Apps, Filters, and Blood

There is a trend across social media right now that I find greatly disturbing–the use of filters and apps that many of my friends (particularly the young women) use to alter their online appearance, sometimes drastically. For what it’s worth, here is my opinion about filters, apps, and blood.

Apps and Filters

Once upon a time, it seemed like a fun thing to “cartoon” oneself. It was amusing to add mouse ears or cat eyes, or even to distort body or facial parts. These days, it seems that more and more often, I see people who radically alter their online appearance by replacing their own natural features. I’m not talking about the adjustments that used to be made to our senior portraits or wedding photographs to remove blemishes or clear up discolorations. I’m talking about significantly slimming down a body, changing skin tone, altering the size and shape of eyes or nose, removing wrinkles or acne, and announcing to the world: “Here I am! This is me!” I’m talking about replacing truth with a lie.

By definition, a photo filter is “a pre-made template for adjusting the contrast, color balance, and other aesthetic settings of a digital photo.” In a world where people, young women especially, are encouraged to” follow their hearts,” “live their truths,” and “be their best selves,” physical perfection seems like something they must attain, and if necessary, attain dishonestly.  Altered “profile pictures” are posted in hopes of reaping many comments of “Beautiful!” “Stunning!” “Gorgeous!” It’s a lot of pressure for someone who may already be dangerously insecure about her appearance. 

A Lie To Impress Strangers

According to Angi Moreschi and Nathan Aaron  (The National Desk Mon, March 4th 2024) “more than 400-million people reportedly use Snapchat filters every day, and Meta has reported that more than 600-million people have used its filters on Facebook and Instagram.

“Now, with the help of artificial intelligence, filters have evolved into advanced editing tools that can automatically, in real time, manipulate your image or video, significantly changing your facial features and even your body.”

The article reveals that a 2021 study by City University of London showed the most common reasons cited for using filters included evening out or bronzing skin tone, whitening teeth, making eyes bigger, making noses smaller, making lips plumper, reshaping the jaw, and taking weight off.

Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and other social media platforms offer many filters to create one’s perfect features with the punching of a few keys.. A single app, which, of course, one must purchase, can make your eyes bigger, your lips plumper, your facial structure chiseled to the perfect ratio, and your make-up faultless. 

A Dangerous Device

Millions of people use these methods every day in an effort to feel good about themselves. Unfortunately, and not surprisingly, it usually has the opposite effect.

In “The Hidden Danger of Online Beauty Filters,” Psychology Today reports that “Young women are not only comparing their appearance to perfect images of celebrities and peers, but also judging themselves against their filtered selfies. This constant comparison can be a source of great suffering and erode one’s positive body image and self-esteem. Social comparison and beauty filters may cause users to strive for unrealistic beauty standards. As a result, young people may experience a disconnection between how they look and the edited images they share with the world. This is a specific kind of self-objectification that may even lead to serious mental health conditions like body dysmorphic disorder.”

A Better Option

I think we can all agree that this is not a good thing. Striving for the admiration and approval of marginal friends, “friends” one has never met in person, or complete strangers, is not a healthy endeavor. 

There is, however, an app, a filter, that will lead to positivity. That is the application of the Blood of Jesus, not to the outward appearance, but to the heart. Romans  12:1 tells us to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

When God the Father looks at us through the filter of the applied Blood of His Son, all He sees is His perfect creation, because the Blood has taken away the imperfections, the sins, and they have been removed as far as the East is from the West!

Psalm 139:13-14 says: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago”–real things, not pretend ones (Ephesians 2:10).

Obviously, the Blood of Christ does not cause a physical change. No, but neither do those photo filters. Accepting the Blood of Christ as our filter gives us a positive image change. It is truth instead of a lie. It is eternal, not fleeting.

If you are considering changing your appearance through apps and filters, please choose the Blood. Remember, you are already a masterpiece. Your Abba Father says so.

God bless you, and may you see yourself through His eyes!