Always Being Offended is Lame

It's No Substitute for Discernment

Maybe this post is inspired by the reactions to the Barbie movie. Maybe it’s not. But whatever is going on in the world today is met with sighing and groaning from the section in the audience akin to Statler and Waldorf who never had a positive thing to say about the Muppets’ productions.

They lived to be disagreeable.

All I hear the entire day long is bitching about this and that, all evidence of the world going to hell. And while this may not be the most eloquent post to that end, the prolific fault-finding and nitpicking is not exactly high-brow.

I recall a certain character from Saturday Night Live in the 80s. One Church Lady played by Dana Carvey. And when I was little, I didn’t know what it meant, but I do now. Oh, how I wish I didn’t.

When we become known for how we disapprove of this or that, is that really what Jesus wanted? Was that the call of the preacher or the prophet of the people?

It is often confused for the actual purpose of such watchers on the wall.

Think of the book of Acts. All manner of things were going on in the temples of false gods to the extent that people had to determine whether to purchase reduced price meat at the market that likely may have been used as sacrifices.

Those who were actively engaged in opposing the apostles were of their concern. The others, not so much. Paul took time to work through challenges to the spreading of the gospel. This is a different thing than railing against each and every thing occurring in the greater culture.

What a tire to be around.

Seriously.

I get to where I can’t stand it.

I can’t imagine how others view it.

Paul was speaking the word of God into a society that he would have to have assumed were not followers of Christ. I mean, otherwise, what would have been the point? He wasn’t preaching to the choir.

He knew that Jesus said we were to be in the world but not of the world. What exactly is the point of finger-wagging at people in attempts to get them to follow Jesus? Or is that not exactly the goal.

I don’t think it is.

I actually believe that reacting with offense to literally everything is meant to drive people away, to keep them safely in their camp over there away from us. Who even is us? And what are we espousing?

A set of viewpoints, but who determines if it’s right? So much lies in the realm of preference, something that, interestingly enough, is not even protected in our US Constitution. Convictions, however, are.

And there is a plethora of media for the offended to be mad at. A never-ending stream of rage bait. I hesitate to even write this piece lest it be found to be similar to that which I describe.

It is actually a call to peace. A plea to stop with the insanity. To just go on and live your life and to enjoy it.

And what is the opposite of this? Discernment. It is when you recognize something that is not fit for partaking. But things can be broken down further into categories that are for everyone or just for you.

It might indeed be wrong for certain activities to be happening, regardless of who is participating. Other things, may be off limits just to Christians. And others, still, just to you.

And there is the topic of Christian liberty. What might be edifying for another may be prohibited to someone else. And, of course, there is the issue of not being a stumbling block to our brothers and sisters.

But that is not what is happening here.

Many of today’s discussions for outrage have to do with identity politics and use coded language and dog whistles that are deeply outrageous positions for professed children of God to hold.

Much less for them to claim offense as if they are the wounded party.

It is dishonest, and so many see right through it. It is a sign of being unwelcomed.

But discernment is a result of being in alignment with God, and taking offense is no substitute. It is a pale imitation and seeks to cloak itself with the real thing.

Actually, this behavior is nothing new. In the desert, among the Israelites, Miriam did not like details about Moses’ wife. Grumbling about Jesus, unfortunately, was common. He should rebuke His disciples for picking corn on the Sabbath! They didn’t wash their hands! Why doesn’t he know that woman is a sinner??

He said, “blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me”. And yet, many were. In fact, when He told them they had no life in them except that they eat His flesh and drink His blood, almost everyone turned away.

This was after His triumphant feeding of the multitude with the fish and the loaves miracle. He stunned them to the degree that they wanted to make Him king on the spot, and the next day, they were searching and looking after Him.

He did not follow this up by trying to make them happy, filling them up with more food. In fact, He did the opposite. He taught a hard saying. Many of His disciples turned back and walked no more with Him.

Jesus asked of Peter, what about you? Will you also leave? He replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.”

Discernment is a beautiful knowing, a separating of good and bad and good from what is best. It is knowing that all things are permissible but not necessarily beneficial.

Lot lived in the land of Ur, and there was great outcry against the inhabitants of the land. God listened and was incensed against the people for their actions. When the flavor of the week is predictably targeted for anger, it causes no response from up above.

Why would it?

Did Jesus comply when they wished to make Him their King? Did He come down on either side of a political dispute? He taught the parable of the Good Samaritan and said that harlots and publicans entered the kingdom of God before the high and mighty.

There was no list of movies that the sinners had watched that made them fit for heaven or that we must cover our eyes and put our fingers in our ears. There wasn’t a banned books list.

Shield your little ones by all means. That’s not what I’m saying.

It’s that we aren’t known for the one thing Jesus said we ought to be. And that’s our love. That we don’t treat the least of these as worth saving or acknowledging, because they offend us so.

And in being so easily offended, we offend them.

I was in the world of Christian publishing proper for a hot minute but have been adjacent to it and immersed in it in other ways for years. And one thing I have always noticed is how stringent the categories must be for literature to be considered suitable for Christians.

I am in readers’ groups, too.

And as a writer, it is plain exhausting. I would never want to write for nor participate in this culture. There is too much that grieves my heart.

Apparently, everything falls outside the scope of Christian writing. It must be tasteful to a degree that means real life can not intrude inside the bubble.

Like a petulant child, the expectant reader sits in the corner, folding her arms, pouting, easily put off by language, situational components, perceived flaws in the redemptive arc, or some failure to meet standards in a thousand other ways.

I know that when I put out a post, I will lose readers. Every single time. Whether on Facebook or here or on any other medium. I can read the complaint mail, and it never ceases to surprise me where and on what points I suck.

I’m too progressive. I’m not progressive enough. I cuss. I bellyache over cussing too much. I have been accused of being racist. Insensitive. Hating the church. Not doing the Lord’s work. Usurping because I would dare to preach. I don’t love women who have had abortions. I’m obviously pro-choice. And too much else to mention.

I recall being the angry 5-year old at a party, upset because I didn’t get a cake. It embarrasses me to think about it now. It wasn’t my special day; it wasn’t my occasion. Having a cake made no sense. And they bought me one anyway. And then I was mad, because it had no decorations on it like the main pastry. So dumb. But they improvised all the same.

Don’t be that way. We’re all adults. The world does not cater to us, and if it did, would that not make us of the world? We are not doing this for Jesus but for self, to rile everybody up and get attention and to be at the center of something. The larger the cause of our vitriol, the bigger we, for a moment, get to be.

It’s riding on someone else’s coat tails. And it makes us someone no one else wants to be around. It’s like Clint Eastwood’s character in Gran Torino yelling at kids to get off his lawn. A bumper sticker for Jesus? Not exactly.

And the cycle goes on and on and on. Nothing ever suits us or will ever satisfy us. Pretty soon, people don’t listen anymore. They don’t care what we have to say. More railing about the kids these days.

And the wheels keep turning without us.

We become obsolete.

Instead of driving conversations and discussions based on a living relationship dispensing new wine, we are stuck in ways and customs of the past, an old record repeating into the atmosphere, sound waves barely cohesive.

This is how we get left behind.

And not in the Tim LaHaye way.

In the Grandpa Simpson kind of way.

Don’t be that.

It’s lame.

And on that note — don’t be offended at this post, either.

xoxo

Rosa

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About the Author

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Rosa A. Hopkins has hosted radio shows on 11 Christian stations, is a writer of gospel songs, has promoted Heartbeat legislation, and is a singer and songwriter. Her writings can also be found on her Facebook page. Join 29,000 other readers here.