I’m intrigued by some of the new terms invented to describe iterations of bad behavior arising from new media:  armchair warrior, call-out culture, concern troll, hashtag activism, social desirability bias, and social justice warrior, among others.  I’m focusing though on virtue signaling, which I contend exists since the fall of man, but exponentially grew out of the rise of media and especially social media.

The terminology, “virtue signaling,” is a pejorative, but it I’ve noticed that is almost uniformly used to describe something really happening.  The dictionary definition is:

the action or practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one’s good character or the moral correctness of one’s position on a particular issue

It’s history started with the concept of “signaling,” which is to convey credentials through implicit means, like building an impressive, giant stone bank building to “signal” security to depositors.  The style of building doesn’t mean there is security at the bank, so in its root meaning, to signal carries with it a modicum of deceit.

Virtue was added to “signaling,” it seems, by James Bartholomew on April 18, 2015 in The Spectator, and means “public, empty gestures intended to convey socially approved attitudes without any associated risk or sacrifice.”  I tried to find the combination of words earlier than Bartholomew, seeing that the activity has existed longer, but it took until his essay to give it an official title.

Virtue signaling isn’t doing good.  It isn’t even promoting good.  It’s about looking “politically or socially correct,” also new terminology in this day and age.  It’s what Steve Kerr, Gregg Popovich, and Lebron James do on a regular basis in the NBA, which Tucker Carlson nicely just exposed (also read here). The China and Hong Kong issue is a real test of sincerity on political and social matters that they flunked royally.  When they have risk involved, money from China, they shut up and dribble.  China says, we’ll cut you off from audience here, and they capitulate (see this video).  No actual virtue.  Real virtue would require monetary sacrifice, but the NBA exists for monetary gain, so free speech goes and the people suffering in China won’t get an advocate.  The NBA elites provide a standard answer of ‘it’s just too difficult to decipher the political situation,’ which is a lie.

When the Apostle Paul commanded, “Be not conformed to this world” (Rom 12:2), which belies presenting one’s body a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1), that applies today to virtue signaling.  The tendency, habit, or culture of virtue signaling in the world has spread to the the church or professing believers.  It reminds me of how the church took up marketing in the church growth movement.  This might be worse than that.

The Lord Jesus Christ commanded, preach the gospel, but people don’t like the gospel.  The preaching of the cross is foolishness to the lost.  It’s embarrassing.  Please stop, they say — don’t want to hear it.  So this makes the professing believer look bad to a favored group of people, which shouldn’t be favored.

Then if the professing Christian won’t preach the gospel, unless maybe it’s very, very convenient and laid out on a silver platter, which it almost never is, then neither will he make disciples, the command of Jesus in the Great Commission (Matt 28:19-20).  He rarely to never preaches the gospel and makes no disciples.  He’s disobedient to Christ, but he calls himself a Christian.  Preaching the gospel and making disciples also clashes with a worldly life, one in which the professing Christian dresses immodestly, doesn’t want give up his ungodly or pagan entertainment, or lost friends.  Here’s a person that won’t show practical righteousness that necessarily proceeds from justification by faith, maybe because there isn’t salvation.  Instead he takes his cue from the world, and virtue signals.

I called virtue signaling “careless,” because it doesn’t really care.  This professing believer doesn’t care.  If he cared, he would care about the eternal soul of others.  He would talk about a loving, majestic God instead of almost incessant worldly things.  He cares about looking like he cares without actually caring.  If there is an earthly issue that should provoke care, it would be to care enough to oppose abortion, the way over 860,000 defenseless human beings who were murdered last year in the United States.  That won’t be mentioned, because that isn’t popular either among those it’s important to impress.

Someone who says he is a Christian supposedly understands eternal matters.  He knows why the earth was created by God.  The world itself isn’t going to last.  Bring up Jesus Christ in a biblical way!  I say biblical, because sometimes Jesus is mentioned, but more as an afterword for what makes someone feel good when he’s down.  The world would never know that Jesus is in his life.  The rest of his life doesn’t conform to Jesus Christ.  He doesn’t live like Jesus is His Lord.  Instead of saying, “Jesus,” he says something like “my faith.”

How is virtue signaled?  Evangelicals signal with race, same sex, and other social issues.  I’m not saying that whatever reality is there in those issues, that they don’t matter.  They don’t matter if someone who calls himself a Christian mentions almost only those issues.  Virtue signaling is self-promotion.  No one will suffer for being against racism, prejudice, suicide, PTSD, and sexual harassment.   Both the lost and the saved are against those things.  What about opposing homosexuality?  He might suffer for that and he wouldn’t want anyone to know he’s against it.  He really isn’t for what God is for and against what God is against.  He’s for himself, and when I say he, I mean he or she in the traditional, grammatical way.

In 1 Corinthians 15:33, Paul warned the Corinthian believers, “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.”  He commands, be not deceived, because it’s easy to be deceived.  “Communications” is the Greek word, homoleia, which is about speeches.  The vibe of the world through social media, its speeches, corrupts good behavior.  It leads to an imitation of what the world does to look good.  The world doesn’t have righteousness, except self-righteousness, which there is none.

The spirit of this age through social media is a test to the professing believer.  Will he concede to the world or will he take his stand to be a true Christian?  This is the trying of the faith that James talks about in chapter one (James 1:3).  It’s not a difficult trial.  Apostates are allured by fleshly things (2 Peter 2).  It’s not a credible test, just an alluring one.  It’s enough to draw away someone, who just professes to be a Christian, but isn’t one.  A difficult trial is mockery for preaching the gospel.  A difficult trial is the opposition to holy living, where a young lady dresses in a modest, feminine fashion that clashes with the world.  It marks her as a Christian.

It isn’t even a trial to give up virtue signaling.  Virtue signaling is the replacement for trials that would come through real virtue.  Someone is not better when he virtue signals and doesn’t obey the actual Bible.   Peter commands in 2 Peter 1, add to your faith virtue.  He isn’t saying, add to your faith, virtue signaling.  No.  Those are different.  If you are going to be morally excellent as a practice, you have to do what Paul taught in Philippians 4:8, when he commanded, think on these things, one of which was, “if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.”  Virtue signaling doesn’t effect virtuous thoughts and then actions, just the opposite.