Parler is bringing together mainstream conservatives, anti-Semites and white supremacists as the social media platform attracts millions of Trump supporters

Gentlemen, again, if you’re seeking to impact the culture for Christ you’ll need to be able to engage with such “reprobates looking for clicks.” It doesn’t mean you click on their porn sites, but you should at least not be scared off from engagement with them because they have a nude woman as their avatar.

Elder: Pastor, you were seen at your desk, in the church, looking at a website with a naked woman on it.

Pastor: Yes, well…

Elder: What do you have to say for yourself.

Pastor: I was witnessing.

Elder: Witnessing?

Pastor: Yes. I was on Parler and saw all these posts with naked women as avatars, and I was witnessing to them…

(Narrator): What happens next?

Elder: Pastor, I think you should spend your time in the church office posting on social media.

Pastor: Well, I appreciate your opinion, but my time in the office is better spent in prayer, preparing to preach on Sunday, shepherding the flock, and giving oversight to the pastoral staff.

Elder: But think of all the articles you could write on Sharper Iron and all the political flame wars you could engage in on Parler with those degenerates.

Pastor: I do enjoy writing and engaging in politics, but that is better done at home on my own time.

Elder: So, then, when you’re at home and dialoguing on Parler, how do you deal with the naked girl avatars?

Pastor: I ignore them and focus my attention on obeying 1 Peter 3:15.

Elder: You mean you can effectively engage the culture and share the gospel with people who have naked girl avatars?

Pastor: Yes, and I’ve actually been able to share the gospel with several of those individuals. In conversation, they told me they use those naked girl avatars to purposely offend feminists and religious prudes. After finding out I was a Christian, they were surprised that I cared enough to engage them in conversation even though their avatar was offensive.

(Narrator): What happens next?

The Apostles lived in a society with shrine prostitutes and a lot of nudity in art—statues, frescoes, mosaics, often including portrayals of sexual acts (e.g. bath mosaics in Pompeii). Take what you’ll see in most big cities in Europe and make it a step or two worse. In the same way, Christ was accused of interacting with prostitutes—and He didn’t argue when them about the matter. He wasn’t accused of being in a brothel, but He almost certainly ministered to prostitutes.

Now don’t get me wrong; I don’t think it’s healthy for a man to spend a lot of time looking at images of naked people. Such a habit likely indicates that Matthew 5:28 is applicable. But in light of what the Apostles dealt with, and what missionaries around the world deal with, I think we need to admit that “flee from fornication” does not totally mean “refuse to engage in any place that has nudity or immodesty”. Really, if we applied it that way, how do we go grocery shopping? Or, let’s be honest; how do we go to church?

At a certain point, perhaps, with reference to Matthew 5:28 and related passages, we need to understand that we can see a pretty girl without lusting after her, even if she’s wearing something that shows off certain portions of her beauty.

Sigh…

I was trying to inform you all what I saw at this (Parler) blog site. Sorry I did.

If you ever have a convo with a porn blog poster let us know!

[Mark_Smith]

Sigh…

I was trying to inform you all what I saw at this (Parler) blog site. Sorry I did.

If you ever have a convo with a porn blog poster let us know!

Mark, I don’t think it was bad at all that you notified us of this. If introducing someone to Twitter, I would say about the same thing, that you’re going to be dealing with people who believe that whatever they say in 144 or 288 characters amounts to great wisdom, and that a lot of them confuse dirty words or dirty pictures with said wisdom. Similar (but not identical) for Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, Instagram, and the like.

And just like Christ chose the terms of His engagement with the world—He witnessed to the sexually immoral, but is not recorded to have entered a brothel, for example—we are responsible for doing the same thing. Within bounds, we can use social media in the same way our Lord used the homes of tax collectors and sinners. No?

Or, put differently, just because there is a difference in views on where we ought to engage is not a sign that people are not taking things seriously. It is merely a matter of different interpretation of the risks and rewards.

[Bert Perry]

Or, put differently, just because there is a difference in views on where we ought to engage is not a sign that people are not taking things seriously. It is merely a matter of different interpretation of the risks and rewards.

Bert,

The point is, my comments had nothing to do with “engaging culture.” They were about my experience at Parler in the context of an OP about conservatives moving to sites like Parler. Then, some “hero” commented about how we should not worry about seeing naked women all over the place, we should evangelize… It was “one-up-manship” pure and simple. I dare say this fellow has never had a convo with a porn poster at a blog.

Oh, Mark.

Please settle down.

I wasn’t trying to “one-up” you.

Mark, yes, I’m not worried that you or others saw naked woman (or man for that matter) avatars on Parler. If you contemplate the 1st century when Paul and the Apostles were ministering in the Roman world, you had not only Corinth, but fertility/love goddesses (e.g. Artemis of Ephesus), both cultic and ordinary prostitution, a culture which exalted the display of the nude (especially the male nude), and the like.

For that matter, until really the past century, families all over the world had nowhere near the expectations of privacy that we have today, all but the upper middle class and rich pretty much lived in three rooms or less—kids were pretty much in the room when their siblings were conceived, born, nursed, and the like. Missionaries throughout the 10/40 window reach out to people whose concept of proper attire is far less than what we’d think appropriate.

You want to reach out to sinners? Occasionally you’re going to need to cope with the way sinners behave.

but I got my Parler account and liked one blog to get political information, not to evangelize…

I guess I’m not holy enough.