There's no doubt that the outcome of the recent election had arguably the most divisive outcome in American history. People have not been afraid to voice their anger and concerns about Trump's election on social media. From what I've seen, the most vocalization has come from the left, and I honestly haven't seen a lot of overt support from the right. (That's another topic altogether.)
What has quietly gone unaddressed is another issue that has stemmed from the election: a Christian civil war. As somebody who cares for the church, this something I definitely think needs addressed sooner rather than later.
So before we move on, let's take a step back to define what a civil war is. The American Civil War has very much tainted the original definition, and when people think about the term "civil war", they think about a fight over racism. That was only partially true of the American Civil War. Anyway, the term "civil war" as a whole is simply defined as the following:
Granted, the Christian church as a whole is not its own nation in the traditional sense of the word, but we still should strive to be one "body" with the unified goal of promoting Christ.
Anyway, the recent election has caused somewhat of a Christian civil war. Namely, I have noticed left-leaning Christians overtly blame "fundamentalist" Christians for the election of Trump, basically calling them racist. That topic is a tricky one altogether and one this post will not seek to address.
But the problem here, in my mind, is that we're taking this fight to social media: a platform that everybody can witness. Let me make that more clear: non-Christians are watching Christians battle other Christians online.
That concerns me.
Again, the whole matter of addressing left-leaning Christians' concerns is its own topic, but that's not something I think should be taken to social media. Partially because I don't think posting to social media is going to solve the problem, but mostly, I think we're driving people away from the church more quickly than ever.
Not that all people look at it this way, but I would definitely say that there is a fair chunk of people who do not differentiate between left-leaning Christians and right-leaning Christians. In other words, there are a lot of non-Christians that view Christians as one, singular body. I don't blame them at all for this understanding. After all, that's what we should be aspiring to.
So when we attack each other on social media, they're not making that differentiation between this Christian or that Christian. All they're seeing is, "Christians are racist."
This is super counter-intuitive to what the church is trying to accomplish, and if there's any problem I think should be addressed first, it's this one. No, I am not at all trying to downplay the concerns of left-leaning Christians. They have reasons and feelings that they are angry with the outcome, so that's an issue to be addressed for sure. But priority should be given to taking this Christian civil war offline.
I've talked about the power of what we say in another post. In this day and age of social media, word travels fast. Really fast. In less than 3 days, my neutral post about MKBHD received more than 140,000 views on Twitter.
That could have easily been a post bashing fundamentalist Christians for electing Trump.
Ask yourself, what is your end goal?
Do you want 100,000+ people seeing you perpetuate a Christian civil war?
Is voicing your concern online worth the cost of creating a further rift between the church and those who do not yet know Christ?
There's a lot of power in what we have to say. The tongue, indeed, is mightier than the sword these days. Please take these words to heart. I understand that some of you may be concerned about election's outcome, but taking to social media only stands to do more harm than good for the church as a whole. I think that all of us Christians, regardless of political leanings, can agree on.
What has quietly gone unaddressed is another issue that has stemmed from the election: a Christian civil war. As somebody who cares for the church, this something I definitely think needs addressed sooner rather than later.
So before we move on, let's take a step back to define what a civil war is. The American Civil War has very much tainted the original definition, and when people think about the term "civil war", they think about a fight over racism. That was only partially true of the American Civil War. Anyway, the term "civil war" as a whole is simply defined as the following:
A war between opposing citizens of the same country
Granted, the Christian church as a whole is not its own nation in the traditional sense of the word, but we still should strive to be one "body" with the unified goal of promoting Christ.
Anyway, the recent election has caused somewhat of a Christian civil war. Namely, I have noticed left-leaning Christians overtly blame "fundamentalist" Christians for the election of Trump, basically calling them racist. That topic is a tricky one altogether and one this post will not seek to address.
But the problem here, in my mind, is that we're taking this fight to social media: a platform that everybody can witness. Let me make that more clear: non-Christians are watching Christians battle other Christians online.
That concerns me.
Again, the whole matter of addressing left-leaning Christians' concerns is its own topic, but that's not something I think should be taken to social media. Partially because I don't think posting to social media is going to solve the problem, but mostly, I think we're driving people away from the church more quickly than ever.
Not that all people look at it this way, but I would definitely say that there is a fair chunk of people who do not differentiate between left-leaning Christians and right-leaning Christians. In other words, there are a lot of non-Christians that view Christians as one, singular body. I don't blame them at all for this understanding. After all, that's what we should be aspiring to.
So when we attack each other on social media, they're not making that differentiation between this Christian or that Christian. All they're seeing is, "Christians are racist."
This is super counter-intuitive to what the church is trying to accomplish, and if there's any problem I think should be addressed first, it's this one. No, I am not at all trying to downplay the concerns of left-leaning Christians. They have reasons and feelings that they are angry with the outcome, so that's an issue to be addressed for sure. But priority should be given to taking this Christian civil war offline.
I've talked about the power of what we say in another post. In this day and age of social media, word travels fast. Really fast. In less than 3 days, my neutral post about MKBHD received more than 140,000 views on Twitter.
That could have easily been a post bashing fundamentalist Christians for electing Trump.
Ask yourself, what is your end goal?
Do you want 100,000+ people seeing you perpetuate a Christian civil war?
Is voicing your concern online worth the cost of creating a further rift between the church and those who do not yet know Christ?
There's a lot of power in what we have to say. The tongue, indeed, is mightier than the sword these days. Please take these words to heart. I understand that some of you may be concerned about election's outcome, but taking to social media only stands to do more harm than good for the church as a whole. I think that all of us Christians, regardless of political leanings, can agree on.
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