To Address Use of Named or Anonymous Social Media Accounts to Create Strife and Division within the Church

Ov. 10-03

To Address Use of Named or Anonymous Social Media Accounts to Create Strife and Division within the Church

WHEREAS, Our Lord commands us to not bear false witness; and

WHEREAS, Martin Luther, teaching on the Eighth Commandment in the Large Catechism (LC I , Triglotta), sharply reminds us that this commandment “forbids all sins of the tongue whereby we may injure or approach too closely our neighbor” (263), and reminds us that “here belongs particularly the detestable, shameful vice of speaking behind a person’s back” (264). He continues:

Therefore, to avoid this vice we should note that no one is allowed publicly to judge and reprove his neighbor, although he may see him sin, unless he have a command to judge and to reprove. For there is a great difference between these two things, judging sin and knowing sin. You may indeed know it, but you are not to judge it. I can indeed see and hear that my neighbor sins, but I have no command to report it to others. Now, if I rush in, judging and passing sentence, I fall into a sin which is greater than his. But if you know it, do nothing else than turn your ears into a grave and cover it, until you are appointed to be judge and to punish by virtue of your office.

Those, then, are called slanderers who are not content with knowing a thing, but proceed to assume jurisdiction, and when they know a slight offense of another, carry it into every corner, and are delighted and tickled that they can stir up another’s displeasure [baseness], as swine roll themselves in the dirt and root in it with the snout. This is nothing else than meddling with the judgment and office of God, and pronouncing sentence and punishment with the most severe verdict. For no judge can punish to a higher degree nor go farther than to say: ‘He is a thief, a murderer, a traitor, ’ etc. Therefore, whoever presumes to say the same of his neighbor goes just as far as the emperor and all governments. For although you do not wield the sword, you employ your poisonous tongue to the shame and hurt of your neighbor.

God therefore would have it prohibited, that any one speak evil of another even though he be guilty, and the latter know it right well; much less if he do not know it, and have it only from hearsay. But you say: Shall I not say it if it be the truth? Answer:

Why do you not make accusation to regular judges? Ah, I cannot prove it publicly, and hence I might be silenced and turned away in a harsh manner [incur the penalty of a false accusation]. ‘Ah, indeed, do you smell the roast? ’ If you do not trust yourse lf to stand before the proper authorities and to make answer, then hold your tongue. But if you know it, know it for yourself and not for another. For if you tell it to others, although it be true, you will appear as a liar, because you cannot prove it, an d you are, besides, acting like a knave. For we ought never to deprive any one of his honor or good name unless it be first taken away from him publicly.

False witness, then, is everything which cannot be properly proved. Therefore, what is not manifest upon sufficient evidence no one shall make public or declare for truth; and, in short, whatever is secret should be allowed to remain secret, or, at any rate, should be secretly reproved, as we shall hear. Therefore, if you encounter an idle tongue which betrays and slanders some one, contradict such a one promptly to his face, that he may blush; thus many a one will hold his tongue who else would bring some poor man into bad repute, from which he would not easily extricate himself. For honor and a good name are easily taken away, but not easily restored. (LC I 266–70)

… But the true way in this matter would be to observe the order according to the Gospel (Matt. 18:15) where Christ says: If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone . Here you have a precious and excellent teaching for governing well the tongue, which is to be carefully observed against this detestable misuse. Let this, then, be your rule, that you do not too readily spread evil concerning your neighbor and slander hi m to others, but admonish him privately that he may amend [his life]. Likewise, also, if some one report to you what this or that one has done, teach him, too, to go and admonish him personally, if he have seen it himself;

but if not, that he hold his tongue. (LC I 276)

and

WHEREAS, The Synod has policies and procedures designed to allow those in disagreement to reconcile with one another and to reprove and correct those in error so as to restore them to Christ and His Church and not to cause public division, scandal, and shame;

and

WHEREAS, Church workers and laity of the Synod who use social media accounts so as to cause division within the C hurch do so in direct violation of the scriptural and confessional understanding of the Eighth Commandment and therefore engage in unrepentant sin;

and

WHEREAS, Those who engage in such actions harm the public witness of the Church and greatly sin against their brothers and sisters in Christ; and

WHEREAS, Those who engage in such behavior should in Christian love be called to repentance so as to be restored to the brothers and sisters they have sinned against and be forgiven;

therefore be it

Resolved, That the Oklahoma District address its church workers and laity who use social media accounts to create strife and division in violation of the Eighth Commandment and call them to repent of their actions and sins; and be it further

Resolved, That the district call its church workers and laity to remove posts in violation of the Eighth Commandment and those who operate anonymous accounts to delete the anonymous account as a sign of repentance; and be it further

Resolved, That the district call on those who operate social media accounts to create strife and division to seek private Confession and Absolution so they can hear the pure Gospel in light of their repentance; and be it finally

Resolved, That the district memorialize the Synod to pass this resolution in convention in 2026.

Oklahoma District