Social Specks and Planks

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
- Matthew 7: 3–5 (NIV)

I’ve written before about the lack of social media participation among evangelical men, along with their (in my opinion, flawed) rationale for abstaining.

But what about people (of all sexes) that do participate? While some are completely lovely and many silently lurk to avoid causing “division” (a stance I find slightly cowardly, but can at least wrap my head around), there’s a clear contingent that’s somehow able to a) see their screens and b) slam that post button, despite having giant planks in their eyes.

Aside from the ongoing stream of Instagram-ready scripture snippets or MLM pitches from this crowd, you’ll also generally come across judgment-heavy memes or endorsements that cover the full playlist of greatest hits from the two-headed conservative/evangelical monster that this country painfully birthed decades ago:

• Purity, purity, purity!
• Keep your hands off our guns