The Theology of Trolls

Trolls on social media are finally getting due attention. 

Warnings are sounding like crazy right now—fake accounts are being created by America’s enemies, with the sole purpose of stirring up division in our nation. 

Divided we fall, so the more extreme our views become, the more exaggerated our cross-partisan attacks become, the easier we are to overthrow. A popular “Can you spot the troll?” quiz is spreading like wildfire, showing us how difficult it is to spot artificial humans created to stir up strife. 

Here, fake news meets fake activist. And many of those accounts are horrifyingly convincing. Through these reports and exercises, we are being shown how our rage and hate make us vulnerable to the manipulation of those who  have devious international and economic ends.

I suppose we should have known better long ago. After all, we live in the age of mechanized fakes.

Amazon is full of fake Birkenstocks, fake elite hair products, fake perfumes, and even fake cleaning solutions. Reviews show us the frustration of consumers who took the bait, looked for a deal on a trustworthy item, and found it utterly lacking.

Scammers fake important messages from the CDC, the Census Bureau, credit card companies, and disaster relief.

False compassion products claim to provide for marginalized people overseas while absorbing vast percentages of profit.

Ebay is full of fake vintage collectibles, fraudulent signatures, and knock-off “antiques.”

Anything that is good, effective, sincere, desirable is reproduced in false form to accumulate power and profit.

The beautiful and the worthy will always be imitated by what is horrid and selfish. So, it should be no surprise that wicked people would find a way to replicate and commandeer fake versions of the gospel.

And this is nothing new. So many of my non-believing friends argue, “Look what horrors have been done in the name of religion!” However, experientially, I must conclude that a long history of knock offs points to the likelihood of a valid faith rather than to its falsity.

Applying the pattern of nefarious imitation that we see occurring in politics and consumer sales to the life and mission of an authentic Jesus, we should expect the past 2000 years to be filled with knock-off Christian causes attempting to worm their way into profit and power. If Jesus was a good and authentic messiah, then everyday experience teaches us that evil should have commandeered his reputation to support racism, crusades, oppression.

This is exactly what has happened. And it is exactly what’s happening still.

As believers, this means we need to hone serious troll-spotting skills in our spiritual lives as well as in our consumer and political lives. We need to be able to identify signs that the name and purpose of Jesus are being used to accomplish goals that have nothing to do with him. 

We need to realize that bad people using Christ’s name will be tricky—just like political trolls. 

1. They will  be smart enough to appeal to noble causes and impulses. 

2. They will be smart enough to include enough facts/verses that make themselves seem legit. 

3. They will be smart enough to feed fear and self-righteous rage.

4. Their ideas will be embraced and forwarded by people we know and trust, multiplying like a virus in once-healthy communities.

So, as you learn more about trolls in the political realm and wrestle through social media infiltration by America’s enemies—remember to apply this wisdom to trolls in the spiritual realm as well.

Know your Shepherd well enough to separate the true work of Christ from those who want to use his reputation for their dark ends.

And never, ever feed the trolls.

Image Credit: Morguefile lauramusikanski