1, 2, 3, 4, I Declare a Flame War!

In these days of hyper-polarization and strong partisanship, when we are all busy fighting our political enemies, we have new tools to help us speak. The digital age has handed each of us a megaphone (or several megaphones) with which to speak. We can post all number of memes, rants, reviews, reflections, and reactions to the news of the day and call out all the people who need (in our humble opinion) to be called out. In previous eras, we might sit and speak to a couple of friends at work, or at the store, but now we can broadcast our thoughts and reactions across the world electronically. We can make sure everyone knows how stupid and bad we think other people are. We can mock and decry all the people who are WRONG! We can call out the Dems, the Trumpists, own the Libs, mock little girls who give environmental speeches, and anyone else who has crossed our ideologies.

This presents a real danger for those who profess to follow Christ. We may be students of the Bible and have a clear sense of right and wrong from it, and this gives us a sense that we need to rail against others using this sense. The thing to stop and consider, especially when we remember that our social media is the public square, is what the Bible says to those of us who honor it about our speech, our language, and our approach. There is not enough space in one blog post to cover all the different passages in Scripture that instruct the follower of Christ in how they should speak, but let’s hit just a couple.

There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, But the tongue of the wise brings healing.

(Proverbs 12:18)

Does our speaking cause wounds or bring healing? That is the very simple formulation of this verse. We tend to feel that the people we mock deserve it, but that is very much not the point. As a father of young children, I have never condoned one child being mean or verbally abusive to a sibling even when the sibling was also out of line. One sin doesn’t give permission for another sin.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

(Romans 12:14)

bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

(Luke 6:28)

Facebook, Twitter, or other social media does not suddenly negate the clear command of Jesus. As fun as it is to let loose with scorn and derision against those we don’t like, don’t agree with, or feel mean us harm, the Bible comes out pretty strongly against it. Also consider that when we treat those we consider “enemies” like that, we are not acting any different than the world. As Jesus pointed out, even the wicked love their friends. Our opportunity is to be like Jesus, who did not rail against his accusers but instead, even when being murdered, asked that God forgive them.
One last note. Part of delighting in flaming against others is our strong sense of being in the right and proudly proclaiming that we are justified in our judgments; proudly so. Proverbs again instructs us,

He who guards his mouth and his tongue, Guards his soul from troubles.

“Proud,” “Haughty,” “Scoffer,” are his names, Who acts with insolent pride.

(Proverbs 21:23-24)

Let us stop and consider our next thrust of the sword. Our next desire to mock, belittle, insult and demean. The question is not whether they deserve it, or whether you are more right, smarter, or more righteous. The question is, are you blessing, guarding your tongue, and bringing healing rather than adding flames to a world on fire.

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1 thought on “1, 2, 3, 4, I Declare a Flame War!

  1. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this timely issue. We need to find ways of reaching out to one another rather than isolating ourselves within our own tribes. Sometimes being ‘righteously’ angry feels so good that we forget the big picture and the consequences to all of mockery and lashing out,

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