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Note: Biblical references are listed at the bottom of this article.
Our fragile society is about to shatter, but the good news
is that it can be fixed and YOU can be the one to fix it. What makes our society so fragile is the
paradox of political correctness, which sounds good in principle, but is really
just a house of cards ready to fall under its own weight. The ultimate end-game
of political correctness is that everyone is offended, and when that happens,
we become divided and our society shatters.
We are so close to that today that it is frightening. Our forefathers said it rightly – United we Stand;
Divided we Fall. By the way, that is
biblical. Jesus once told his disciples
that a house divided against itself must fall.
That is the direction we are headed.
Despite what social media may indicate, the problem in our
society today is not the fact that everyone is a racist, homophobic, xenophobe.
The problem is that we can no longer live with differences of opinion and allow
others the freedom of those differences of opinion. Furthermore, we presume everything that is
said has some form of prejudicial undertone and so rather than giving the
benefit of the doubt and even forgiving unintended grievances, we get offended –
and I want us to see how sinful that really is.
This is going to offend you, but biblically speaking, you
have no right or basis for being offended.
Do I have your attention yet or are you too busy developing your
argument for why it is your right to not be offended and that I have infringed
upon that right? Actually, even
according to our US Constitution, your right to not be offended is not
protected, but I’m not talking about the Constitution, I am talking about the
Bible. But even now you are thinking a “Good
Christian” would not want to offend me.
Maybe, but we are not talking about a “Good Christian” or even a bad
Christian, we are talking about the fact that YOU have been offended and you
have no right to be. More specifically,
we are talking about the social uproar caused because of your offense and the insistence
that the rest of the world conform to your ideal of living in “safety” –
whatever that may mean. Let us be
clear. As a professing following of
Jesus Christ, I have no desire to offend you or anyone else. In fact, I strive to live my life in such a
way as to NOT offend. But the world has
gotten so sensitive lately that the “least common denominator” of all the
things that could potentially offend has gotten so large that the vast majority
of us are living in slavery to the tyranny of the offended. And let’s be honest about this. If Rudolf, Charlie Brown, and “Baby, It’s
Cold Outside” offend you, you might be a snowflake (and yes, I know the term “snowflake”
is offensive). And today even Veggies
Tales is offensive. Come on people, it’s
Veggie Tales.
What is clear from the teaching of Jesus Christ and others
in scripture is that we are to live in consideration of others more than
ourselves. Jesus teaches us to turn the
other cheek and to forgive grievances because God has forgiven us. Paul teaches us to consider others as being
more important than ourselves and to look out for their interests more than our
own. Christianity is about denying one’s
self, taking up our cross, and following Jesus.
And of course, we know that one of the biggest no-nos in scripture is
hypocrisy – that is, saying one thing and doing the opposite.
By definition, being offended violates every principle of
Christianity. It puts one’s own
emotional state above the other person.
It certainly doesn’t turn the cheek. Making a big deal about what
offends you defies the very notion of forgiveness. And since being offended is all about your
feelings, it is founded in selfishness and concern about one’s own good at the
expense of the other person. For years,
physchologists have told us how important our self-image needs to be. As a result, we have become obsessed with eradicating
anything that may be a threat to that fragile image. Rather than considering what is best for the
other person, when you get offended, you have demanded what you desire at the
expense of the other person. Maybe the
other person really intended to be offensive, and that is terrible. It is more
likely, however, that no offense was intended at all. More than likely, you inferred offense where
none existed because of some presumed underlying social bent or a sense of over
protection on your self image. By
definition, that is prejudice – pre-judging the other person – and that is
hypocrisy on your part. In other words,
the very nature of being offended is Anti-Christ at its core.
So what does this mean?
Are we to ignore social injustice? Certainly they exist and need to be addressed. This is true.
There are many social injustices that indeed need to be addressed, but
the real social injustices cannot be properly differentiated from the sound and
fury that simply has no merit. And here
is the beauty of the whole situation. There
is a way to fix this and it can start with you.
We can fix society with just a few shifts in our own
thinking. As you read them, each gets harder to swallow than the one before
because each requires a greater and greater level of self-denial. By the time you get to the last one, you may
even decide I don’t know what I am talking about. However, at the very core of these is the
gospel. Grace and forgiveness – and faith
in Jesus that he has all things in hand. I pray that you will consider all of
them, because we truly can fix society if we consider these – but even if you
can’t go all the way, if you would just adopt one or two of them, our world
will be a better place.
1.
Don’t be on the lookout for an offense. Some people see offense in everything. This is because they are looking for
offense. Trust me. If you want to be offended, you can find
something offensive anywhere you look.
