Flame On

This is an updated version of a post from NoCamo 1.0 on October 20, 2009.

There is an aspect of Twitter that is on my last nerve.

I like to read tweets, not just from people I follow, but from people that ALSO follow people I follow. But I am finding more and more examples of Christians following people and commenting on things they say just to stir stuff up.

Here’s how it breaks down…

Someone tweets something that is meant to inspire or instruct. A meaningful thought regarding doctrine, commitment to Christ, leadership, and the like. Someone else reads the 140 characters or less, takes the thought out of context (what little context there is in a tweet), and either a)writes a blog post of a couple hundred words about the tweet’s author’s inaccuracy, or b)sends our a series of tweets in the same vein. The link to the post (see “a”) is tweeted by the dissenter, and others @mention the individual and the original tweeter, calling the latter out for their crimes. The ugliness spreads.

How does this help the body of Christ?

Let’s assume the criticizer is right. Does Twitter harassment help the “offender” see the error of their ways, or just give them cause to block their critics, only fueling the onslaught? My Bible says that God’s servant “must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness (2 Timothy 2:24-26).” Stirring up a virtual mob on the basis of a preference or a syntax choice is NOT in keeping with brotherly love and a united Church.

NOTE: I am not saying that having a conversation of opposing views on Twitter is necessarily wrong. What I am saying is that the intention of virtually slaying a foe should be absent from the “twiscussion.”

How we, as followers of Christ, deal with these situations is what matters. Do we FLAME ON? Or do we love them with the love of Jesus?

PS – This applies to Facebook and all other social media, too.

For more on this subject…

• check out what Jonathan Acuff (creator of Stuff Christians Like) wrote for CNN on the subject.
• read what I wrote about the Dr. Ergun Caner situation at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.

Let the twiscussion begin…