Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

Few websites have the spite, sarcasm, and general nastiness as Twitter, that platforms virtually

designed to reward quick and cutting comebacks instead of substance. And of course,

quick and cutting often becomes cruel.

Sadly, Christians are often among those engaging in bad faith speech on Twitter, including against

one another. Jesus said, by this all people will know that you're my disciples if you have

love for one another. Lying about belittling, abusing, or otherwise failing to treat people as fully human

made in God's image is sin. And if they're Christian brothers or sisters, it's even worse. For the

record, the Bible offers no exceptions for social media. Now, some argue that on certain occasions,

mockery, when done right, is acceptable. In a time as morally and culturally insane as ours,

it might even be useful for discrediting wicked and foolish people in powerful places.

Consider, for example, the Christian satire site, the Babylon Bee. Well, they don't always hit

the mark. Most of the B's headlines, articles, and illustrations are genuinely clever,

refusing to take seriously things that

are truly absurd. That's helpful in a day like ours, not to mention at times they even help

keep us from taking ourselves too seriously. Also, there have been a few essays and publications

like First Things that have re-examined the whole notion of winsomeness for Christians, arguing

that a culture as hostile as ours sometimes requires

a more confrontational approach. Films like Matt Walsh's recent What Is a Woman illustrate this

kind of approach. While not avertly Christian, the documentary depends on restrained mockery

to make its point about just how irrational transgender ideology really is.

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