Most netizens by now must be fed up with all the images of Gods, Godmen and their preaching which bombard their in-boxes.  Generally, no one wants to show disrespect to their own Gods and also to someone else’s.  The dilemma that most netizens face is that their computer systems or smartphones generally store these images by default in one folder, irrespective of the type of divine personality.  Hence, these Godly images are cursed to coexist with the heavy volume of porn and nude images that one receives on the very same social media. 

The senders of these Godly images did not want to show any disrespect to their Gods.  Some may even be gullible enough to believe that their Gods would be happy with their actions to spread the message and image of their Gods, thereby making their Gods more saleable.  The only likely beneficiary of such actions would be the Godmen whose objective is to trade this divine merchandise.  Thankfully the internet does not reach the Gods, else He would have had a difficult time, sorting these messages out!

Further, these images take up a lot of bytes and is costly to download and store.  The prime principle of communication is brevity which ensures speedy transmission of the message.  The Generation Next have aptly taken to texting, to reduce cost and increase speed.  Here there is no place for any image unless unavoidable.  Most netizens sending such images on social media are generally new entrants and are still bitten by the social media bug.  As time passes, many are sure to overcome this thrill, thus saving everyone money and time.

Some netizens send images of their God with an accompanying story that when they forwarded the same to 10 people, some miracle happened and this person now wants you to send it to 10 more people so that you receive such favours, else some calamity may strike you.  This carrot and stick strategy again results in unwarranted traffic on the internet and sometimes it may end up as an information security risk.

Another trend observed is to publish a story about favours received by the devotees as a case of some divine intervention.  I once confronted an editor of a paper publishing such paid classified advertisements and enquired as to whether he did send a copy of the newspaper to the concerned God as well.  How else can you expect God to learn about the ‘earnest’ efforts of a staunch follower of His?

I requested the editor to educate the publishers about the futility of such efforts and instead if the wasted money can be paid to some charity, it would be of considerable help to the needy.  Such advertisements are neither needed by God nor is it of any use to anyone except the publishing house who rake in money at the cost of the foolish believer.

Let us for a minute consider that God too was a Facebook user.  Would He have approved His image or the divine article you just posted? Would He ‘like’ what you just posted?    Every God would surely like a post about Him to be True, Helpful to humanity, Inspiring, Necessary and Kind to every living creations in this world, coupled with humane love.

While posting anything divine about your God, always stop to think that there are many who do not believe or follow your brand of divinity.  There are atheists too who claim user-created religious content is offensive to them and many feel that it promotes forceful indoctrination into their belief systems.

Pope Francis on the 50^th World Day of Social Communications, while welcoming Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, to the Vatican said “It is not technology which determines whether or not communication is authentic, but rather the human heart and our capacity to use wisely the means at our disposal.  Communication, wherever and however it takes place, has opened up broader horizons for many people. This is a gift of God which involves a great responsibility. I like to refer to this power of communication as ‘closeness’.”

Social media for sure is not a creation of God and as Pope Francis said, it is a gift of God. We all have seen it evolve before our eyes.  Hence it would be the most inappropriate place for the Gods.  God is counting neither the number of ‘likes’ your post has generated nor the number of times His name is tweeted.  It is surely not a gateway to heaven, nirvana or moksha, but will merely help some Godmen and their cronies rake in the ‘moolah’.

Rather than beginning the day by posting our God’s image on the social media, we should rather begin each day with God. It is astonishing that those who indulge in this form of worship are unconscious of the pettiness of the whole concept.   God is all knowing and all powerful and the least He needs is your reaffirmation of faith in Him through the social media.