Lions, Strawmen, and Bears, Oh My!

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor”
Exodus 20:16

“Jacob, thank you for calling us together regarding Judah. Please state your case. Say what needs to be said, don’t hold back.”

“I saw Judah sin. I saw him talking with Gomer after the service on August 10, 2019, and I saw some, well, questionable physical intimacy. Uh, maybe a month later, I witnessed Judah share his struggles with lust and his marriage problems during small group. We all attempted to give him council, we talked through his thought process and when he begins to lust. And a month later, he claimed to be doing better! He deleted his social media, that seemed like a pretty big step. We gave thanks to God, we were all pretty ecstatic.”

“But last week, when we were all sitting around the campfire, we got a call from Judah’s wife Bilhah. She asked us if Judah was with us. Judah told us he was sick, so we were all confused at first. I have the screenshots right here, dated March 15 at 5:01 PM. Bilhah was distraught and weeping over the phone, and Barnabas spoke with her for hours, comforting and encouraging her. I just recalled the flirting between Judah and Gomer, so I decided to, well, I just hopped in the car and drove to Gomer’s house. I feel a bit ashamed, I don’t like that my mind went there. But when I pulled up, Judah’s truck was in her driveway.”

“Judah lied to his wife, to us men, and to God. Judah needs to be excommunicated. Judah is guilty of murder.”

The elders looked around in shock and confusion. There was a moment of silence before an elders spoke.

“Murder? What do you mean murder? I saw Gomer during the service last week. What are you saying? Can you explain? From what you’ve said, Judah committed adultery.”

“No, I said what I said. Murder. I have presented evidence before you, this is why I called the meeting. Judah is a murderer.”

At this point, the calm and collected elder board broke down. One of the elders gave a small chuckle, and waved his hand to dismiss Jacob. Another began to speak and question Jacob, asking for clarification. A young pastor, riled up from the testimony, jumped from his chair, declaring that Judah was a murderer, and that he ought to be expelled immediately for the bloodshed. A wise, old lay elder, gently placed his hand on the fervent leader’s shoulder, explaining how they all need to be slow to speak and cast judgement, and needed to wait until Judah could be cross-examined. The laughing elder said to do no such thing, as that was a waste of time to pursue such absurdities. The deep, belly laughter grew, as did the fervent leader’s delivery calling for Judah’s dismissal. Jacob and the questioning elder’s altercation also rose in volume, and all the while, the old man pleaded for cooler heads to prevail.

The noise amplified, pandemonium ensued. The clamor began to shake the building, worming it’s way into the wooden walls and concrete foundation. Deacon against pastor, young against old, brother against brother. The muddied waters obfuscated the minds of the men, and soon the surrounding community heard the screeching and raucous discord. Testimony and witness were corrupted, half-truths spread in the wind like wild fire. The blight of the false charges, counterarguments, and blatant sin multiplied. The tongue, such a dangerous beast, crouched like a lion at the door, waiting to devour the elders of the local congregation.

The community had enough of the din. A few wanted peace, but others praised the destruction, celebrating the civil war. The few who pleaded for peace were quickly drowned out by the enemies celebratory parades and trumpets. That group desired the fall of all those in the church, praying to their unholy idols to thwart the faithful at every step, to plague the minds of all the men. After all, did not those elders threaten the communities own traditional sacraments? Their tremor swelled, growing into a wave to crash down upon the church.

But if one listens close, and cut through the din, one can hear the underlying notes of dissonance. That subtle, slow chuckle, hidden by the commotion, yet holding all the commotion together.

There the lie began. The demon, made of hay and stubble, that will not survive the purifying fire that is to come, struggling in rebellion against the King. He planted the seeds in Jacob’s heart. He offered his enticing hand to Jacob, and the foolish man made the deal. Who can blame Jacob, do not scarecrows keep watch over the fields? But Jacob played the fool, and let his emotions reign. He plugged his ears tightly with straw, relying only on his vision for knowledge, and shattered the ninth commandment with mere words.

