So, this is what I’m thinking about today.
Why is it that so many – perhaps even a majority – of people who add “Christian” to their social media biography, often actively engage in hate speech, including what they must know are lies, against other people.
So why do they do it? I have my thoughts.
'Liar! Liar! Pants on Fire!
If you're wondering, the average person lies four times a day, totaling 1,460 lies each year with most of those lies being posted on the Internet. That’s a lot of lies! Now, some sugar coat their outpourings by calling them half-truths, however these misrepresentations are annihilating people of faith.
The same researchers from MIT did a study from 2006 to 2017 sending out 126,000 lies and truths on social media to 3 million people. The lies reached more people than the truth; in fact, lies were 70 percent more likely to be shared than the truth. Researcher showed that false stories have stronger emotional ties, conjuring fear, disgust and surprise. For instance, saying that a film company is stealing from kids with cancer has much more sizzle than the truth.
They Feed the ‘Green Monster.’
It’s that tightening of your chest and the knot in your stomach when you stumble across a post on social media that shows someone else succeeding. In an instant, it infects whatever happiness or hope you feel. We all know what that is, it’s that fierce, familiar green monster – Jealousy.
In that moment, we are all faced with a choice: become a poisonous snake and share our venomous spite or remind ourselves of the riches we have in Jesus.
Let’s not forget that jealousy is one of the sins Christ paid for on the cross, which means it deserves death. Jesus died for jealous people, and that’s good news for all of us.
'I Need to Warn People.'
These self-important egomaniacs need professional help. Now, I’m not talking about disagreements, debates, or arguments among basically good-willed people, where things might have gotten out of hand, everyone feels bad, and they eventually work it out.
I’m talking about people of ill will, who use plain old nastiness as a game plan, a strategy, a badge of honor, to convey their self-righteous slander.
Under their high-lofted banner of “defending the faith” their gossip, maligning the character of their “enemies,” lying, and even evoking someone’s sinful past as a regrettable yet necessary tactics in their holy war.
I have witnessed these types of people my entire ministry life. It’s been a shame to watch as good people get caught into this sharp-cutting machinery of the dark Christian underbelly that would rather watch ‘House of Cards’ than the ‘Passion of the Christ.’
I'm Alone so 'Up Yours!'
There’s something about the safety of isolation that brings out our worst. You know – the mild-mannered individual who, on strapping in behind the steering wheel, reverts to thinking that their horn and middle finger are the two most important implements for getting their way on the road.
Unfortunately, isolation tends to give us a sense of safety, and apparently, a license to behave badly on Christian social media.
What you do and say on social media actually matters. While many Christians carry themselves with kindness and grace at church, once they tap that social media app they transform into some kind of snarling beast.
How Christians treat each other affects whether or not someone stays in the faith. I wish that weren’t the case, but that at least is my experience.
I have known many over the years that have been badgered, beaten down, betrayed, and pushed out the door by fellow Christians. That will never happen at JCFilms Studios. We don’t care about your past, we will never demean your film ideas or movie aspirations, and we don’t really care about where your faith in God is right now! If you want a safe place to make content that reflects goodness, forgiveness, and redemption, we want you to know you.
So, this is what I’m thinking about today.
Comments