The Rhetoric of the Internet Isn't Our Game as Christians
The internet today is bold and in your face. Nuance usually isn’t what grabs attention. You don’t politic your way to going viral — being Trumpish is the default mode. You say something outrageous just to stir up the crowd. Scroll through YouTube’s trending videos and you’ll see it everywhere. The reality is, this strategy works. Trump became president twice using it.
But as followers of Jesus, the question is: should we leverage this strategy?
It’s tricky for a few reasons. The Bible presents both proportional truths (what we believe) and instructions for how we are called to live (our actions). Our beliefs should inform our actions, and our actions should reflect our beliefs. Yet the rhetoric of the internet tends to swing hard in one direction — either all proportional truth or all how-to-live. Proportional truth mode crams what the Bible says down someone’s throat. How-to-live mode focuses only on loving people, ignoring the reality of sin. The internet is not built to balance both.
Jesus’s ministry, however, was defined by balancing both. He engaged people authentically — sometimes being bold, especially with religious leaders. He called the “pastors” of his day "whitewashed tombs" — clean on the outside, dead inside. He flipped tables in the Temple courts — a bold move if I don’t say so myself. But most of Jesus’s conversations were normal, relational interactions. He wasn’t lobbing verbal grenades. He engaged thoughtfully and fruitfully, often sidestepping landmine questions meant to trap him, like whether to pay taxes to Caesar or which commandment was most important. He reframed these conversations instead of falling into the culture’s traps.
Here’s the deal: one of the main reasons we’re still on this earth is to be a witness. More people need to know Jesus, and we are God’s primary tool to accomplish this goal. The internet’s mode of engagement — quick, divisive, lacking critical thinking — works against that mission. You get 140 characters or 90 seconds in a vertical video to make a point, so people default to shouting proportional truths and ignoring the fruits of the Spirit or all love without any truth. Again, it’s either one extreme or the other. As followers of Jesus, we need to resist this pull. To be effective witnesses, we must live in the tension of truth and love.
Let’s take a common example: biblical marriage. The debate over whether marriage is between a man and a woman has divided churches for decades. The Trumpish internet approach would be shouting “Being Gay is a Sin!” with an aggressive YouTube thumbnail that has a Leviticus verse in all caps — pure proportional truth mode. The opposite would be posting “Jesus Loves Everyone” with an image of Jesus wearing an LGBTQ+ shirt — pure how-to-live mode. Both would get views. Both would drive engagement. Both could go viral.
Spoiler: I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. But growing up in Southern California, I know this conversation isn’t just a talking point — it deeply affects real people. The internet reduces complex realities into one-liners. No dialogue. No heart. Just crowd-stirring rhetoric. But the topic of same-sex attraction and marriage is a robust conversation. There are layers. Yes, there are truths to communicate, but how we communicate those truths matters just as much.
When we engage controversial topics, we risk getting pulled into the culture’s way of arguing.
Instead, we should take our cues from Jesus — sometimes reframing the question, sometimes ignoring the trap, but always seeing the person in front of us. Jesus didn’t just answer cultural gotcha questions. He saw the person, understood the story, and spoke truth with love and precision. Following Jesus is always countercultural. There’s going to be friction. But we can start conversations better. We don’t need to dunk like culture does. We can engage it, like Jesus, by listening, asking questions, and understanding why people are wrestling with specific issues before responding.
When I hear a preacher shout, “Being Gay is a Sin!” from the pulpit, I wonder if they’ve ever had a real conversation with someone who identifies as gay. It feels like talking about the horrors of war without ever having been in one. Your words ring hollow when you lack real experience and compassion. I’m not saying you have to experience every struggle firsthand to talk about it. But when you throw around bold statements with zero compassion, it shows.
For example, it's easy for me to have bold opinions about the Russian and Ukrainian War from the comfort of my home in California. I can naively argue online over my tax dollars going to this conflict without having to feel the daily terror of war. In the same way, many Christians make bold statements about biblical truths without engaging in real-world ministry with the people affected by those truths. It’s painfully obvious when they talk about the topic.
I wish we could have more real conversations about these difficult topics—ones rooted in love, compassion, and complexity. I wish churches didn’t discuss these topics as distant issues, but as real experiences people are dealing with in their church and community.
This is why I hate the internet's rhetoric. It’s not built for conversations like, "Hey, the way of Jesus is hard. If you believe God created the world... if you believe he came here to know you... and that he has a way he wants you to live... and that his Word reveals that way... then yes, it will be hard. Yes, you’ll need to not do everything your body wants you to do. Yes, you will fail. But this is the way God calls us to live. Come learn with us. We are figuring this out together. It is a better way to live because it’s the way our Creator is calling us to live."
