Speaking Light in the Darkness of Social Media

Speaking Light in Darkness

If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

Deuteronomy 13:6-10 

Mediums for communication have developed rapidly in the last couple hundred years. This rapid growth and change in how we communicate and to what extent we can have access to information has had no short effect on our daily living. We think differently, we respond differently, we create differently but the impetus behind these new expressions of thought are the same as those that man has had from the beginning. 

In the not so distant past people were generally restricted to quoting works from authors as an additive to conversation. Not long ago, and still today, movie quotes became part of our colloquialisms. Now, even in face to face conversation, it is not unlikely to pull out your phone to share a meme or GIF that was aroused by the speech of an interlocutor. In all this development of communication there are certain expectations we all uniquely possess and presumptuously expect others to follow yet these rules are often broken. As our reference above demonstrates, we must not turn a blind eye in bringing reproof for sake of the medium, see Matthew 18. 

These reproofs must be direct and not the kind of reproof a pastor gives in his excitement during a sermon which is so vague in correction that nobody really knows what he is specifically referencing and the ones that do know what he is saying aren’t those who need it. When opposition arises against these expectations of false civility where nobody corrects another reactions range from apathy to being aghast when people behave differently online than they otherwise do in person. Many seem surprised that the healthy small talk of a healthy culture they expect is not what is found in exchanges in these new mediums. We simply don’t have a healthy culture to expect such healthy speech. Yet, we still maintain somewhat cordial interactions in many areas in the Midwest, for example. We see friends and family post terrible or erroneous things but they don’t act on them in our presence, we think to ourselves. This is nothing new and is as it should be. 

What’s Done in the Dark will be Brought to the Light 

“For his letters,” they say, “are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.” Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such we will also be in deed when we are present.

2 Corinthians 10:10 

With every like and share an opposition receives they become more and more emboldened and solidified in their errors and sins. What they are in post and in meme when absent, such will they eventually be in deed when present. In matters of justice and truth people will speak quite boldly and somewhat harsh when they sense a threat to their deepest held convictions. Such boldness or brashness can be from a reaction of fear of their convictions eroding or from being proactive in fighting for the expansion of their convictions. While it is admirable that some people are the same offline as they are online it should be known that eventually this is a goal for us all for “such we will also be in deed when we are present.” Our brusque exchanges in writing, whether on paper or on a screen, are manifestos of sorts. With enough time those things communicated online will eventually be those which are communicated in person. 

We must not be fooled by the cordiality we receive today when what is expressed online is anything but cordial. We too must bear the fruit of convictions. All this online interaction causes division, yes, but good division. The aim is division that is at the essential and principled level of the person’s convictions. As a man thinks so is he. As a man posts so is he. As a man memes so is he. But how can we make progress here when the fortifying of convictions is often the result of our online exchanges and not a resultant change of those convictions? It very well depends upon what you consider as progress and success. 

Good Division

To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?

2 Corinthians 2:16

Marked division is not an evil in itself but being a divisive man is evil. But being divisive on truth is for men of God and not for cowards. If Christ had saw it contrary to his mission to cause division by speaking truth he would never have put on flesh. The incarnation itself is divisive and Christ himself said he came to bring division (Luke 12:51). But a divisive man that we are warned against imitating is divisive about wrong things that he has conflated as truth. He is divisive about hand washing (Mark 7:3), about food and drink and special days (Colossians 2:16). Not washing your hands and not wearing a mask are the kinds of divisive acts that cause the perturbation of many a Pharisee. 

Receiving the wailings and gnashing of teeth from those you call out on their man-made traditions is not a defeat it is a victory. Removing dross from silver is necessary if you desire a quality Troy ounce. The ability to mark those who cause division by adding the heat of correction to their folly is good for the church so long as we don’t forget their obstinacy a week later, provided it is obstinacy and not ignorance. Divisive speech or writing is often exponential over time. The more we write the more we have to meditate on what we are writing. The more we meditate on what we are writing the more we perform the deeds of such writing. 

So it is that I have found the more one expresses their inner confusions out into the void that is social media there will be a brooding spirit that either brings true light which is from above or light that is actually further and deeper darkness. This is why it is crucial we speak truth in all its effulgence and spectrum of colors. For all matters of justice we must speak authoritatively from God’s law. Even when we cannot know every detail to all accounts to then acquit or condemn a person the Christian has opportunity to give instruction on justice as it generally applies to every situation where crime is committed. We must seize the opportunity before us to bring light in our darkened time. First, the church must at minimum conclude together that God’s law must be the standard for civil justice. Until such unity is achieved we only have crashing wave of opinion against crashing wave of opinion bringing no life from the chaos. We, however, give the whole counsel of God and separate those collected waters of falsehood from where we abide on a firm foundation. We must not neglect the appropriate use of the mediums God has providentially allotted us for such a time as this. 

Because we all have access to the archives and play by play live action of the world our autonomous enemies have a unique fulfillment of their desires by the use of these mediums in adjudicating and even defining justice. Because the Internet has given us the ability to know the affairs of anyone across the world and has separated us from a sense of boundary and jurisdiction, which normally would restrict our conclusions to matters where our guidance would be afforded by clearer perception and the weight of jurisprudence—which is tethered by proximity of those involved, we are quick to acquit and quick to condemn where we should be quick to listen and slow to conclude. Thus there is a creation of litanies and sacraments that people recite and partake in as they invoke their gods to act on their behalf. We, however, have been appointed as judges over the earth and we participate in separating wheat from chaff when we proclaim truth. We are to be governing lights in the darkness whether it be in season or out of season, day or night. We raise our petitions on dove’s wings far above the heights of the gods of our enemies while we plow the earth below believing our pleas will produce a return to us in our labor. We do all this under the authority of Christ, the second Adam, that whether our enemies die in death or die and come to life with us we are able to rest and rejoice as Christ’s body. So we call men to be men and speak truth where error is present. We especially do this in the hope of our brothers and sisters returning from their error before their words and letters become deeds.

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