquaintances and  strangers.

Personally, I consciously try to prevent this from happening with my close relationships, but I sadly discovered that others do not always make the effort and because of that many of my close relationships became superficial soon after those friends and family joined me on Facebook.

I used to talk on the phone with them or face to face in person, or via Skype regularly, which allowed us to really share our life experiences with one another. Now with most of them it is only short Facebook messages and likes. They really don't know what is happening in my life beyond what I share on Facebook ( which is very little) , and I don't know what is really happening in their lives. But the sad thing is that when I try to find out, I get only short polite and very concise answers, and it is only me who is making the effort. If I don't write to them asking how they are doing, they will not write or talk to me for years on end. This is NOT a relationship anymore. Real relationships go both ways, not just one, and real relationships demand that we make time for real conversations.

I am very thankful for those few friends and family who do make time to talk to me, and I do anything possible to make time for them, but there were quite a few relationships that were important to me that Facebook killed.

Let's not allow this to happen, especially if we are Christians. You know, liking things on Facebook or sitting in the same Church building for an hour every Sunday is not really fellowship. The Lord Jesus warned us of this when He predicted that in the end times "the love of many will grow cold" because of the lawlessness. The greatest law binding us together is the Law of love. When we allow the relationships with people we care about to become superficial, our love for them grows cold and we begin to practice lawlessness.

Evaluate the relationships you have today and make sure that they do not become superficial. make it a point to have real conversations with people you care about, and if your relationships became superficial, do whatever in your power to change that.

An update: In 2020, I finally left Facebook for good. Before cancelling my account, I sent private messages to people I wanted to keep in touch with and told them the ways, we can stay in contact after I leave. Only a few responded. Some did not even acknowledge my message, but kept mindlessly sending me links. It really hurt, but at least now I know who my real friends are and I am happier for it. Facebook is a friendship killer. I don't miss it at all.

How Alt Right Violence Helps The Cause Of Islamic Terrorism

It is quite ironic, but the ideology and actions of alt right terrorists such as Anders Breivik of Norway,  who claim to be concerned about Islamisation of Western societies, actually only helps the cause of those radical Muslims who wish to eventually impose Islamic laws on Western societies   and here is how.

When alt right terrorist come and kill Muslims in the Masques such as it was the case recently in Quebec, Canada or immigrants like in the case of Breivik, then Muslim terrorists use it even more as a tool to radicalize Muslim youth because it "proves" their narrative that Muslims and Islam are under attack and marginalized by white "Christian Crusaders" since to them all white people living in the West are "Christian" even though they might actually be atheists espousing alt right ideology like  Alexandre Bissonnette. Sadly even the Western main stream  media such as CBC also described him as a "white Christian"( proof: CBC: Candian Mass Murderers Usually White and Christian ) despite the fact that he liked among other things atheist's pages on Facebook, but they reported only that he liked Donald Trump and Marie Le Pen of France trying very unfairly in my opinion, to tie those two political leaders to alt right ideology and terrorism, thus helping to fuel more Islamic terrorism by confirming the radical Islamic narrative.

Furthermore, such violent attacks on Islamic communities will make it impossible to have an open discussion in Western societies about the limits to accommodation of Islam, which radical Islamic elements will exploit by accusing anyone voicing an opposition to establishment of Sharia law in Muslim communities in Canada, or U.S. of fueling hate that leads to violence.

The rise of nationalist sentiments both in Europe and America is a direct reaction to radical Islam, its ideology, and violence. The people who simply want to preserve their own culture, want safety from Islamic terrorism, and want  full sovereignty for their countries are not driven by the alt right ideology even though alt right activists agree with them on some points.

We have to remember that just because two groups of people agree with each other on couple of points, it does not mean that they are one and the same or that they agree with everything. If Western civilization is to survive and not descend into the chaos that we observe now taking place in the Middle East, we have to find a way to foster true tolerance, which is accepting one another's differences without allowing any one group in society to have a privileged status or impose their political, social, or religious ideology on everyone else. We cannot be calling every Muslim a terrorist, but we have to acknowledge the problem of Islamic terrorism head on. And we cannot call every one criticizing Islam and islamophobe, but we must condemn any type of violence against Muslims in the strongest terms.

Violence always breeds violence and must be condemned. That is why Jesus taught us Christians to love our enemies and not to return evil for evil, but to overcome evil with good. This is what real Christianity is about and that is why no alt right terrorist should ever be called a Christian, because to be a Christian means to be like Christ, and He never killed anyone, but instead He sacrificed His life for the sake of those who hated Him.

The Truth About Canada That Refugees Are Never Told About

After new President of United States, Donald Trump, placed a temporary  freeze on receiving

refugees from Syria and other war torn countries where terrorist activity is high, the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau is being praised all over conventional and social media including Facebook for his very welcoming attitude towards refugees.

This is a great idea to welcome all those who seek a better life, but the truth is that while life in Canada for most of those refugees is definitely more peaceful,  financially it is not really that much better than they had back home or even in Turkey, or other places they transited through before coming here.

Canada is a huge country with a very small population of only about 36 million people, 61% of whom earn less than average wage. The unemployment for unskilled workers is very high ( as high as 15% or more) and the costs of living are continually going up while government services are going down, and government debt is growing exponentially, especially under the current Prime Minister.

That is why the government support for refugees runs out after one year, when they have to make a hard living for themselves while still learning the language and jobs are very hard to find. There is no more room for refugees in big metropolitan cities such as Toronto, so most of them are being sent to smaller communities where the climate is often very harsh and society not as diverse.

Even after becoming Canadian citizens, it takes many years of hard work and education before they can achieve a more comfortable standard of living for themselves and their immediate families. It will decade more than a decade before they will be able to sponsor any other relatives to join them from back home, or before they can even invite them for a visit.

Life in Canada is not a paradise as it is, and it will become harder  for those who  will be coming in the future if the government keeps up the current rates of immigration or if they are increased further. When I see those new families coming, I am happy that they are out of harms way, but I often wonder if they even know how hard life is going to be for them here in other ways...