Brent Liechty, youth pastor of Pathway Community Church, wrote on his blog about “The Tongue,” and includes a scary photo of Gene Simmons. The post talks about “pseudo-niceness,” which he describes as when “people are polite, but fake, in a nice way.”
Brent’s post included this very practical admonition regarding how we use such media as Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter.
One of the current ways to cause problems, and make people feel the heat inappropriately, is to post an anonymous, angry status update or post on Myspace or Facebook. It can be something like:
- “I hate people who are fake.”
- “I’m mad, and you know who you are.”
- “People who are telling lies about me need to shut up.”
- or all sorts of other things.
This is a wrong, and cowardly way of dealing with conflict. First of all, it makes everyone wonder if you are talking about them. Secondly, it encourages the spread of gossip (meaning talking with other people about a problem rather than the one you should be talking with) by making people ask about what you mean. Thirdly, it is doesn’t resolve a conflict, but keeps it going in a more public and humiliating way.
Remember [James 3:5-6 says the tongue] sets your whole life on fire with the fires of hell. It spreads hate, hurt, and conflict and destroys people. So, from now on, if you are a student of mine, or a parent in relationship with me, I WILL CALL YOU FOR THIS. It needs to stop so we can be a positive influence in the world, follow Jesus’ message, and not be fake hypocrites.
