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After the events of the last week, I've spent some time in reflection about what this means for the Church and what we can do. Humanity, as a whole, runs the risk of filling the necessity for God dwelling in them with a personality or cause. (Long thread again; sorry, not sorry.)
We do this often, and it becomes cultish. Think: the cult of Trump, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the cult of Mac, climate change, anything from all over the political spectrum or society and culture.
In the case of what we’ve seen politically, especially in the case of the demonstrators turned insurrectionists, they have ignored the place of God within them and have glommed on to the cause of Trumpian politics.
Thus, when it doesn’t go their way, they are indebted to follow through on the demands of the god they’ve placed inside them. We saw it this summer. We see it in COVID. We see it everywhere.
And, of course, when you don’t have this god inside of you, you are rightly disgusted by those actions. It’s a classic case of god vs. god, vis-á-vis the ancient world where gods go to war, carried by their followers who do abhorrent acts in their name.
For the Christian, we should find abhorrent then the riots, of course, but also the cult-like behavior that leads to them. In America, it is a good thing to protest when injustice is done, or even when you feel injustice is done.
It can effect change and it’s part of being a good citizen, a vocational role. When the protest becomes insistent that you must get your way or else the world will fail, those protestors have already created idols in their hearts.
Now their actions are sinful, for they are listening to a god who is not God. It’s our duty to call these people to repentance for their sin, as we do with all those who have fallen into sin.
We are to preach the Law of God in such a way that they despair over the depth of depravity they’ve shown. This is difficult, but it is what our Lord has told us to do.
When and if they repent, we preach the Gospel, that their sins are covered by the one who is truly God and by whose ways the world is redeemed. But to preach Law and Gospel has to be done to a person by a person.
The internet, which is a blessing in many ways, is not the way to convert those not yet God’s own and has turned into merely an echo chamber for each individual person. You can try to make it not be, but you will fail. So, what are we to do then? Don’t care about the internet.
If Big Tech wants to ban conservatives from their platform, guess what? You can’t do a thing about it. If they cancel your Twitter, your FB, if they take your church website off its host, if they shut down your blog, you can’t do a thing about it.
(For the record, I'm not a Republican, Democrat, or Libertarian, but the world would call me conservative, and in a true sense of that political word, I'll own it. Thus, after this week, after these four years, I know the day is coming when I will be shut down.)
Now, in the past, society's virtue has always swung on a pendulum; I fear that pendulum doesn't work the same way anymore with Big Tech's control. Everyone is addicted to what they offer, so the safety that we would hope for in a virtuous society coming again is no guarantee.
(This hope, like a necessitative hope, by the way, is idolatrous, and puts us together with the Christians dismayed over the sack of Rome. Their idolatry did lead to one of the greatest works in history, "The City of God," so maybe there will be some beauty God makes from idols.)
Big Tech controls the message and the media. It's going to affect everyone who is held sway. So, while we can try to ask them to change, or try to change hearts, we will likely not succeed. What do we do?
Here’s my recommendation: lean into it. Stop actually caring about the internet or any cultural phenomenon and get back to the lives of people. I know, there’s some hypocrisy for me posting this here, but you all are reading (presumably) and we need to agree to it for it to work.
Yes, we have made many friends through this tool, but if you cannot imagine life with it, you’ve let it be an idol to you. Find actual people around you to serve; I promise, the rest of us will be taken care of, too, if we all do this.
As long as they let us, enjoy the company of the people you’ve come to love here, enjoy a good movie or tech, but stop fighting with others and outsiders. Be encouraged in faith, not radicalized in fear. The internet has never changed a heart. God does that.
If you stop caring about all your "rights" here, you’ll protect yourself from falling into any cult coming from the net. When the time comes that they take you off, write letters to friends under pseudonyms if you must, or call or text while you can.
Society may make it impossible for you to live as you do, maybe it’ll even kick you out of your house. Christians have never let that stop them from suffering for the sake of Christ. But, stop caring about what’s online and care about who God has brought you, in front of you.
When there’s a massive shift, and there will be for there always is, and this world as we know it dies, the Church will still be here. We’ll outlast everything, even America.
We’ll still call heretics heretics, so don’t worry about that. We’ll still bring Word and Sacrament rightly and properly (Baptist theology won’t exist forever *wink wink*). So, don’t focus on this life and fill it with any of these false gods.
Fill yourself with the true God in Jesus Christ, and He will turn you to the world to come. When you have an eye toward the Resurrection, the destruction of this world, even your freedoms, doesn’t actually matter any more. Love God. Love neighbor. Stop loving the rest.
One more thought, let the godless fight the godless. They are sick enough of one another. You go love them.
