“There are six things the LORD hates – no, seven things he detests . . . a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.”
~ Proverbs 6:16, 19
Imagine that one of the bloggers you regularly read writes a post accusing Billy Graham of being a racist.
As you continue to read the post, the blogger buttresses her accusation saying, “It’s clear that Graham is a racist from his own book Nearing Home on page 77.
The blogger then uses guilt by association, saying, “Another evidence that Graham is a racist is that he was good friends with Harry Carney, who belonged to the KKK in 1965.”
Or . . .
“Graham quotes Thomas Jefferson who was a racist. So Graham is clearly a racist too.”
Now . . . believe it or not, a certain percentage of Christians reading those charges will believe that Billy Graham is a racist.
Why? Simply because a professing Christian accused him of being such.
And . . . they mentioned a book and a page number as well as an association.
Those who know Graham and/or his work will blow off the accusation, knowing that it’s not true.
And the blogger will instantly lose credibility with them.
But the naïve, the gullible, and those who are inclined to think the worst about others will swallow it hook, line, and sinker. Some will even be so irresponsible and reckless as to repeat it to others.
A few people who once loved Graham will disown him.
Disturbingly, most of the people who uncritically accepted the accusation will never think to check the book and the page number to see if Graham in fact said what he’s been accused of saying or if his words were being misinterpreted or taken out of context.
Nor will they see through the guilt-by-association tactic.
(Most people are aware that quoting someone doesn’t mean you align with all of their beliefs. And being someone’s friend doesn’t mean you imbibe their philosophy or way of life.)
On the contrary, some Christians will benightedly believe whatever a fellow “Christian” blogger alleges.
The result? Discord and dissension.
By the way, for those of you who may be confused right now, I have no reason to believe that Billy Graham is a racist. And all of the alleged “evidences” I put forth are entirely fictitious. I’m simply using this “story” as an illustration to make a point.
The sad fact is, this sort of thing happens in real life. And it’s yet another way of sowing seeds of discord in the body of Christ.
Not long ago I posted Alan Hirsch’s response to an online critique that utterly misrepresented him and his work.
Some of the comments to that post were enlightening:
I feel pretty bad right now. I read the critique Alan is referring to and I believed it because it was written by another believer. I’m sorry for swallowing the bait without going to the authors themselves, I follow Alan on Twitter and never thought to ask him for his response. Thanks for posting this Frank. Apologies to Alan and Tim.
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I like to read comments and this is really good to see. I was reading a critique of N.T. Wright’s new book where the author was arguing that Wright believed such and such and denied such and such. I read the book myself so I knew that the guy’s critique was totally skewed.
Reading the other people’s comments on the critique was interesting. No one asked the guy, “Give me the exact quote in its full context where Wright says these things you’re accusing him of.” It’s a no brainer question. Challenge the critic to give you exact quotes and page numbers. Then go to the author themself to ask if they are being misunderstood or taken out of context.
Thanks Alan for doing such a good job with this.
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I haven’t read any books by Hirsch but I could relate to everything he said in this response. I’ve written things myself and have had some people totally spin what I wrote. These were fellow Christians who I think were working from some ugly motive. I’d say that most people aren’t so gullible and can see through critiques that are unfair and slanted. Something they say or don’t say gives it away. I loved your interview with N.T. Wright. Hearing him answer objections was good to see.
It’s one thing to disagree with what someone actually believes and says. It’s quite another to mischaracterize them by using distortions and falsehoods.
The truth is, seeds of discord would never be sown if we all followed Jesus’ command. (Note that it wasn’t a suggestion. It was a command.)
Treat others the same way you want to be treated in every situation.
How would you want to be treated if someone critiqued you or your work?
You’d want it to be fair and honest. In fact, you’d want the person critiquing your work to send you the critique for review before publication to ensure that it contains no misrepresentations or misunderstandings. (This guarantees intellectual honesty.)
How would you want to be treated if someone read a distorted critique about you?
You’d want them to suspend judgment and come to you directly to verify if it was true or not.
What I’ve said in this post applies to everyone. Not just to writers like Graham and Hirsch.
The verbal or written misrepresentation of an individual and her or his views is yet another way of sowing seeds of discord among brethren.
And we have not so learned Jesus Christ.
We’ll look at another way of sowing discord in Part III tomorrow.
