Don’t Fall In Love On Social Media - Pastor Cautions Youth

Reverend Emmanuel Osae-Addo, the Head Pastor of the Korle-Bu Community Chapel (KBCC) has cautioned the youth against establishing pre-marital relationships on social media.

He said the rate at which the youth were getting themselves engaged in such relationships on social media was on the rise even as union could not stand the “test of time.”

Reverend Osae-Addo was reacting to the recent death incidences that involved three female students who were reported in the media to have taken their lives as a result of alleged disappointments [broken heart] suffered in pre-marital relationships.

He presumed that most of the relationships that suffered failure were those that had weaker foundation, some of which were established on social media.

“Sometimes, someone would come to me during counselling session and tell me that a guy has seen her nakedness but has left her to another lady...you would go deeper and realise that the relationship began on social media,” Rev. Osae-Addo observed.

The KBCC’s Head Pastor told the Ghana News Agency on Sunday, that accepting love proposals from unknown persons on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram or Whatsapp was against the counsel of “true men of God.”

He advised the youth to comply with the directives of the word of God and listen to the advice of their parents and societal leaders who he believed had more experience in relationship and marital issues.

“You cannot fall in love with someone you barely know in person and expect the relationship to succeed,” he stated.
Reverend Osae-Addo contended that marriage was an institution established by God between “a matured woman and man” and was devoid of worldly wisdom, which he advised must be seen as such.

He lamented the failure of some parents to show interest in knowing about the relationships and friends of their children, describing it as rather woeful and sheer failure of proper parenting.

“Knowing your son or daughter’s friends and relationships would help the parents give the best advice to the child,” he said and added that the children’s relationship and friends partly determined the progress of the child in life.
“Boy girl relationship cannot be avoided, at least not when we have co-educational institutions.

“Definitely, relationships would build up. The best thing now is for parents and religious leaders to provide the young ones with prudent counselling so as to save them from troubles,” Reverend Osae-Addo said.

He also blamed the problems the youth went through in pre-marital relationship on the lack of adequate counselling units in schools and some churches.

“Quite a number of the youth from various schools and some churches come here for pre-marital and marital counselling.

“KBCC has a well-organised counselling session which seeks to use the world of God to teach the young ones about marriage and pre-marital relationships,” he disclosed.

The Head Pastor called on stakeholders including educational institutions and religious bodies to put our measures to coach the youth about relationships and marriage to help prevent the reoccurrence of the sad incidences.