The Echo Chamber

Posted on July 31, 2018 by America's Keswick in Freedom Fighters

“Can two people walk together without agreeing on the direction?” – Amos 3:3 (NLT2)

If there is anything that can be said of social media today it’s that it shows just how divided we all really are as a people. With it you can tune into those kinda folks who are always on your side of thought and tune out everyone that disagrees with you. If anyone dares to say something contrary to your belief system your weapons of choice are the “unfriend” or “unfollow” options and POOF that opposing view is gone.

Way back in 2015, The New York Times reported that “a torrent of politically charged commentary has flooded Facebook, the world’s largest social networking site, with some users deploying their ‘unfollow’ buttons like a television remote to silence distasteful political views. Coupled with the algorithm now powering Facebook’s news feed, the unfollowing is creating a more homogenized political experience of like-minded users, resulting in the kind of polarization more often associated with MSNBC or Fox News. And it may ultimately deflate a central promise of the Internet: Instead of offering people a diverse marketplace of challenging ideas, the web is becoming just another self-perpetuating echo chamber.”

One of the things that echo’s in that chamber is that America was founded solely on Judeo-Christian values, and while that may be partially right, I can’t help seeing in history that some of the Founding Fathers were cut from the Enlightenment movement. According to The Encyclopedia Britannia the thing that was central to Enlightenment thought was “the use and celebration of reason, the power by which humans understand the universe and improve their own condition. The goals of rational humanity were considered to be knowledge, freedom, and happiness.” Can someone say, “all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25b)?

And this “did whatever seemed right in their own eyes” has been going on since Genesis 3:6. Once the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was plucked and bitten into, human beings would decide for themselves what is right and wrong instead of relying on God’s direction. And here in lies the rug…to each individual, his way of life makes sense. That’s a lot noise going on in that echo chamber ain’t it? But it doesn’t have to be that way and here’s why…Jesus Christ.

In Matthew 11 we read, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” We see this passage used when life has become so cumbersome that there seems to be no hope found in our solutions and that’s exactly why I am bringing it up in this dialogue. Sometimes formulating your own sense of right and wrong and the maintaining of it wastes more time and energy than it deserves. Kinda strays from our original purpose, doesn’t it? We were created to glorify God and take care of His stuff…period.

So, when we run human reasoning through the Cross of Jesus Christ it actually suffers a major death blow. No reasonable human being would ever think to surrender themselves to the kind of suffering that occurs on a crucifix and yet we are living in a time where we would love to see that happen to people who are in opposition to us. You might think a radical statement to make, however, some of us are too quick to wanna make people feel what its like to walk in our shoes aren’t we? Jesus contradicts that by telling us to “love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Advanced human reasoning has no space for that kinda thinking.

And when it comes to the social media echo chamber I can be just as guilty as the next guy with feeling my viewpoint is correct and needs to be agreed with, but sometimes I wish we would think about this before we hit the post button. We don’t always need to “press like and type amen” just because there are some clever words typed around a Biblical principle that aren’t meant for the greater good but rather are meant to tickle your fancy (or your itching ears) …especially when it comes to a red or blue statement.

I recently saw this post on social media and this is what got me thinking about the whole social media echo chamber thingy, “Before you hit that post button ask yourself this… ‘Am I helping people come to Christ by sharing this, or am I keeping people from Christ by sharing this?’” A convicting question to ponder this day because, as Christians, we need to keep the Great Commission in the forefront of our thinking and not what has been deemed politically or religiously correct to say, think or do. Amen?

Written by Chris Hughes: Chris, a graduate of The Colony of Mercy (11-2003) has been married for 25+ years (Kathy), has a married son (Kevin) and a daughter in college (Karen). He has been a Freedom Fighter contributor since 2008.

The Daily Bible Reading: Isaiah 54-58 |You can download our 2018 Daily Bible Reading Plan by clicking here

Daily Quote: “One way the civilized world destroys men is by preventing them from thinking their own thoughts.” — A.W. Tozer

This Week’s Verse to Memorize:

When a wicked man dies, his expectation will perish, And the hope of the unjust perishes. Proverbs 11:7