How Hyperbole Erodes Our Spiritual Discernment

n the 20th century, G. K. Chesterton, a well – known journalist and author, was perhaps a master of hyperbole. There’s a story that he once said, “The whole modern world has divided itself into conservatives and progressives. The business of progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the conservatives is to prevent the mistakes being corrected.” With this statement, Chesterton humorously criticized both progressives and conservatives at the same time.

Hyperbole and exaggeration can be powerful rhetorical tools. They can capture our attention and help us notice things we might have missed before. However, they can also be misused to deceive. I’m becoming more and more worried that our excessive, hyperbolic exchanges—both in person and especially online—are making us less aware of real spiritual dangers.

Jesus’ Use of Hyperbole

Jesus effectively used hyperbole when warning about the perils of sexual sin, telling us to take drastic measures against it.
He said, “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” (Matt. 5:29–30 CSB)
Obviously, gouging out an eye and cutting off a hand are extreme exaggerations. But they shock us into realizing that tolerating sexual sin can have dire consequences.
Jesus used hyperbole to jolt us out of spiritual laziness. However, we sometimes use hyperbole to excuse our sin. For example, before the Israelites entered the land of Canaan, ten out of the twelve men who scouted the land exaggerated the danger to justify their lack of faith.
They gave a negative report, saying, “The land we passed through to explore is one that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of great size. We even saw the Nephilim there—the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim! To ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and we must have seemed the same to them.” (Num. 13:32–33 CSB)
They complained that they couldn’t win the battle because they were like grasshoppers against giants. They overstated their weakness and blamed God for making them seem like victims.

The Allure of Heated Rhetoric

We live in a time filled with a chaos of voices. To be heard, we often feel the need to exaggerate. It’s tempting to use hyperbole to emphasize our concerns. We try to grab others’ attention through dramatic language, sometimes overstating our case. And in the process, good and righteous people may end up being wrongly accused.
Look at how Moses and Aaron’s opponents attacked them. “They came together against Moses and Aaron and told them, ‘You have gone too far! Everyone in the entire community is holy, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the LORD’s assembly?’” (Num. 16:3 CSB)
We can picture how these words roused the people’s anger. They might have thought, “Yes! Who do Moses and Aaron think they are? Why do they think they’re better than us? How dare they order us around?” But we know these attacks were unfounded. Moses was actually a very humble person (Num. 12:3). He and Aaron were following God’s will, not trying to exalt themselves.
Over the years, I’ve come across many examples of hyperbole. For instance, if someone gives any importance to good works, it’s dismissed as a new and wrong perspective. Any concern for true holiness is labeled as fundamentalist. Mentioning racism is wrongly called Critical Race Theory, and any limitations on women in ministry are wrongly attributed to patriarchy.

Becoming Numb to Real Dangers

False teaching is always a threat. Paul warned that false teachers could even emerge from among elders, overseers, and pastors (Acts 20:29–31). So, it’s necessary to criticize those who spread false ideas. We can think of Jesus’ strong condemnation of the Pharisees and scribes in Matthew 23, and the denunciations of false teachers in 2 Peter 2 and Jude.
We shouldn’t avoid criticizing others just because some people use rhetoric manipulatively. We need to be able to tell right from wrong and be committed to the Scriptures and the orthodox faith. We should call out those who stray from it.
However, we can also misuse hyperbole and exaggeration. We might draw lines where there’s no need, or wrongly accuse people of false teaching when they actually hold orthodox beliefs. It’s easy to claim that something is the most important issue of our time, but how do we really know?
We especially need to be careful about questioning others’ orthodoxy. There are false teachers, but if we’re going to label someone as unorthodox or a false teacher, we’d better be sure. Otherwise, we might be lying about them and slandering someone who hasn’t strayed from the gospel.
Today, there’s a temptation to use rhetoric and hyperbole to get more “likes” and draw attention to an issue. When we do this, we exaggerate the problem and get people more worked up than is reasonable. We might even start to believe our over – the – top statements are right just because many people agree with us.
In our polarized society, the praise we get for being part of a controversy can make us even more hyperbolic. It’s exciting to be in the middle of a debate, and it can make us forget the boredom of our ordinary lives.
We must always be on the lookout for the truth of the gospel. But overheated rhetoric and aggressive online comments can make us insensitive when a real heresy appears. We might get so used to hyperbolic accusations that when someone raises a real concern, we’ll just think, “Here we go again. Another baseless claim from those trying to start trouble.”
Then, when real false teachers come along, we might be too tired or too lacking in discernment to recognize the danger. Hyperbole and exaggeration can be useful rhetorical devices, but if used carelessly, they can cause division and harm people’s reputations.

A Call for Moderation

We should definitely stay passionate about the truth and use rhetoric and hyperbole when it’s appropriate.
But we also need to tone down our language. We shouldn’t attack others with excessive rhetoric and hyperbole that we’ll regret on the last day.