Podcast Summary: “It’s Often Wiser to Not Post at All”

Podcast: Breakpoint
Host: John Stonestreet (Colson Center)
Date: March 24, 2025

Overview

In this episode, John Stonestreet explores the pressure people—especially pastors—face to comment on every newsworthy “scissor event” on social media. Drawing on insights from contemporary writers and theologians, he cautions against the compulsive urge to post or argue over every controversy, especially when the issues are outside one's expertise or calling. Ultimately, Stonestreet advocates for wisdom and discernment, emphasizing the importance of silence and restraint in an age of performative social media activism from a Christian worldview.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Nature of “Scissor Events”

Definition: Borrowed from Ross Douthat, “scissor stories” or “scissor events” are divisive news items that prompt obligatory, polarized reactions from opposing sides (00:59).
Example: The recent visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the Oval Office serves as such an event—complex, significant, and ripe for instant, often uninformed commentary on social media (01:35).

2. Dangers of Compulsive Commenting

Observation: Today’s cultural climate creates an expectation for immediate reaction on social media, regardless of expertise or true understanding (02:09).
Pastoral Risk:
- Many pastors feel drawn into online debates, even when the issues at hand are outside their biblical or vocational purview (03:20).
- John references theologian Kevin DeYoung’s concern: "Political punditry is a legitimate calling. It's just not the pastor's calling." (03:25)
- DeYoung warns that obsessively commenting on current events distracts from the core calling of preaching, teaching, and shepherding (03:45).

3. The Pastor’s True Calling

John’s Clarification:
- Pastors are called to address moral and cultural issues the Bible speaks clearly about (e.g., marriage, abortion, male and female, civic duty) (04:05).
- However, the Bible does not provide direct policy guidance on specifics like immigration, tariffs, or foreign relations; acting as if it does can dilute the clarity of gospel teaching (05:00).

4. Expertise and Authority

Role of Experts:
- The vocation of Christian journalists, policy experts, and writers to inform and comment is legitimate; expertise matters (06:00).
- Feeling strongly about an issue is not equivalent to being called or qualified to speak authoritatively about it.
John’s Warning:
- “Sometimes it’s wiser to remain silent, sometimes it’s best to not post. And in our culture it’s become really hard to know the difference.” (06:36)

5. Social Media’s Temptations

Psychology of Posting:
- Social media incentivizes not just informed commentary, but also virtue signaling, performative controversy, and compulsive “hot takes” (07:13).
- Silence on trending topics is falsely interpreted as a lack of virtue or courage, leading to a pressure to speak even when uninformed.

6. A Case for Restraint and Wisdom

John’s Counsel:
- Christians aren’t compelled to opine on every event or fight every battle online. “It’s okay to defer judgment, to learn more before opining. It’s even okay to say ‘I don’t know.’” (08:13)
- Staying informed is a responsibility, but not being swept into every controversy is wise stewardship of attention and moral energy.
Final Thought:
- “At the very least, wisdom tells us to not pick up our phones every time a controversy comes calling.” (09:05)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Ross Douthat’s insight on “scissor stories”:

“Perfectly calibrated to tear people apart… everyone feels that they have to react.” — John Stonestreet quoting Douthat (00:59)
Kevn DeYoung on Pastoral Duty:

“Political punditry is a legitimate calling. It's just not the pastor's calling. The man who comments constantly on the things everyone is talking about is almost assuredly not talking about the things the Bible is most interested in talking about.” — Kevin DeYoung, quoted by Stonestreet (03:25-03:38)
On Social Media Temptation:

“Social media constantly tempts us to pretend that we are more informed than we are, to virtue signal, to take sides, to seek attention by being controversial.” — John Stonestreet (07:13)
Permission to Be Silent:

“It is possible not to express an opinion on every headline, not to pretend to know more than we do… It's even okay to say ‘I don’t know.’” — John Stonestreet (08:13)
Closing Counsel:

“Wisdom tells us to not pick up our phones every time a controversy comes calling.” — John Stonestreet (09:05)

Timestamps for Important Segments

00:59 — Explanation of “scissor events”
01:35 — Zelenskyy’s Oval Office visit as a recent example
03:25 — Kevin DeYoung’s quote about the pastoral role versus punditry
05:00 — Limits of biblical authority on policy specifics
06:36 — The case for remaining silent on issues outside expertise
07:13 — Social media encouragement for performative posting
08:13 — John’s affirmation: “It’s okay to defer judgment… It’s even okay to say ‘I don’t know.’”
09:05 — Final call to wisdom and restraint

Tone and Language

John Stonestreet maintains a thoughtful, pastoral tone throughout, using clear language aimed at encouraging wisdom, humility, and faithfulness rather than culture-war reactionism. The episode’s message is invitational, not condemnatory, and provides practical encouragement for Christians navigating online culture.

For Further Resources

Listeners are directed to Breakpoint.org for additional resources and are encouraged to stay engaged with wise, discerning Christian commentary.

