Are online friends becoming your only companionship? One commentator is warning, those aren’t enough.
Philip Holmes writing for Desiring God.com says online friendships can be dangerous because they easily can feel like something they are not. He writes, “While online friends are indeed real people for whom we may have genuine affection, it’s essentially impossible for them to actually know the real you.
Holmes says online friends may be real people but offer incomplete projections. One reason why our self-made online portraits are so incomplete is because they are self-made. Everything we project about ourselves is tainted by self-perception
He believes that in order to truly be known, we need relationships in real time and real space. The only way we can pursue relationships that are truly authentic is by taking the risk of letting people see the unfiltered versions of who we really are.
How can we find that? Holmes says the local church, and the covenant fellowship we receive from her, is essential to our Christian health and growth. Sadly, many Christians who depend on online friendships do so because they’re isolated from a body of believers faithful to the gospel.
By God’s good design, we’re not meant to grow and thrive apart from community. Prioritize the church, and consider anything that pulls away your heart, or tempts you to replace her, as a threat to the health of your soul.