The Price Of Shame (And Why Christians Should Be Different Online)

Last updated on: September 1, 2015 at 9:19 am by Jefferson Bethke

The Price Of Shame (And Why Christians Should Be Different Online) 2015-09-01T09:19:04-10:00 Jefferson Bethke

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I watched this TED talk by Monica Lewinsky a little bit ago and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. As she mentions in the video, she is somewhat of a “patient zero” in the Internet age. Meaning, she was one of the first people to be publicly shamed and torn to pieces by the internet mob in the late 90’s. While I was watching I couldn’t help but realize how much we as Christians have contributed to this internet culture of shame, ridicule, and dehumanization. We need to own up to the fact the internet is changing how we interact with each other and almost entirely eradicating our empathy. The truth of the matter is when you dehumanize someone, it’s then much easier to tear them apart. And it’s very easy for us to see someone on the internet as simply an idea, a profile picture, just a random arrangement of pixels, not an image bearer of God. Jesus said the greatest command is to love God and love neighbor. That implies we love God by loving our neighbor. What if us Christians were different? What if when Jesus said they will know us by our love he really meant it? What if we were seen as a group of people who refuse to heap on internet shame? People who refuse to post something that has even a sniff of condemnation? What if we were people who actually stood out by how we engage on the internet? When Paul said that our speech should “always be full of grace” he might not have envisioned a keyboard, but I’m sure as heck it includes that.

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You can watch the full video below and preorder my new book here where I talk about shame and internet culture extensively in multiple chapters.

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