God has a Facebook page

I just discovered that God has a Facebook page. And even though I go to church weekly, I find myself actually hesitating friending the Almighty. Yow.

I noticed that God has 2,521,904 fans who friended Him. This is not a whole lot, considering that there are supposedly 2.1 billion Christians, 1.5 billion Muslims, and 14 million Jews in the world (total, 3,614,000,000). Now, granted, not all of them will be internet users. But 23% of the world's population uses the internet, so let's assume that 23% of those who belong to monotheistic religions have internet access. That's 831,220,000, or 483,000,000 Christians; 345,000,00 Muslims; and 3,220,000 Jews. 2.5 million is still way short of the 831.2 million monotheistic religious people who use the internet.

But, of course, not all internet users are Facebook users. There are approximately 250 million Facebook users. Well, let's say that there is the same percentage of monotheistic believers who use Facebook as there are in the world (54.22 percent). That would be 135,550,000 believers. That's 135.55 million Facebook users who are members of a monotheistic religion.

Still way more than the 2,521,904 people (2.52 million, as of August 2nd) who friended Him, and in fact I am willing to bet there are some people who "friended" God who don't really believe and who just did it to snipe at those who do, so that reduces the actual "friend" number even more.

But perhaps Muslims and Jews might have an objection to an image (an image could qualify as an idol) that somehow represents God, and there is a picture on God's Facebook page that is sort of universe-looking, but it's an image nevertheless. Perhaps they as a result aren't friending God as represented by an image. That leaves the potential 33% of Facebook users who might be Christians. So that's 47,442,500, or 47.4 million people.

That's still is way more than 2.52 million people who "friended" God. There are apparently a lot of people who are monotheistic believers who are Facebook users who haven't friended God. And I am one of them.

So, I think, why do I hesitate? I go through a process when I decide to "friend" someone--do I know who that person is? If so, then I friend them. If I don't, are there people I know who have friended them? If there are, then I will, too. But what if I don't know them, and none of my existing friends do? Then I'll go look at their profile and decide on whatever information I find there.

But there is always a chance that there will be a crazy in the bunch, a troll, or someone who just wants to make trouble. Will I get spammed? Will I end up being stalked, my web site/Facebook page hacked? Will I be targeted by Nigerian scam artists?

Oh, the fear. The lovely, lovely fear.

God's Facebook friends network is pretty large--2,521,904--despite the fact that so few monotheistic believers have friended Him compared to the overall population. Thing is, do I trust that network not to do me harm? How choosy do I get to be about the angry people (such as the one who commented "God is Dead" multiple times in 30 different posts. I wonder about such passionate anger and perhaps even hatred that leads one to post that many times in big capital letters) who are part of that network? Or about the other Christians who seem more intolerant than I feel is right? I really could be attacked by either side because my beliefs may not be in concert with their beliefs. It's happened.

But it does seem like God's network includes everyone, is open to everyone, believers or non-believers, haters and lovers, tolerant and intolerant. So far as I can tell, God is open to friending anyone on His Facebook page. You get to belong to a very large network of people who do well, and people who suffer. People you like, and people you wish would just go away. Nice people and nasty people. Seems like God doesn't discriminate much--His network is open to all. And you get to choose whether you join the network or not. Nobody forces you to do it.

I guess the bottom line is, I don't have a problem with God. I have a problem with the people in God's network.

Specifically, I have a problem with the people who are nasty in God's network, and it leads me to ignore the nice people who are in it, too, because as we all know, it's the squeaky wheel that gets the attention. And I tell myself I don't have the time to look for the diamonds in the rough, or muck through the mud to find the pearls. (To mix metaphors...ack!)

Which is not a very Pollyanna way to be.

It is a real dilemma. If I join God's network, it does mean I might have to deal with a lot of potential nastiness, and work pretty hard to find the gold, because mud does tend to cover up the pretty stuff. And no doubt there will be times when I think, God, why do you even LET people like this behave the way they do? It will not be comfortable, and I do like being comfortable.

Yet...as I read through the posts and comments on God's Facebook page, and pierce through the mud and muck, there are human beings there, people who hurt and are hurt, who grieve, who have joy and love, who are just human beings in all their glory and tragedy. No more, no less.

Just human beings. Just like me.