This is because words are powerful and can be twisted to mean almost
anything you want them to mean. If I
say “white is my favorite color and I don’t like brown” I’m pretty sure you can
find offense in that statement – if you are looking for it. But if you are not looking for an offense,
you might see a greater context where I really was just talking about colors. If you are looking for an offense, you are a
hypocrite, because you have already prejudged in your heart that an offense
will happen. Don’t be that way. By the way, my favorite color is actually blue. Don’t tell the grass. They might get
offended.
2.
Give one another the benefit of the doubt. Not everything that sounds racially motivated
or politically or socially offensive was meant to be that way. Sometimes, it is
just the result of a threshold associated with a change in social norm that
some have crossed and others have not.
My grandmother was a great example of this. She was a godly woman and there was not an
ill-intended cell in her body, but I will never forget being shocked by her casual
use of the n-word. At 90+ years of age,
you couldn’t tell her that using that word was socially unacceptable, but I can
assure you she meant no offense in her use of it. To her, it was the same as saying “African
American”. By the way, social norms do
change over time. As I was growing up, the n-word was beginning to be
considered politically incorrect, but was still used regularly. Over time, we
learned to say “black” but now even that is considered offensive by some. At some point, “African American” may become
offensive. Social norms change. We need
to give each other the benefit of the doubt. Not everything is meant to be
demeaning.
3.
Give Grace.
This is the epitome of considering others more important than
yourself. Sometimes things are said that
truly are offensive, but were not said with intended malice. It can’t be avoided at times because we live
in a fallen, broken world. We do have
our own perspectives and backgrounds. Most
of us are not trying to be offensive, even when (at least in your opinion) we
are. The same is true of you and
God. If you really knew how much of what
you do offends a Holy God, you would fall on your knees in terror and
sorrow. But the ocean of God’s grace is
so deep that we will never find its bottom.
He fills our lives with His grace – let us spill that out to others.
4.
Allow for Differences in Opinion. We are very good at allowing differences in
religion, race, and lifestyle, but we are terrible at allowing difference in
thought and opinion. We demand
tolerance, but we don’t see the very irony that very statement creates. The moment we no longer allow people to think
differently is the moment we have become hypocrites. Our insistence on
tolerance is, by definition, intolerant.
Desiring tolerance is admirable.
Demanding it is becoming intolerant yourself. Yes, that person may be a racist, homophobic,
xenophobe, but he has every right to be that way – just as you have every right
to think, live, and believe as you do.
Some beliefs are held very deeply and they may be in conflict with how
you are living your life, but my belief about how you live your life does not
automatically mean I hate you as a person.
It would be wrong for me to impose my beliefs on you, but it is equally
wrong for you to impose yours on me. So
let us agree to disagree, and let’s talk about it civilly. Maybe I can convince
you… or maybe you can convince me. That
is how our forefathers did it.
5.
Forgive. Ok, maybe there really was a bit of
malice intended. We do live in a fallen world and we are all sinful. But we are called to forgive. In fact, we are told if we will not forgive,
we ourselves cannot be forgiven. Jesus
even told us to pray “forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against
us.” It is not easy, but it is biblical. In fact, Jesus essentially told his disciples
that their forgiveness towards others should be without limits. Paul even tells us that Love “keeps no record
of wrong”. It is true that if I forgive,
the other person may never change, but you never know – maybe she will. However, if I bow my back and make her an
enemy, it is certain that she will never change.
6.
Choose to Love.
The bible tells us that love covers over a multitude of sin. Love is the heart of what it means to be a
Christian. Love seeks out the best in people rather than the worst. It works
towards reconciliation. In fact, the more you understand love, the less offended you will become. Yes, it is hard
to love those that do not love you back, but to do so is to behave as God has
behaved. He loved you when you were his
enemy. He sought out your
reconciliation. He took action… For God so loved the world, he gave his only
begotten son…
7.
Turn the other cheek. This may be the most
difficult of all. To turn the other cheek
when we have been intentionally smitten goes beyond our basic human instincts.
But violence only breeds violence. The
bible teaches us that we earn eternal rewards for suffering unjustly. It does not tell us that we will be rewarded
for returning evil for evil. At the end
of the day, it was an act of love – not an act of violence – that made
salvation possible. We have offended an
Almighty God through our sinfulness, but he gave his only son to reconcile
us.
These 7 steps may not seem rational, but if we do not begin
a grass-roots movement to heal our land through grace and forgiveness and the
benefit of the doubt, our society will shatter. We are a house divided against itself right now - and that house will fall if it is not healed.
For those interested in digging deeper, here are some scriptures referenced in this article.
Mark 3:25
Matthew 5:39
Matthew 6:12,14-15
Philippians 2:3-4
Luke 9:23
Matthew 7:5
1 Corinthians 13
John 3:16
Matthew 5:11-12
John 3:16
Matthew 5:11-12
