Paul said this to Timothy:

“ Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done.  You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message.” (2nd Timothy 14-15)

Easy for Paul to say.

He was writing comfortably from a prison cell.

He didn’t have to face the wrath of fellow Christians on Facebook.

Noisy, wishy-washy believers who judge any criticism to be a sin.

Facebook Christians would act swiftly to correct his error.

“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, Paul!”

“Judge not, Paul!”

“Believers should be of one accord!”

You go!

Tell Paul what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about.

It’s a deep passion for the Gospel that motivates you armchair evangelists.

…or so you tell me.

Mix passion and ignorance with a picture of a sunrise and you get a Facebook meme.

You get a warm, wishy-washy word stew that’s partly platitude, partly bumper sticker and fully useless.

You get stuff like:

“Satan loves it when believers attack each other!”

…then why are you attacking me?

If you actually own a Bible, you should leaf through it.

Really…you don’t even have to read it.

Just flip some pages and scan some lines.

You will find lots of places where people were at odds with each other.

It’s full of disagreement and conflict.

A bunch of the New Testament letters were written to correct an error of some kind.

So let me encourage you, my peace-keeping Facebook brethren:

SHUT UP!

It isn’t helpful to insert yourself between two grown-up Christians when they’re disagreeing and say something like:

“God doesn’t want his children to fight!”

Because you’re wrong.

Don’t believe me…

…leaf through the Bible again.

Paul said this too:

“Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Timothy 4:16)

Why would I need to ‘watch my doctrine’ unless it was going to be challenged at some point?

Next time you’re tempted to silence an argument between believers, do the following:

1. Walk away from the argument
2. Take a deep breath
3. Put your head in a toilet.
4. Pull the toilet handle.

It’s extreme.

But after doing it once you’ll think twice the next time.

My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring them back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the way of error will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins. (Jas 5:19–20)