The first problem that I have is the 140-character limit...this is a problem for someone who really wants to share what is on their mind (like I have a tendency to do....) and to be rationed in thought is something that I'm not exactly a fan of. (Can you imagine if Thomas Jefferson had to write the Declaration of Independence with only 140 characters? or if Winston Churchill had to do his "Blood, sweat and tears" speech and told he could only use so many letters?)
The other problem with a limit on the number of characters is that when you see something like what happened in Oklahoma and you want to do an impromptu and spontaneous prayer... do you really want to be interrupted by a reminder that you only have a few characters left so you have to shorten your prayer to the King of the Universe? ("Dear Lord, there's so much I want to say, but I only have a limited amount of time and space...")
AM I OVER 140 CHARACTERS YET?
And the other problem that I have with Twitter is the concept of "followers"...I can understand it on a blog like this, because a follower is someone who likes what you have to say and sometimes may ACTUALLY agree with what you have to say! But on Twitter the concept of following in my opinion (for what that's worth) is usually following something or someone who is "trendy"...and we all know the dangers of that...one day's "flavor of the month" is the next day's "Why did I ever follow that?", one person who may be "hot" at one moment, may be totally "not" the next...
So when thinking of "follower", I did what I usually do, go to www.http://dictionary.reference.com and looked up the word follower and it had this to say:
Someone who follows another person in regard to his or her ideas or beliefs....but what if that person that they are following just espouses fluff? Do we then decide to become "fluff followers"? Or what if they espouse stupidity? Do we become stupid because they are stupid? But then I noticed the last part of the definition and another definition of follower which says:
"a person who imitates, copies, or takes as a model or ideal"
Disciple, adherent, one who imitates, copies or takes as a role model...and my mind was drawn to Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 11:1; especially as it is written in the CJB (Complete Jewish Bible):
"try to imitate me, even as I myself try to imitate the Messiah (Yeshua or Jesus)"
A note in my Ryrie study Bible sent me to Ephesians 5:1, where it has the word "follower". However, both words have the same Greek origin, mimeomai, which means "mimic" And when I looked up "mimic" I got the following:
"to be an imitation of; simulate; resemble closely".
Resemble closely....to be like or similar to...If we are called to be followers of Jesus, then we are called to resemble Him closely, to be like or He was...Is that happening today? Are we willing to imitate Jesus to the extreme that He called us to in Luke 9:23-especially as it is rendered in the Amplified Version of the Bible: "conforming wholly to my example in living and if need be, dying also"
So I ask again....are we a "follower" going with trends until they become passe? Or are we "imitators" willing to be like Jesus in every area of our life?
was looking at a place where they have Twitter entries and someone called their followers "Tweeps" (which is-I guessing "shorthand" for Twitter Peeps, but my definition would be more "Twitter Sheep")...rather be an imitator than a sheep, at least an imitator knows to think instead of follow and go "baa..."
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