How should Christians respond to cancel culture? | GotQuestions.org

Today's question is, how should Christians respond to cancel culture? In this video

I'll answer that question from a biblical perspective. Then afterwards, as always, I'll share some helpful resources, so stick around until the end.

Cancel culture is the modern social attitude that controversial speech or behavior must be punished through public shaming, silencing, boycotting, firing, bankrupting, deplatforming, etc.

The result is that the offender's influence, presence, and or reputation is cancelled out.

It's proper for whistleblowers to reveal corruption and illegality, or for abused women to come forward, confront their abuser, and make sure he is held accountable.

But cancel culture goes far beyond that, setting out new rules to retaliate against speech, behavior, or even thought that has been prejudged as offensive or even simply controversial.

In cancel culture, people can be ostracized, their reputation smeared, and their careers ruined although they have broken no laws or engaged in any malicious behavior.

Cancel culture is the outgrowth of two other equally dangerous things, political correctness and postmodernism.

Political correctness is the attempt to minimize social and institutional offense through policing and therefore thought, enforcing the use of certain words and banning other words.

Postmodernism asserts that all truth claims are subjective. Truth becomes a matter of preference, and tolerance is promoted as a supreme value.

However, the more tolerant a culture becomes, the more intolerant it is of anyone it perceives as intolerant.

People deemed intolerant or potentially giving offense must be silenced, and cancel culture is the result.

Cancel culture is associated with several problems that can be addressed biblically. First, cancel culture is rash.

There is little concern for due process, and in its place are immediate outrage and snap judgments.

Fueling the controversy is partial, often biased, information. The Bible commands, "...give careful thought to the paths for your feet..."

Proverbs 4, verse 26, and "...we are to live sensibly..." Titus 2, verse 12.

Irrational thinking and the mob mentality have no place in a Christian's life. Second, cancel culture is spiteful.

The vitriolic contempt coming from the cancel crowd is often shockingly ugly. Selecting a person for cancelization seems to be tantamount to declaring that person worthy of hate, and with that comes permission to slander him or her.

In contrast to promoting the malice of the cancel culture, Jesus commands us to love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Luke 6, verse 27 -28. Our speech should be gracious and attractive.

Colossians 4, verse 6. Vicious, obscene, or hate -filled speech has no place in the

Christian's life. Third, cancel culture is judgmental. The self -appointed enforcers of acceptable speech have gone to great lengths to dig up material over which to cancel others.

People have lost their jobs over articles written three decades ago, jokes told in one's youth, classic literature read aloud, and opposite editorials published.

There is no room for nonconformity or free speech. If the language police were judged by their own severe standards, how many of them would remain uncanceled?

Scripture warns against hypocritical, self -righteous judging in Matthew 7, verse 1. Hypocrisy or a fault -finding, hypocritical spirit has no place in the

Christian's life. And fourth, cancel culture is unforgiving. Past instances of inappropriate or hurtful speech or actions, no matter how long ago, are not to be forgiven in cancel culture.

Once a person is canceled, there is no way to restore that person to the good graces of society.

There is no grace. There is no chance of redemption. Rehabilitation and restoration are not the goal, and neither is learning from one's mistakes.

The goal is to smear, defame, and malign. The Bible points to repentance and commands us to forgive one another.

Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the

Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Colossians 3, verse 13.

An unforgiving, loveless attitude has no place in the Christian's life. In the midst of cancel culture, we must use our words wisely.

Believers are to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.

1 Timothy 6, verse 11. We are to speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ.

Ephesians 4, verse 15. And we must continue to reject hatred and love others, even our enemies.

1 John 4, verse 7. Cancel culture views people with whom a plurality of people disagree as unredeemable and worthy of spite.

Christian culture sees no one as unredeemable. Repentance and change are always possible, and forgiveness is available.

Christian culture sees no one as an object of spite. God's love is always available.

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