Social media does not provide a healthy setting for Christian debate on controversial ­issues. It’s too easy for users to sound off with hurtful words over people’s interpretations of Scrip­ture, judging them to be dead wrong or even devil-led.

Imagine such an online debate between people who believed in Christ’s resurrection and those who considered it fake news. Thankfully, the calm, respectful discussion we find on the road to Emmaus invites a genuine discovery of the truth. Where these two gathered, Jesus showed up and was there with them (see Matthew 18:20; 28:20).

God designed that his people would live, learn, and grow together in community. None of us has perfect knowledge of God’s Word, but we gain insight by studying it with ­others. “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17).

I have participated in many small groups in which we studied the Bible, which is “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16), and applied it to life situations. As a pastor, I do not have all of the answers, but I have found that when we communally seek to know him better, Jesus joins us and we sense his presence.

As Christ-followers, we can scare people away with our insistence on being right, or we can attract people with our invitation to walk and learn together with Jesus as our guide.