First, a reminder for those of you who have not yet memorized this. You know who you are. The RC Sproul Jr. Principle of Hermeneutics says, “When you see someone in the Bible doing something really, really stupid, do not say to yourself, ‘How can he be so stupid?’ Instead say to yourself, ‘How am I stupid just like him?’”
When, for instance, Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees for their rehearsed displays of public piety, we’re not supposed to laugh along with Jesus at those fools, but we’re supposed to realize He’s talking to us. Virtue signaling is the same thing as what the Pharisees did, only now we can do the same thing on social media.
When, for instance, we boldly shout to the world our support for the current Nobel Prize of Victimhood winner we’re not really doing anything for the victim. We are instead doing something for ourselves, trying on the mantle of the hero by… checks notes… changing our avatar.
This form of virtue signaling is foolish and embarrassing. That said, it is rather harmless. And not terribly effective. If you really want to bump your public moral standing ratings you take the next step. You don’t merely stand with the victim, but you must denounce the villain. You show the world how good you are by proclaiming to the clamoring crowd how bad he is. It matters not whether you have any particular insight into the issue at hand. You simply have to approve of the approved and disapprove of the disapproved. Vehemently, irrationally, if you want to do it well.
To earn your virtue signaling ninja badge, however, you have to take it one step further. It’s nice to side with the victim. It’s better to hate the villain. It is better still to insist on a lynching, followed by a show trial. It’s best, however, if you also denounce anyone who dares to suggest that some evidence might be helpful, that the tidy niceties of an actual trial would add a nice touch. The ones trying to stop the lynching are the most guilty of all.
The Christian is called to recognize himself in the condemnations put upon the Pharisees. The Christian is called in turn to repent of this folly. The only virtue we are called to signal is a virtue that is not ultimately our own. We are to point to the cross, which is our only hope. We are to confess our own sins before we hastily convict others of theirs.
Social media, that space where we are all free to express our own views, is sinking into a morass of virtue signaling on the one hand and cancel culture on the other. We all seem to type our tweets with one finger, and reserve the other nine for pointing at others, or we type with nine fingers and reserve one to make our message clear. Our message, the message of the church of Jesus Christ must never be, “Look how good I am” but must always be, “Look away from me. I’m hideous. Look to the Lamb.”