A Gospel-Centered Response to Blog Attacks in Bandit Country

Carl Trueman has a great post on dealing with web critics or blog attacking bandits. I thought his advice was spot on, and his example of a Gospel-centered response to criticism quite helpful. I took the liberty of quoting Carl at some length, but I encourage you to read the full article.

This raises the question of whether one should respond to individual blog attacks. My advice is no, never, not under any circumstances. Now, one of the reasons I do not read these things (in addition to having a real life with real friends, real problems etc) is because I know that, if I did so, there would be times when the temptation to respond would be overwhelming, and that would be fatal. As soon as one responds, the attacker grows parasitically stronger, gaining an audience and a credibility previously denied him. And the victim has lost because he has taken the rant of some nutjob seriously enough to acknowledge it; he has granted it a status which it simply does not merit in and of itself; and in his efforts to refute it, he has perversely made it important, given it a constituency it did not possess. Look, to repeat: the web is bandit country. Let the wild and the whacky compete with the sane and the measured, the incoherent and rambling with the logical and well-argued, the extreme with the moderate. If people believe you are really a lizard from the Planet Iguanadon who has assumed human form and infiltrated a church or a seminary to make it the base for an Iguanaman takeover of the entire Christian church, then let them do so. Nothing you can say to the contrary will do anything other than convince them of the depth and sophistication of the extraterrestrial reptilian conspiracy. Their emotional and psychological needs are clearly more serious than your own; and if you respond to such nonsense, you give it credibility and allow the parasitic nature of the attack to succeed. Ignore it and it may not go away, but sane people will see it for what it is and walk by, slightly embarrassed, on the other side of the virtual information highway.

There is, however, a spiritual dimension to blog attacks which is, ironically, conducive to spiritual health and growth. Here I have learned much (as elsewhere) from the master theologian, churchman, public figure, and normal Christian believer, Martin Luther. It is well-known that in his writings in table conversation Luther would often refer to visits from the Devil, how the Devil would come to him and whisper in his ear, accusing him of all manner of filthy sin: “Martin, you are a liar, greedy, lecherous, a blasphemer, a hypocrite. You cannot stand before God.” To which Luther would respond: “Well, yes, I am. And, indeed, Satan, you do not know the half of it. I have done much worse than that and if you care to give me your full list, I can no doubt add to it and help make it more complete. But you know what? My Saviour has died for all my sins – those you mention, those I could add and, indeed, those I have committed but am so wicked that I am unaware of having done so. It does not change the fact that Christ has died for all of them; his blood is sufficient; and on the Day of Judgment I shall be exonerated because he has taken all my sins on himself and clothed me in his own perfect righteousness.’

…Those disturbed by web attacks on their good names should not be so. Believe me, you are much worse than they say, and God is much greater and more gracious than they imagine. It’s bandit country out there on the web but sane people know lunacy when they see it: let the nutters do their nutjobby thing; let the psychos babble; and let the vicious vent. And then, in the tradition of Luther, thank God for bandit country and use the malice you find there to help you appreciate Christ

3 thoughts on “A Gospel-Centered Response to Blog Attacks in Bandit Country

  1. “…Christ has died for all of them; his blood is sufficient; …”

    Beautiful! Thanks for sharing! I’m sure Calvin and Luther are great “buds” in heaven…

  2. There is something about the “evangelical” mindset that encourages this, I think. People who want to evangelize their belief system often want to “scale” their efforts as broadly as possible, and are attracted to broadcast mediums. They look for any place that seems to have a lot of activity (controversy, polarization, large number of comments) and try to shout their message from the rooftops there.

    It’s very difficult for someone with honest, sincere questions to have them answered on the Internet. This is because it takes time and effort to engage with someone 1:1, and many evangelicals are too busy trying to jostle to the top of some high-traffic hill with a megaphone. And if the person’s questions are humble and do not generate any emotional response, they are likely to be ignored.

    Of course, we are commanded to rebuke our brothers when they stray, and to “speak the truth in love”. This naturally means that you make a judgment call about who is being sincere, and who is merely being a troll (or “dog” or “swine”, as the Bible would say). We’re commanded not to feed the trolls 🙂

    In my experience, the best approach is to be more lamb than lion, and to stick very carefully to scriptures in humility. At times, I have had to remind myself as Psalm 1 says, “sit not in the seat of mockers”.

    And as your post points out, the MOST important thing is to remember that Satan is also known as “the accuser”. As profitable as it may be for my righteous brother’s spirit to be unjustly accused, I never want to *be* the accuser!

  3. Joshua,

    Great thoughts. I appreciate them. Sorry I didn’t respond (to your positive comments) sooner. It is a catch 22 sometimes. But I really think the best thing to do is avoid issues that you know they are just trying to damage your reputation. Don’t worry about it and let God do the worrying. I’ve learned this lesson the hard way. And I am trying to pull back from my narcissitic urge to follow blogs which may mention me in a negative way…. It’s hard but then again it also contributes to our sanctification.

    Blessings in Christ,

    Bob

Comments are closed.