Wait A Second

My social media feed was abuzz the last few days and especially last night regarding a certain conference. I am a little confused at this point. So let me get this straight.

- A famous pastor writes a book and has a conference that purports to expose the errors of an enormously broad stream of Christianity that includes some half a billion professed believers.

- This conference features said famous pastor lumping together this huge number of Christians ranging from sound and profitable men to rank apostates and then declaring them heretics, wolves, false prophets and blasphemers of the Holy Spirit.

- The fanboys of this famous pastor sprinkle social media with snarky and smug attempts at being clever interspersed with alleged examples of why every single Christian who can be considered part of this group is a raving lunatic.

- Many people being slandered in this conference by a man many of them admire express what I thought was by and large moderate, thoughtful and sober concern over this conference, not least because it failed to include a single brother with a different view (brothers that this famous pastor happily shares a stage with in other venues). Granted there were exceptions but as I said the responses I saw were right on target in tone and content.

- In response many fanboys and followers of the aforementioned famous pastor feign outrage over people questioning this famous pastor as if he is the one being attacked.

Huh?

It would be analogous to someone coming up behind you and sucker punching you and when you turn around and say "What was that for?!" having them accuse you of ad hominem attacks.

I may write more about this later but right now the last few days of "Christian" social media have resembled a fetid fever swamp of divisiveness and hatred toward brothers. I feel physically ill at what I have seen on display. If we as the church are willing to spend this much time, money and effort to slander a huge population of the church, why should we be puzzled that the church is sinfully divided and the world sees Christianity as an archaic, self-righteous and irrelevant joke?

I don't think God is pleased by cutesy tweets and one liners delivered for applause. In fact I am sure of it.