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Writer's pictureBible Brian

Can we mock false beliefs?


It can be very difficult to reach out to a world where everyone is offended by everything. On the one hand, you have bigots who accuse you of bigotry, no matter what it is you've actually said. But far worse than a world resistant to any truth, stated in any way, is a world of Christians who will suggest that the truth should be stated in their way.


While the world makes us tread on eggshells, worldly Christians tell us we mustn't so much as crack one. While rightly pointing out that we are called to a higher standard, these Christians set the standard so high, Christ Himself failed to meet it. See, these Christians, knowing full well we live in a world that is naturally offended by the Gospel (1 Corinthians 1:18), insist that if we present it in a non-offensive way, they will be more likely to accept it.


Sadly, this often involves attempting to reach people as if they didn't have to be reached. To criticise a false religion in any way, or to suggest Christ is, you know, the way to Heaven (John 14:6), even to cite the Bible, is seen by Christians as "too judgemental". Thus, the irony is, one of the biggest hindrances to modern outreach efforts is that Christians put more effort into impeding them than helping.


Contrast this to how Christ and His messengers delivered their message. Far too often, if modern Christians watched Jesus, they would tell Him He's not acting like Jesus. Of course, we need not go as far as chasing swindlers out of the temple with a whip (John 2:15). But what about when Christ ran around calling the Pharisees hypocrites (Matthew 15:7), broods of vipers (Matthew 3:7), whitewashed tombs (Matthew 23:27), and many other deep-cutting insults? Jesus was not afraid to use insults to get His point across.


Of course, the point was to get His point across. It wasn't just a petty insult for insult's sake. When people criticised Jesus, He may well have brought up an insult if the person merited it, but His insults always had a point. He would rebuke poor motives and behaviors, He would correct poor hermeneutics, He would point to Scriptures, He wasn't simply running around trying to offend people.


In fact, the insults He used were always relevant to the bad idea He was rebuking. This is what we see throughout Scripture, both in the Old and New Testaments. Take, for example, Elijah's challenge to the prophets of Baal. In 1 Kings 18:27, we read "At noon Elijah mocked them. He said, “Shout loudly, for he’s a god! Maybe he’s thinking it over; maybe he has wandered away; or maybe he’s on the road. Perhaps he’s sleeping and will wake up!"


Elijah did what? Asked them their preferred pronouns? Let them live their truth? Preached the Gospel at all times, if necessary using words? No, at noon, Elijah mocked them. And that mockery can be adequately translated as "perhaps Baal is having a poo". But there is a point to the insult. In this case, "look, Baal is obviously not answering".


Even this is rather tame compared to perhaps the most famous insult in the New Testament. In Galatians 5:12, Paul tells the Galatians, who were being deceived by a group known today as the Judaisers, that he wishes they would castrate themselves. This doesn't even seem to be a corrective insult. It's certainly connected, as circumcision and castration both involve modifications to a certain region of a male's body, but what exactly would be achieved if the Judaisers had read that?


So what, exactly, is so problematic about the Babylon Bee, for example? And is Muhammad's Boom Boom Room really too far? Or how about this: Is it wrong for Bible Brain to simply voice dissent from "Progressive" views? My Christian friends, if you really believe the Bible, it's time to stop being so sensitive, because it's that kind of sensitivity that put Jesus on the cross in the first place. And not only in the sense that the culture was offended by Christ. No, it is an actual sin to impede the Gospel for fear of backlash. In fact, "the cowardly" shall have their part in the lake of fire and brimstone that is the second death (Revelation 21:8). Therefore, by all means, call out hooligans who are being offensive for sake of being offensive, and just using the Gospel as an excuse. But let's stop acting like Christians are supposed to be perpetually happy sunbeams who wouldn't dream of offending a false religion. As Christians, we are supposed to be "casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). That will occasionally require being offensive.

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