An idea occurred to me as I taught Gospel Doctrine last week. We’re studying the Old Testament this year – which is kind of a challenge because I think, in general, we Mormons are more used to New Testament and Book of Mormon stories.The lesson was about Abraham and Lot and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Earlier in class we were talking about Facebook for some reason I can’t remember (I don’t remember half the things I talk about -- I might have summarized an episode of Leave it to Beaver as well).
I couldn’t help but think how fun it would be to follow Old Testament prophets on Facebook – and how much more I would learn -- granted the people who managed the profiles knew what they were doing. I could follow Moses and Abraham and Noah and their crazy adventures. Get updates on the flight into Egypt and see photos of how the big ark is coming along.
I'd enjoy reading the skeptics' comments (a.k.a. "murmerings") on their prophesies. Noah would invite me to become a fan of “there’s a flood coming so believe and repent of your sins” and Abraham would invite me to join the group “Help rescue Lot”.Someone could set up a memorial page for poor Lot’s wife and we could all take surveys such as “would you have looked back?” to reveal our true personalities.
I’m sure the day to day updates would be a little dull. We’d hear about countless sheep dying and “more rain…still floating” but really, how less riveting is that then hearing about your forgotten high school friend’s youngest sleeping through the night three days in a row?
Clearly, the timeline would have to be altered to keep the story going. But I think I’m onto something here.
Forget “Living Scriptures”, if you really want the scriptures to come to life, put the people on your homepage every day. Think about how many of your “friends” you know way better than you intended, simply because snippets of their lives are broadcast to you several times a day. I guarantee you would learn a ton about the Old Testament without even thinking you were trying.
Great idea -- I totally agree. Facebook can sometimes be one big overshare. Might as well share something worthwhile...
ReplyDeleteWhere's the "like" option? Jessi Venable likes this.
I taught that same lesson in my ward, and that's a really interesting idea. From my perspective, it would be a matter of who you would friend and who you wouldn't. Abraham is a definite yes. Lot perhaps not so much. With whom among the OT figures would you want to be FB friends? That's my "let's bring the OT to the 21st century" question...
ReplyDeleteI bet they'd be really good at Farmville.
ReplyDeleteLOL! I think you're on to something here :) I'd love to see which Twilight character Noah would be (fingers crossed he'd take that quiz!) or what Lot's Wife's horoscope was the day she looked back.
ReplyDeleteCarter is a genius...
ReplyDeleteIf you wait a couple of months, you might just have a Noah or Abraham friend on facebook. Those are both top names right now for our new one. And I've been seeing a lot of my friends kids have facebook pages. Who knows? And speaking of all the useless crap people put up on facebook, Chris thinks you are quite clever with your posting. Take it as a compliment from someone who hates facebook.
ReplyDeleteThou almost persuadest me to believe in Facebook.
ReplyDeleteBut until Noah or Moses starts posting, I will keep my account closed.
Besides, I was the one who would post lame status updates stating that my kid slept through the night or a kid threw up on my leg.