Christians Have Been Practicing ‘Cancel Culture’ for a Long Time

Bible-believing, theologically conservative Christians living today in the United States rightly complain about the intolerance we increasingly face in society. If you are a Christian who strives to genuinely follow Christ and who takes the Bible seriously, your views are no longer in the mainstream — not in the USA of the 21st century.

As a result, there is tremendous pushback our way. And smug contempt from our detractors and critics.

Some Christians respond to this by simply waving their hand and saying, “It’s what the Bible says will happen in the last days. Come, Jesus, come!” That is technically correct but it’s also a tad brazen and quite insensitive to those impacted by such realities. We should have more compassion and care for one another, and we should be more vigilant in standing up to persecution. But that’s for another article.

For now, I write to those who do care and who want to do what they can to hold back the tide of anti-Christian hostility and persecution. I write to those who look fondly back on the days when Bible-believing Christians were welcome (or at least tolerated) in academia, the marketplace, the boardroom, and polite social circles.

If that describes you, then to you I say…

We Christians have been practicing our own brand of intolerance and (to use the modern buzzword) “cancel culture” for years. And we continue to do so.

If we want the world to treat us with more tolerance, we should set a better example.

Think about how Christians treat one another when we disagree. Just think about it.

Check out X (formerly Twitter) and look at how self-described Christians handle matters of difference or disagreement. That is if you don’t mind getting depressed.

Lest I be misunderstood, I’m not saying that all differences between self-described Christians can be casually dismissed or swept under the carpet. The Bible is clear that the church must be vigilant against false prophets and dangerous doctrines:

• “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” (Matthew 7:15-16)
• “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” (Romans 16:17-18)
• “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.” (2 Peter 2:1-3)
• “For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.” (Titus 1:10-11)
• “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.” (2 John 1:10-11)
• “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:8-9)

False prophets and false teachings are bad. The Bible is abundantly clear on that.

The “catch” is…

The above verses don’t abrogate or cancel out the following verses:

• “Charity suffereth long, and is kind…” (I Corinthians 13:4a)
• “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” (James 1:19-20)
• “He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.” (Proverbs 18:13)
• “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.” (James 3:17-18)
• “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” (Colossians 3:12-14)
• “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:1-3)
• “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:29-32)

So, here’s the deal…

You can’t just focus on the top list of Bible verses and ignore the second list. It doesn’t work that way!

You have to obey ALL these Bible verses. All of them.

Jesus doesn’t want angry, judgmental, unforgiving, graceless watchdogs for His church. He wants humble, loving, kind, gracious, wise, mature, growing, discerning, and strong sheep (and shepherds) for His church.

Indeed, the more I read the Bible, the more I realize that our default setting should be humility, love, and wisdom. We should listen more and judge less. That includes when we are faced with people with whom we disagree.

But what about the false teachers?

First, make sure you are in the Bible, so you know what teaching is false. If you’re not in the Scriptures, you’re vulnerable to deception. So, get out your Bible– and read it regularly. Read it. Study it. Obey it.

Then, go to a church that loves Jesus, and preaches and teaches the Bible. Look at the church’s Statement of Faith. Make sure it is biblically sound. Meet with the pastor. If it’s a big church, meet with one of the pastors. Ask questions. Be discerning.

When it comes to influencers — preachers and Bible teachers who have large followings — exercise discernment. If you go to a Bible-believing church, ask your pastor about them. There are some influencers I listen to and some I do not.

In all cases… whether we’re talking about a sermon, a small group Bible study, a YouTube video, podcast, or whatever… do as the Bereans did. Search the Scriptures to make sure that what you’re hearing is from the Lord (see Acts 17:11).

If false teaching tries to come into your church, that’s when you need to really pay attention to that first list of Bible passages. Otherwise, just don’t listen to them. Guarding against false teaching, however, doesn’t let you off the hook when it comes to practicing love, humility, patience, and wisdom. Indeed, it makes those virtues more crucial.

Remember that Jesus ate with sinners. And when He ate with them, He didn’t just stare at them with an angry scowl. He listened to them and talked with them.

Paul went into the synagogues and public assembly spaces and reasoned with the people during his missionary journeys.

And how many times are we told in the Book of Proverbs to listen and to grow in knowledge?

I could go on.

If you want to start “canceling” things, start with your own life — and cancel out any pride along with “bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking,” and any “malice” (see Ephesians 4:29).

The more of us who cancel those things out of our lives, the healthier we will be – and the healthier God’s church will be. I don’t want to be known as an angry, stubborn, opinionated person who refuses to listen to others. I want to be like Jesus. Obviously, I have a lot of work to do in that regard. A lot!

But doing things His way is a good place to start.

For more on this topic, check out…

• “A Call for Theological Triage and Christian Maturity” by Dr. Albert Mohler, Jr.
• “Beware of Christian Legalism”