It should go without saying, “Don’t rely on social media for truth,” right?
Social media has captivated the attention of young and old alike. It is a communication mechanism that allows you to subject yourself to those things that are of interest to you and at the same time, reject those things you do not prefer. You can saturate your mind with political postings to suit your taste, recipes, automotive advice, poetry, or cat videos. You can subscribe to postings that are of interest and later unsubscribe...when you lose interest. You can connect with other people with similar interests and you can disconnect with anyone you wish. Social media is your world as you like it. You choose your influences. And social media does influence!
The following quotation from Rev. Benjamin Cremer has made its rounds on social media:
“If you take the Bible extremely literally about human sexuality, but not about feeding the hungry, bringing good news to the poor, liberating the oppressed, forgiving debts, bring health to the sick, or loving your neighbor, please don’t act like you take the Bible seriously.”
It is important to see the ploy used by this individual and many like him. It is a deceptive way of condemning a strict view of biblical morality.
In reality, what God said about human sexuality has no relationship...
...to what He said about feeding the hungry; immorality is sin.
...to bringing good news to the poor; immorality is sin.
...to liberating the oppressed
...to forgiving debts,
...to loving your neighbor…
immorality is sin.
If I claim to love God and love my neighbor, but I am known to be the world’s greatest hypocrite, immorality is still sin. One person’s sin does not justify or condemn another person’s sin. Yet, some people reject God’s instruction in a specific area, such as, sexuality, and distract from their error by shifting attention to the error in the lives of others. To them, Jesus said:
Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?--Matthew 7:3
That was how Jesus illustrated His previous statement:
Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.
So, the quotation by Cremer is just another way of saying, “You can’t judge the wrong for which I am guilty, if you are also guilty of anything.” The flaw in that kind of reasoning is twofold:
- First, to recognize the moral sin in which someone is engaged is not the same as ‘judging.’ To call a thief a thief and condemn that person for theft is not judging but stating a fact. How else can we follow Jesus’ instruction In Matthew 18 and correct a brother who has sinned?
- Second, the faults and sins for which I am guilty have nothing to do with your faults and sins. We each bear the guilt of our own sin. That is a universal teaching described well in Ezekiel 18. (You should read it!)
Social media is not a good place to discover truth because you can find someone who already agrees with anything you want to believe. God has revealed truth in Scripture. Anyone who uses human reasoning to dismiss the clear teaching of Scripture really does not take the Bible seriously.
Mark Stinnett
November 2, 2025
