I’m so over the Christian hot take. Here’s 5 ways to respond

The internet is awash with Christians posting character assassinations of other Christians, says Max Avard. If you have a problem with Bethel Church or wish Brandon Lake had not collaborated with Jelly Roll, perhaps a 60 second video on social media is not the answer. Here’s some suggestions to help us do better

What fills your Instagram feed? 

Mine is currently a maelstrom of faith-based content. Rejoice you might think! Except that, instead of filling me up and sending me out, I tend to find myself more irked and riled up than ever before. That’s because the majority of what I’m being served is Christian hot takes, reaction videos and, well, character assassinations of fellow believers. 

If it isn’t a tightly wound theologian telling me why worship artist Brandon Lake is a heretic, it’s an old school preacher branding Bethel as the Church of Satan, or a podcast bro handing liberal Christians their eviction notice. 

Of course, everyone has a right to their opinion, and we should be wary of false teachers or wolves in sheep’s clothes. But I can’t help but feel that the endless streams of takedowns and cheap shots posted in 60 second snippets weren’t what Jesus intended when he spoke about rebuking one another. 

With that in mind, here are five tips on how to respond to videos like these.