A Pastoral Caution
By George “Chip” Hammond
The Bible as a whole, and certain books in particular, exhort us to wisdom, which is simply the art of acting and speaking with skilled righteousness. Peter tells us, “If anyone speaks, he should do so as one who speaks the very words of God; if anyone serves, he should do so in the strength God supplies” (1 Peter 4:11).
The third chapter of the book of James is dedicated to controlling the tongue. Today, James’ words could equally be applied to the keyboard. But it’s not just the vitriol. It’s the “good” that we try to do on social media by posting and passing along “spiritual” memes. In doing so, people often become unwitting internet mules for untruth, to the amusement of the people who planted the contraband.
Look at the meme accompanying this article. People with a little bit of age on them will recognize these words, not as Poe’s, but as Peter Townsend’s lyrics from the song “Behind Blue Eyes” which was released in 1971. Younger people might recognize the lyrics from the song as it was covered by Limp Bizkit in 2003. But some people, finding the lyrics mysterious but strangely compelling would pass the meme on as actually from Poe. Doing this, they think, gives them an air of sophistication because it looks (so they think) as if they’ve read Poe.
What does this have to do with Christians and social media? I have lost count of the number of times I’ve a seen a meme with the picture of some respected theologian of the past or present with a quote attributed to that person. In some cases, I have highly doubted that the quote is actually from the person it is attributed to. In other cases, I am certain that the person never said the words attributed to him.
Why do Christians post these things? Usually, it’s because they respect the person the words are attributed to, they like or agree with the quote and think it will serve as instruction or rebuke to people who read their posts, and because frankly it makes them look more well-read than they really are.
Unwittingly, they have spread a falsehood. Unwittingly, they have not spoken “as it were, the very words of God” (who, the Confession of Faith says, is “truth itself,” 1.4). And the people who created the false meme sit back and laugh at how gullible and easily led Christians are.
When it comes to social media, I would caution you to start with the assumption that anything you see on it is false, and an attempt to manipulate you. For that reason, I’d also caution you against publishing anything serious or of substance. Social media collectively is not a serious medium, but not everyone realizes this. By posting anything serious you add to the illusion that it is, and lend it a credibility it does not deserve. The sooner people come to the realization that unreferred media is the place only for light and trivial things and a vector for falsehood, the better off we will all be.
But as James tells us, controlling the tongue (and in our day, the keyboard) is hard to do. My pastoral caution, advice, and plea in this day of electronic media is this: Don’t post anything that is serious on social media, but if you post a quote by some theologian, let it be something that you actually have read yourself. Cite not only the author, but the work and page number that it is found on (by the way, don’t trust memes that do this – I’ve checked some of them, only to find that the reference was made up to give it an air of legitimacy). Don’t become a mule for posting untruths just because you like the way they sound. If anyone speaks, he should do so as one who speaks the very words of God.