Frank,
Thank you for writing this series. This is a topic we all need reminded of from time to time. This series in my view is a challenge to walk maturely with the Lord and with one another. I had recently been thinking of writing a post concerning why most people almost seem to want to listen to and believe negative reports about others but are also almost resistant to seeking out the truth before believing them. Our culture lends towards instant gratification and lazy behavior that is a perfect ground for negativity. This post reminds me again to do the hard thing, do the right thing. Buy truth and do not sell it. It may be costly to find out the truth but then it is worth it since it is Life that we are living by and Christ is the Truth.
Thanks for this series. It’s important, as you’re doing, to bring out some of the subtleties of dissension–both for those tempted in this way & for those to whom it may be happening. We had a man in our fellowship for awhile who took the “I wouldn’t do it that way” approach to dissension (like Absalom used against David). It was often directed at our pastor. Whatever its form, it is destructive!
Frank, thanks so much for having my back brother. I guess you of all people know what it’s like to be maligned. As I said in my reply to Greg Metzger, an author should be critiqued properly. If we write something that challenges perceptions, then we should be willing to get challenging responses, but we need to engage each other righteously or else sin again love.
Kindest
A
I’m so glad to see this being addressed publicly. I’ve been appalled at how I’ve seen some believers misuse their blogs and the social networks to maliciously harm the reputation of other believers and even publicly question their character. Although they’re well placed to speak of Christ and edify His body, and they claim to be speaking “truth”, their writings are instead filled with self-importance and pride. However they try to justify it, it’s not discernment nor is it protecting the body. Because, rather than bringing about love and unity within the body of Christ, it causes distrust and division. And that’s why our Father hates it.
It’s one thing to challenge, and even, debate ideas. But it’s something entirely different to mischaracterize someone and distort their views. As Alan Hirsch said in his comment, “If we write something that challenges perceptions, then we should be willing to get challenging responses, but we need to engage each other righteously or else sin again love.”
Failure to challenge with integrity and honesty only sows seeds of discord. Again, this problem not only applies to those who write — electronically or in print — but it equally applies to people who are “churching” together as well.
On the writing front, people like N.T. Wright get a lot of mischaracterization thrown their way, but his influence is growing despite of it because most people can see through the straw.
Exactly! I have no doubt that the sowing of discord that we see electronically or in print carries over to people who are “churching” together. It’s bound to be expressed in other settings. Personally, I think many believers need to learn how to discuss or debate without taking personal offense when there’s disagreement and resorting to ugly ad hominem responses. But, to mischaracterize or distort someone else’s views is really lying about the person (at least, in my opinion), and it should not be so among us. This a great series, Frank!
When it’s deliberate, it *is* lying. It’s intellectual dishonesty and represents a heart problem. When it’s unintentional, it’s recklessness and carelessness. But it doesn’t become a pattern.
I am wondering how a genuine, sincere believer goes about exposing flagrant sin and abuse by a leader or Ministry? Sadly, Sir, I have seen first hand, that not only is their rampant domestic violence going on in the “Church at large”, but also widespread spiritual abuse by leadership. Most Christians are not taught how to combat this combat, expose or remedy this very real evil. One of the reasons that it continues unchecked is that the victim has nowhere to turn without being accused of sowing discord, being unforgiving and even characterized as evil. There are untold numbers of Christians who are being spiritually abused by Churches and Ministries. What should one do in these cases?
hiya Kim. Matthew 18 is pretty clear on what to do about the sin of lying about people which this blog is about as well as the sin you mentioned. It says go to the person in private, if they don’t stop, take two or three, if they still don’t stop, take it to the assembly. If it’s something illegal like violence then call the authorities. It’s not sowing discord to correct a person for hurting others whether they are misrepresenting them or they are abusing them physically or verbally. I actually think lying about people is a form of verbal abuse. I think Frank wrote a post about correcting people once.
Jeff, I do hear you on illuminating real abuse by following Matthew 18. Most people I know (including myself)have tried with open and sincere hearts to do just that. So many who are abused have been denied the very process that Jesus gave us…even when asking to do so. Thank you kindly for your response. I appreciate that.
(Most people are aware that quoting someone doesn’t mean you align with all of their beliefs. And being someone’s friend doesn’t mean you imbibe their philosophy or way of life.)
Thanks for saying this! Just this morning I was wondering what some of my Christian friends think of my not-yet-believing friends. God answered my prayer today. Thank you everyone for all the thoughts on this. Sowing seeds of discord among any group causes nothing but problems–been there.