The strawman laughed, the rotting dead leaves and hay scraping together in the burlap sack, foreshadowing the vain conflict in the church above. He was so proud for the confusion that was caused. The fire spread, consuming brother and sister alike, throwing members to the lion of apostasy. The wicked deception multiplied, and spread beyond the church into the world, poisoning the well. And congregant and unbelievers alike drank the water, leaving behind a dead, stagnant, hollow town doomed unto destruction.

A false witness will perish, but the word of a man who hears will endure.
Proverbs 21:28

My thoughts regarding Christian discourse in the modern age are far to numerous to put into words. The reading wars destroying literacy comprehension and writing, the failure of welding together tone policing to the Socratic Method, Twitter quips and jabs that are unable to put forward robust argumentation, the list goes on. Our standards of communication have fallen, our intelligence and reason has taken a back seat. Instead of books, papers, and video essays, we post TikToks that fail to engage with the most basic arguments, if any at all. We want the liberal to be owned in a 10 second clip, rather than hearing 10 minute opening statements. We’ll throw out ad hominems and assume motives, rather then engage in the point at hand. We don’t even know what an ad hominem is; we believe the logical fallacy is synonymous with “insult.” Podcasters, Christian podcasters, fail to address the arguments put forth. They’ll imply motives. They’ll misunderstand arguments if not ignore them completely. They’ll claim a position that isn’t held by the very people they are attacking!

One of the most important and influential debates of the century was Jordan Peterson’s interview with Cathy Newman on Channel 4 News.¹ Airing 7 years ago, the video has over 51 million views as of writing this today. The interview went viral, not because of an intense robust dialogue, rather for the complete and utter failure of Cathy Newman. The phrase, “so what your saying is”/”your saying” is used constantly throughout the interview, and Newman failed to understand Peterson’s train of logic, asking a barrage of loaded questions. And the entire world saw the insanity of the clown show. The current top comment rightly quipped, “I’m surprised his jaw didn’t break from the amount of words she was trying to put in his mouth.” An accurate absurd analogy that rightly summarizes the half-hour train wreck.

Jordan Peterson and Cathy Newman are an extreme example of this discourse. Often, I find the this far more subtle in the Christian discourse. Pick your topic. Go watch Catholic and Protestant back and forth video rebuttals on YouTube. Go watch Christians argue about “Christian Nationalism.” Go watch coverage on Christian political and theological drama. How often do the people you listen to engage with the argument? How often do they ignore it? Do they constantly strawman, or do they rightly put forward their opponents position and engage in proper polemics? How often do they say, “what they are saying is”, or “this is what they believe.” If one wants to be educated on someones position, you go to that person, ask questions, and learn their positions!² Or just going to primary sources, spending precious time, and reading. Oh, how quick we are to speak. Let us be slow in our reactions, being wise and in prayer. Lest we tear one another apart while the World cheers our demise. We are commanded to be truthful, to not bear false witness. I fear many within the public square have slipped, perhaps unknowingly, into accusing people falsely.

Don’t tickle your ears, Christian. Listen. Wrestle with what is being said in the content you are consuming. A Christian ought to be wise.

Note: You may have noticed a lack of concrete examples given. I purposefully avoided name dropping within Christian debate/discourse. The moment I name drop, it is so easy for a reader to become distracted, rather then engaging with my point regarding bearing false witness in internet discourse, and the chaos that brings destruction that follows. If you, reader, still desire a concrete example, think of any controversial Christian leader, and go place their name into the story above.

I all ready exhorted you to be wise, I won’t do all your thinking for you.

1. Here is the interview. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMcjxSThD54 ↩︎
2. To avoid a major side tangent, this is quite prevalent in modern day historical analysis, and modern day “reporting.” If one wants to know what the Puritans believed, well, go read the Puritans! If one wants to know about communism, go read Karl Marx. And most important of all, and something my generations has failed at, if one wants to know the Son of God, read the Gospels! ↩︎