If you spend any time watching reels online, you have undoubtedly seen someone acting out a fake debate. They will place the camera to record them asking a question, then turn the camera, and the same person, often dressed differently, will respond to the question. It will go back and forth, as this person poses as someone very thoughtful who can easily destroy another person’s viewpoint.

The other day I was scrolling through Instagram, and one of these came up, and the viewpoint he caricatured was one I held. This thoughtful person would ask a question and then give his response, which was supposed to represent my view.

What bothered me to my core was that every answer he gave that I was supposed to agree with based on my theology was absolutely not a response I would give. He ignored scriptures, avoided hard questions about his view, and made my take look stupid. After watching for a couple of minutes, I was furious.

I started to write a scathing comment, and then I asked myself, “How many times have I done the same thing?” How often have I, in conversations, teaching, and even preaching, represented someone’s views as shallow and unbiblical?

Then this thought went through my head: “Why didn’t he just interview a real person who holds that belief?”

Real conversations are hard. We might hear something that challenges our thinking, makes our opponent appear smarter than we want to admit, and maybe prompts us to ask questions that go beyond surface-level faith. Often, real conversation will reveal that the people we caricature have deeply held beliefs and a genuine faith we don’t want to accept.

As a Christian, I am going to ask you to avoid videos like these and to engage in real conversations. Talk to people about what they truly believe while treating them with dignity and respect.

Jesus asked a lot of questions and gave people room to talk, and that should be a model for our faith, not our current culture of oversimplifying other people’s beliefs. We need more honest interaction and fewer videos with fake debates.