I think some of the time people say these things because they actually did misunderstand the author for various reasons; inability to recognize metaphor/simile, or to understand them; filters — preconceived notions about the author & etc.; hot buttons — the author uses a phrase that pushes the readers buttons and s/he thinks she knows what he’s about to say . . . lots of things.
But if we’re going to make such a statement publicly, it’s necessary to go back and re-read in order to make sure we’ve understood correctly. And your suggestion of asking the author is a good one. Today, when we do have the ability to do that, it’s a great way to set things straight.
Perhaps you’ll remember I did that once, long, long ago when someone leveled a rather nasty accusation at you in a comment submitted to my blog. There are times when just being accused tars a person horribly, even if the accusation is a blatant lie intended to cause harm. The maligner ends up lily white in most people’s views — if they even know who he is — while the person he is slandering is greatly harmed.
Thanks Cindy. Indeed some people will believe whatever they hear/read. However, it seems to me that more Christians are gaining discernment and when a person trashes another Christian, it backfires, causing the person doing the trashing to lose credibility in the eyes of others.
God’s people are tired of all the nastyiness and infighting in God’s house. It’s one of the main things that deters non-Christians from following Jesus. More and more studies are showing this to be the case. The good news is that the number of those who traffic in slander and misrepresentation are dwindling, partly because they realize it’s not effective and they are losing friends because of it.
“It’s one thing to disagree with what someone actually believes and says. It’s quite another to mischaracterize them by using distortions and falsehoods.”
Great distinction.
I think that’s the good and bad about having so much information available…it’s out there to fact-check, but sometimes takes a lot of time to do so. I had a conversation with an author recently who told me that someone had once “quoted” his book and used a page number that wasn’t even in the book! And yet, if I remember correctly what I was told, it was never even retracted once the person was confronted with it.
I know there is a lot of immediate responses to things people write and say out there but I do wish that people would take their time with it. Unfortunately, everyone wants immediate information so people tend to feel as if they must respond to everything quickly.
This misrepresentation of what someone else says without checking it out and selective extraction of words and comments out of context and placing in a different even opposite context is something that has become associated with politics and elections. But, Christians are supposed to be truth seeking, and the accumulated influence of Christians, the church, is supposed to be the kingdom of God on earth for the world to see how things are done in the kingdom in heaven. So, considering the topic and examples in Frank’s post, is the church influencing the world or is the church following the world? Isn’t the church supposed to be showing the world how to seek truth? Or, instead, is the world influencing the church toward concealing the truth for selfish interest and personal ambition? Do different Christian groups and denominations help one another in love to search for truth so all can benefit, or do they instead bite and devour each other? Are the attitudes displayed by the church showing the character of Jesus to the world, or is the church being infiltrated by postmodern humanistic thinking? Is there too much momentum to change direction? How many people even recognize a problem? Thanks for timely posts, Frank.
Great points. I talk about this very thing here: http://frankviola.org/2012/10/01/jesusandpaulunderfire/
Very good reminder, Frank.
However, I’ve found that trying to contact the maligned person via phone (or email) to clarify the accusation is usually impossible. Most ministers are not able to be contacted, and their staff doesn’t usually have the answer. Many Christian ministries don’t even respond to email sent to them, nor to blog post comments. Consequently, any accusations cannot be cleared up.
Obviously, in these cases, it is best to just assume the accusation is false and let it go. Or, if it seems evident that the accusation my actually be true, then the Christian response is to forgive the accused and let it go.
Gordon: Thanks. Three quick thoughts. 1. The post applies not only to people who write or who have ministries, but to every believer. 2. While you are correct that there are some authors and ministers who are completely inaccessible, the vast majority of those who write and speak are accessible via social networks and/or websites. Alan Hirsch, for instance, is very accessible. 3. I like your suggestion to not believe negative accusations. That’s my rule of thumb whenever I heard a negative report. Unless the person confirms it or I see it directly in their words, I don’t believe it. Paul said so much in 1 Corinthians 13. Love thinks the best of others.
Good thoughts! My father used to say “If you truly want to know what someone believes, ask them. They are in the best position to adequately explain it”.
Thanks, Ken
Profoundly wise words.
Great post.
We must always be on guard against sowing seeds of discord.
Not so that God will love us more, but because He does love us and because we want to love others as He loves us.
Thank you, Frank.