Transcript

A lot of online interactions between Catholics and non-Catholics is between anonymous and semi-anonymous accounts.

Sometimes a person may use their real picture, but not their real name.

In other cases, they use a fake name and a fake or non-descript picture like Crusading Knight, Female Saint, Anime Avatar, and Frog.

Anonymity can be used well in some cases.

For example, you might be a teenager from an anti-Catholic home trying to learn about Catholicism, and you don't want to lose your internet privileges, so you have an anonymous account to ask questions.

Or you may be a Muslim doing the same thing in an anti-Christian country that would do a lot worse than ground you.

Or you may be a mature Christian who wants to ask about an intimate personal problem, and you want to be anonymous for a genuine sake of privacy.

But in many cases, anonymous accounts are abused.

So I personally consider them too tempting for Christians to use.

We create an avatar that does things we would never do in real life, or even an entire fake persona.

I remember a few years ago, an account called Totally Teigan claimed to be an atheist interested in Catholicism.

She got a lot of engagement from Catholics until it was discovered she was a fake account using stolen photos.

Another recent case is Patriarch Hannah, who claimed to be a tradwife raising 14 kids, but turned out to be a fraud.

And it's not just Catholics.

Josh Buys was a Protestant pastor and president of the Gi3 Conference, a large Calvinist gathering where I previously debated James White.

But according to a statement issued this week from his church's website, Buys, quote, Operated at least four anonymous social media accounts, two anonymous email addresses, and two Substack platforms.

These accounts were used to publicly and anonymously slander numerous Christian leaders, including faithful pastors, some of whom have spoken at Gi3 Conferences, several PMBC elders, and others.

The statement goes on to say his church accepted Josh Buys' resignation as president of Gi3.

The elders of Pray Mills Baptist Church have asked Josh to take an indefinite leave of absence.

Now, these are rare cases, but they all start with a temptation to be whoever we want to be online because nobody knows it's us when we have an anonymous profile.

For example, I've seen anonymous accounts spout all kinds of nonsense, because what they say doesn't have to make sense.

It just has to bring in clicks for the algorithm to reward them.

And if you come to despise how your avatar is perceived, you can always digitally unalive your avatar and start over with a new profile.

That's not how life works.

Instead, as our Lord Jesus Christ said in Matthew 12:36-37, I tell you, on the day of judgment, men will render account for every careless word they utter, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

And in Luke 12:1-3, the Lord says, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

Whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.