#You're Not Helping

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“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water” (James 3:9–12 NIV).

While in times past many of us would be much more hesitant to publicly voice a controversial opinion and generally had fewer opportunities to do so, with the advent of social media confrontation is the order of the day.

There is certainly nothing wrong with voicing one’s opinion and the ability to do so to a relatively wide-audience can surely function in a positive way. Access to a variety of opinions and the potential to engage in fruitful dialogue—even with those with whom we may disagree—can help us shape a more informed perspective on any of a number of issues.

And yet, with this newfound societal good there is also a dark side. What, you might ask, is this “dark side?”

Well, I have come to the conclusion that far too many people are ignorant, not terribly intelligent, and/or are just bad.

I do not wish to sound elitist, but I am a very educated, well-read person. I am, moreover, a person who is actually concerned about the welfare of others and am quite willing to let my personal interests take a back seat to the needs of society as a whole. Unfortunately, thinking and morally upright people as myself seem so rare today.

While I understand that there are and will always be bad people in the world and that not everyone has the opportunity to read as much as I do, I am still always shocked when presented with such vast ignorance and evil. I am even more dismayed when I discover that some people whom I’ve met in person and even counted as friends hold truly absurd and immoral ideas.

In any case, I feel the need to speak out. After all, Jesus himself didn’t pull any punches. He cleansed the Temple, didn’t he? He showed no hesitation in calling the Pharisees “whitewashed tombs,” being beautiful on the outside but full of death and filth on the inside (Matthew 23:27). And there are far worse than the Pharisees of Jesus’ day out there!

Likewise, the Old Testament prophets made it their business to explicitly condemn those in society who were speaking lies and acting unjustly (see, for example, Jeremiah 7:1–8:3). I am standing within a long tradition of prophetic critique.

Further, as almost everyone would concede, you can always criticize your own group. Thus, I am well within my rights to utilize honest—even if heavily hyperbolic—speech to denounce wrongdoers so long as I can claim some affiliation with them. Hey, I’m a white American Evangelical too!

Besides, it shouldn’t even need to be said that the wrongness of these people’s perspective is so blatantly obvious. If I can just get them to recognize the intellectual and moral deficiencies in their reasoning, I will have done a good thing. Any criticism that I may launch is predicated upon the hope that one day the shame and embarrassment of their point of view will become evident to them.

There is nothing wrong with calling out evil for what it is! Not enough Germans spoke out against the rise of Nazism in pre-World War II Germany and look what happened. Did I mention that there is little difference, if any, between fascists and these silly people with whom I disagree?

I might not ultimately be able to fix them, but I can certainly try. Someone must do it. Additionally, those who already agree with me and who are the ones largely reading my Facebook and Twitter posts will feel encouraged that I am raising awareness of such error-ridden persons that are a detriment to all that is good and life-affirming. You’re not alone, my friends—I hear and see what these idiots are saying and doing as well.

Note: Everything you just read explaining the “dark side” of social media was a satirical illustration of the problem as I see it. I would never in my right mind seriously suggest such things.

But it’s often tempting, isn’t it? And many of us are indeed willing to swiftly vilify those who do not think the way we think they ought. If only we took what the Scripture says a little more seriously than our treasured opinions.

“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Colossians 4:6 ESV).

“It is foolish to belittle one’s neighbor” (Proverbs 11:12 NLT).