What would Christ tweet? Being a Christian on social media
Over the past month the Bishop of Oxford – and other Church of England bishops – spoke out in support of same-sex marriage. Those of us on Twitter who are LGBT+ and dare to speak up for LGBT+ people have received a torrent of homophobic abuse. Indeed, as I write this, I am on day three of receiving homophobic abuse on Twitter for speaking in favour of same-sex marriage.
The response has been deeply unpleasant. Trolling is too kind a word. It’s abuse and it has been relentless. What has surprised me the most is that the overwhelming majority of people sending me abusive messages appear to be Christians. A quick look at their timeline tells me they share lots of God-related content. So what drives a Christian to post abusive content online?
Their messages tell me it is because they are upholding the word of God. And they happily cite Scripture to back up their opinions as if quoting one or two lines from the Bible – isolated from context – justifies posting abusive comments. Yet they appear to be oblivious to the gospel message of Jesus Christ. Their messages are devoid of good news, and lacking any sense of hope. There is no compassion, no understanding and certainly no evidence of love. Instead there is hate.
My own response to these messages has not always been ideal. I mocked, sneered and enjoyed posting my own barbed responses. Then, during Morning Prayer, words from James Chapter 3 came into my head: “From the same mouth comes a blessing and a curse. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.” (James 3:10). The Bible still has that power to stop me in my tracks.
In What would Jesus post? The author David Roberston speaks of “stewarding our digital tongue.” [1]. A delightful phrase meaning as Christians we ought to take greater care of the words we use online. There is no better guide to stewarding our words than James.
The words we utter can quickly lead us astray if not used wisely. James uses rich imagery to illustrate this point. He likens the tongue to the rudder that steers the ship or a spark that can set a forest ablaze, analogies which recall Proverbs 15:1-4:
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly… A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.
Proverbs 15:1-4.
The lesson we all can learn from James is the need for discipline and restraint online. When we are unable to see the person behind the Tweet, we can easily forget that they are made in the image of God. James knows how easily it is to hide behind harsh words and he calls on us to use our tongue like a rudder – steering us away from harming others and ourselves.
James knows the power of words. They can cause much joy while at the same time causing much distress. Our tongue, when used unwisely, can be a powerful weapon to cause pain. How this applies to Christians in the digital age is perfectly summed up in Blomberg and Kamell’s commentary on James:
And almost all people suffer from the tendency to pass on interesting rumours to others without scrupulously checking their accuracy, especially in the Internet age, which produces a torrent of misinformation, half truths, and personal opinions all subtly mixed together with genuine facts for just about any Google search that one executes!
Craig. L Blomberg and Miriam J. Kamell, James: Zondervan Exegetical Commentary Series on the New Testament (Zondervan, 2016), 165.
When we use hurtful words online – whether on social media, writing blog posts or commenting on them – we demean those made in Christ’s image. “With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people, made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth comes a blessing and a curse. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.” (James 3:9-10).
I doubt very much James would be all that surprised to see what Christians post online, and that saddens me. James wasn’t the first to warn us of the hurt we cause with careless words (“Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruits.” Proverbs 18:21). Yet if as Christians we are to be known as a people of love and grace then it is time we took James’ words seriously. Let us be generous with our words. Let the words we use inspire others to discover Christ anew. Let us be known online as ambassadors of Jesus Christ.
References
[1] David Robertson, What Would Jesus Post? (The Bible Reading Fellowship, 2018), 65.
© Matt Batten, 2022.
This work is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
Cover Image: “Liverpool Pride” by Matt Forfar is licensed under the Unsplash License.
Matt is an experienced communications and engagement professional with a passion for helping churches thrive. He's currently the Director of Communication at the Diocese of Llandaff, Church in Wales. Matt has a strong academic background in Theology; he has a degree in Religious Studies, a Masters in Ecumenical Studies and is studying for a Masters in Digital Theology.
Matt is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and Institute of Internal Communication. He lives in Cardiff and is passionate about Welsh language and culture.