Transcript

A (0:02)

Hi, John Stonestreet here. I want to share with you one of the most important things that I think that parents can do to help their students develop and continue to cultivate a resilient faith. I've been working with Summit Ministries for years, speaking at their 12 day summer student conferences. These are conferences that go deep in what it means to have a Christian worldview, what it means to have a resilient personal faith, understanding the world as described in scripture, and also understanding the challenges that will come for their faith, the wrong ideas, the wrong worldviews that they will encounter in the culture and college from their friends and with others. If you know a student, someone in your church, your child, your grandchild between the ages of 16 and 22, you want to send them to a Summit ministry summer conference. There they'll have mentors and friends who will share their belief and together they'll dive deep into what it means to live out a Christian worldview where wherever God has placed them. I love teaching at Summit. I love hearing the thoughtful and deep questions and I love tackling things that matter with them, even if they end up disagreeing with me. Look, don't wait. There are summer sessions in Colorado and in Tennessee and they fill up really, really fast. Register the young people in your Life for a 12 day session this summer. You can learn more by visiting summit.orgbreakpoint that's summit.orgbreakpoint and you can also get a special discount by using the code BreakPoint25. Again, that's BreakPoint25. Welcome to BreakPoint, a daily look at an ever changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stonestreet. Conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthit once described certain events as scissor stories, headlines, statements, ideas or scenarios that are, and I quote here, perfectly calibrated to tear people apart. Regardless of the specifics, those on the left feel obligated to react to these kinds of events one way, and those on the right feel just as obligated to react the opposite way. But above all, and this is key to scissor events, everyone feels that they have to react. And that means today they feel obligated to comment on social media. The recent visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the Oval Office certainly fits the bill of a scissor event. The meeting was incredibly significant given all the geopolitical stakes. But like most issues, when it comes to war, international relations and geopolitics, and it was also quite complicated. But that didn't stop legions of social media users across the political spectrum with various degrees of understanding, training, and education from immediately posting their hot takes. Noticing how many fellow clergy jumped into this online fray, theologian and Pastor Kevin DeYoung offered these words of political punditry is a legitimate calling. It's just not the pastor's calling. The man who comments constantly on the things everyone is talking about is almost assuredly not talking about the things the Bible is most interested in talking about. Pastors, DeYoung insisted, are not pundits. Their primary work is to preach the word of God, lead the church in worship and sacrament, and minister to the needs of their flocks. Now, I would add that shepherding today does require ministers to preach and teach on many issues that are deemed to be political, like abortion, the definition of marriage, the reality of male and female, the specifics of civic duty, and other cultural implications of Christian doctrine. If anything, more clarity and more courage is needed from the pulpit on those topics. Still, DeYoung makes an important point. This compulsive need that we have to post and to argue about every single controversy, even on issues that are well outside of our knowledge and expertise and is not a part of a pastor's biblical job description. Not only can such scissor issues waste precious time and energy, it risks keeping shepherds from their primary vocation. And even worse, it risks cutting shepherds off from their sheep. Pundit pastors risk moralizing things like political strategies and policies that are not so black and white as if the Bible provides clear and unmistakable policy recommendations on things like immigration, tariffs and foreign relations. It doesn't. But acting as if it does dilutes a pastor's ability to preach the gospel, to teach the deep truths of Scripture, and to clearly speak on those areas of personal and cultural morality that are biblically plain and clear. And that is especially tragic in a day when so many pastors are so unwilling to speak about such things, which effectively abandons their congregations to fend for themselves and their families without biblical wisdom rather, or church support. Now, to be clear, God has called some of his people to be journalists, to be writers, to be policy experts. A part of their calling is to know geopolitics, foreign policy, war, and other specialized areas, and often to give informed moral commentary about these things. That is their calling. We look to such experts on Breakpoint all the time, but having strong feelings about issues is not the same as being called to them, nor is it the same as being informed. The Sometimes it's wiser to remain silent, sometimes it's best to not post. And in our culture it's become really hard to know the difference. And this is true for all Christians, not just pastors. Social media constantly tempts us to pretend that we are more informed than we are to virtue signal, to take sides, to seek attention by being controversial. This is a self perpetuating and addictive cycle. Soon followers expect a hot take position on every single issue. And it soon feels in this warped psychology induced by social media that silence on any topic is no longer an option. But it is. It is possible not to express an opinion on every headline, not to pretend to know more than we do, not to get into fights with strangers because everybody else is doing it. It's okay to defer judgment, to learn more before opining. It's even okay to say I don't know. Of course we should absolutely stay informed. All Christians should. Ideas, events, elections, all of these things have very real consequences. Being knowledgeable is part of being a responsible citizen. It's part of being a responsible voter. It's part of being a responsible Christ follower. But we need not get sidetracked by every scissor event. At the very least, wisdom tells us to not pick up our phones every time a controversy comes calling. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stonestreet. Today's Breakpoint was co authored by Shane Morris. For more resources like this one, Visit us@BreakPoint.org and if BreakPoint is a helpful part of your day, please leave us a review wherever you download your podcast.