Porn Stars, Pastor's Wives and Gay Football Players

Currently there is a video floating around the internet of Victoria Osteen, the wife of mega-church pastor Joel Osteen, making some comments at a church service that is drawing a lot of controversy.

This got me wondering a bit about the role of social media in relation to Christianity.  One of the negative aspects of media is it has created an environment in which we are dealing with "stories" rather than people.  So when we come out and attack the video of Victoria Osteen we forget that somewhere out there is a woman named Victoria Osteen who has the ability to see the terrible things people who don't even know her are saying about her.  When we lash out about a gay football player going to hell we might not think about the fact that somewhere out there is a football player who can see and hear all the negative at best and downright hateful at worst, things people are saying about him.  When a group like the XXXChurch posts a video of a porn actress talking about her kind and positive interaction with XXXChurch, people who feel compelled to be critical might say things and forget that somewhere out there is a young lady who can see the terrible things being said about her.

You see social media has allowed us the luxury of sitting behind our computer screens and lob verbal grenades while not having to be there to look into the eyes of the receiver.  Prior to social media when someone took issue with another person, it was much harder to reach them. In order to "call out" what you felt was wrong it required a lot more of a relationship with that person.  But not anymore, no now we have the ability to reach out and hammer people we have never met, and probably will never meet, therefore leveling attacks at people of whom we have the least possible amount of information.

Now many Christians might say it is part of our "calling" to "rebuke" sin when we see it, and therefore justify these remarks.  Except I'm pretty sure Christians are supposed to "lovingly rebuke."  How can I possibly "lovingly rebuke" someone where there is not a loving relationship established?  How can they possibly know that I love them when I don't even know them?  Do we really feel love in our hearts when we post such things?   It's one thing to call out a friend with whom you've spent time building a friendship, someone who knows you actually care about them, but to call out a complete stranger?  That's a little different.  Why can't we place enough trust in God that He has placed people in the lives of those we disagree with to address an issue on a personal level?  Maybe the most loving thing we can sometimes do is stop forwarding the controversy, and simply shut our mouths.  

Comments

  1. Well said Will, Well said.

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  2. That's funny you posted this, Julie and I had a similar conversation coming back from California, how easy it is to attack from behind the computer, phone or tablet with little to no accountability. Hope all is well otherwise.

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