Christians Pray for Facebook amid Lawsuit
As another lawsuit hits the founder of Facebook, with the plaintiff claiming a substantial 50 percent of the social networking company, one pastor gets down on his knees to pray.
David Wright, CEO and founder of DoersTV.com, an online Christian TV network, believes it is in the best interest of Christians and ministries worldwide to pray for the recent Paul Ceglia lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg.
“I truly believe that this is a lawsuit against Facebook that has some merit to it and if successful could alter the freedom of millions of Christians, ministries, and churches worldwide who use the free Facebook platform to express and promote their faith,” Wright said.
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Ceglia, who had earlier asserted that a large stake in Facebook belonged to him, filed on Monday with a U.S. district court an updated complaint and included a series of email correspondences with Zuckerberg himself which allegedly prove that the Facebook founder agreed to give him a 50 percent share in the website.
One of the emails published by Business Insider shows Ceglia accusing the founder of stealing his programming code to create Facebook.
Zuckerberg was hired by Ceglia to work for Streetfax.com, and it was there that the Palo Alto billionaire supposedly asked Ceglia to become involved in his project “The Face Book” in exchange for equity.
In a written statement issued on Tuesday, Facebook denied the claims, dismissing the case as fraudulent and ridiculous, and highlighted Ceglia’s former run-ins with the law. He was convicted twice for fraud and for possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms.
Facebook has, however, acknowledged that Zuckerberg did do some computer programming for Ceglia.
But despite the possible absurdity of the claims, Pastor Wright is worried that Ceglia’s evidence might be valid and thereby threatening to the Christians who are benefiting from the network, especially when such a reputable and well-respected major international law firm like DLA Piper is backing Ceglia’s case.
“The more lawsuits against Facebook, legitimate or not, increase the risk of Facebook not remaining a free platform, which could jeopardize the Christian community who are greatly benefiting from this social media giant,” he expressed.
“It costs millions of dollars in legal fees and settlements for Facebook to continue to fight these legal battles.”
The pastor told The Christian Post, “Whose to say that Mark Zuckerberg will never charge a small monthly fee to users of Facebook because of the millions of dollars lost in legal fees. He was thinking about attaching a fee to Facebook in the very beginning.”
“If you are one of the millions of Christians who are benefiting from this free platform, you should be praying … It’s an asset worth protecting.”
Wright explained to CP that Facebook is an important platform for Christians for several reasons: it provides not only a free website for ministries and churches but unlimited bandwidth and pages with it; it provides interaction between the users that is very hard to duplicate on standard websites; it can reach millions of believers and non-believers for free to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and lastly because social media is a necessity and no longer a luxury to grow a ministry in the 21st century.
Though Christians could use other tools to spread the Good News, the DoersTV founder stated that Facebook was the most cost-effective and far-reaching in a short amount of time.
As society continually progresses and becomes immersed in technology and media, was it wise however for believers to rely so heavily on these tools?
“As Christians we must always rely on God,” Wright affirmed to CP. “But media is a form of communication and the Great Commission is to spread or communicate the Gospel to the world.”
“How do we do that? Word of mouth, yes, but social media is like word of mouth ... I truly believe God allowed Facebook, Twitter and the other social media giants to be formed for His agenda – of spreading the Good News.”
Asked whether he thought some people would find it trivial to pray for such matters when there were more important issues to worry about currently in the world, he stated, “Yes of course, but it’s mainly because they just do not know and understand how God is using Facebook for His glory and honor to not only win lost souls but to encourage and edify Christians as well.”
“For example, DoersTV has received many prayer requests for people in Japan. Christians and non-Christians need to know and see that people are praying for them and have not forgotten them,” Wright added.
“So while Facebook does not compete with ‘more weighty concerns,’ it enhances and creates an additional platform for free to help Christians minister to these ‘more weighty concerns.’”
Facebook is not a distraction from true ministry but an enhancer and support for true ministry, the pastor encouraged.
“We are not defending or promoting Facebook or Mark Zuckerberg, but Christians do have a vested interest in keeping it free,” Wright clarified. “Every lawsuit against Facebook has significant implications, as far as I am concerned, for millions of Christians worldwide who use Facebook.”
Our prayers are to protect what Facebook offers for free that happens to greatly benefit the Christian community, he concluded.
DoersTV.com will be launching a new prayer channel where Christians can not only log on to DoersTV’s Facebook fan page to post their prayer requests, but also watch as Christians worldwide pray for Facebook to remain a free platform.
