Certainly the Bible says at least as much — if not more — about speaking the truth in love, not tearing down, and letting our speech be gracious as it does “letting people have it.” In any event, what are we to make of the biblical support for this kind of online behavior?

It’s becoming a common trope on social media — certain figures who spend an inordinate amount of time arguing, picking fights, insulting other Christians or mocking them with scathing sarcasm or silly memes, when reprimanded, citing the biblical prophets, Paul’s harsh words for heretics, or even Jesus’ cleansing the temple as defense for constant platform pugilism. They are “contending for the faith,” they claim.

Perhaps the motives are good in these endeavors, and I’m sure for some they are. But I don’t think I’m alone in thinking the fruit is not. The spirit is not. Because certainly the Bible says at least as much — if not more — about speaking the truth in love, not tearing down, and letting our speech be gracious as it does “letting people have it.” In any event, what are we to make of the biblical support for this kind of online behavior? A few words:

1. The prophets wept and pleaded too.

This is something missing in far too many of the online prophets — tears. Setting aside the fact that the biblical vocation of God’s anointed messengers isn’t really a one-to-one correlation with self-appointed pundits on Twitter, we certainly can learn from them — and many other places in Scripture — that there is a certainly a place within the church for pastoral rebuke, prophetic witness, and courageous calls to repentance. But this is but one aspect of prophetic ministry. The guy spending all day every day looking for people to fisk, mock, or otherwise use for his own promotion and praise isn’t echoing biblical prophetic ministry. If anything, he is more like the pharisaical enterprise of nitpicking, condemning, and “laying traps” to catch people in alleged errors or missteps.

Where are the tears, brothers and sisters? Where is the pleading for the objects of your scorn? We know you’re angry and have the firmness of your convictions. What we’d love to see is a softened heart for people, including people who are ostensibly your brethren.

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