Social

"Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions." 1st Timothy 1:6-7 ESV 

Social media is just that: social. It is all about the free exchange of life and sometimes the exchange of ideas. 

Although, I have learned something about dealing with people who don't have the same worldview that I have on social media. There comes a time that I feel the need to dispel a myth or counter a political opinion, but I have learned that doing so is often times pointless and almost never ends well. 

1st Timothy is Paul's letter to a young brother in the faith. Timothy was a young man that was leaning towards becoming a pastor. Paul was telling Timothy that the goal of instruction is love, good conscience, and a sincere faith. This was during a time when those opposing Paul based their own ideas on life, as well as their views about God, on cultural trends at the time. 

Paul followed up his teaching with a warning not only for Timothy but for us as well. We are warned to stay away from "vain discussion." Other translations call it "fruitless discussion." This is any discussion that doesn't pay off and ends up leaving people confused and angry. For me, the hard part of following Paul's advice is knowing the difference, what is fruitless and what isn't.

I can tell you this, so often when I try to engage in a civil exchange, whether over Facebook or Twitter, it usually gets ugly and quick. I think that is because many people use these outlets to make blanket statements without having to engage in civil debate. They say what ever they want, inflammatory things, and claim we can all deal with it, there is no accountability for their words, and sadly every one is guilty of this at one time or another. Christian and non christian alike. 

We are all called to be careful that we don't waste the valuable time we have with fruitless conversations...especially on social media.