Hate Speech And The Christian

A couple things seem clear for Christians. First, hate speech is not right for someone following Jesus Christ. I just heard earlier today from a black pastor who said in his younger days when he lived in Atlanta he was not allowed to attend a white church. The church actually split over the decision, and the whole experience affected his understanding of race relations and reconciliation. I’m referring to Dr. Tony Evans who spoke on race relations at the height of the BLM protests and riots. He’s also written a book on the subject. Here’s part of the description:

Oneness is hard achieve. Let the kingdom unity of Scripture point the way.

Today’s world is torn apart. Tension is everywhere. Brother is pitted against brother, sister against sister, citizen against citizen, even Christian against Christian. It’s so hard to find agreement—much less real harmony—in our polarized society. Can there be a way forward?

Tony Evans knows how elusive unity can be. As a black man who’s also a leader in white evangelicalism, he understands how hard it can be to bring these worlds together. Yet he’s convinced that the gospel provides a way for Christians to find oneness despite the things that divide us.

If you’ve never heard him speak, here’s a video I chose randomly. He’s Biblical.

All that to say, Christians of many races believe in the unity of believers that crosses racial and ethnic lines. Christians around the world understand that hate speech is against God’s plan. I mean, if a person believes the Bible, he’ll see right there in 1 John 4:21:

If someone says, “I love God,” and yet he hates his brother or sister, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother and sister whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

The second thing that should be clear is that we believers will soon become the target of those who accuse of hate speech, with the accusations will come the whole cancel culture pressure.

Why do I think this? If Christians are not to engage in hate speech, how is it that we will be accused of it?

We’ve already seen this. In a recent election, Christian business owners who supported voting for a heterosexual definition of marriage, were boycotted, and some were harassed. Since then, the concept of “hate speech” has only grown.

As long as Christians teach what the Bible does—that God created us in His image, but sin entered the world and marred His good creation; ever since, every human alive struggles with a sin nature that only Christ can take care of—we will be the target of hate speech. People who are deceiving themselves don’t like to be told they are sinners in need of a Savior. I even had one atheist who used to visit here some years ago, tell me that teaching children that they are sinners is akin to child abuse.

It’s not. It’s actually the most loving thing a person can do, on the par with a doctor telling a patient that he has cancer, but that there is a treatment that has 100% success rate. That doctor would be accused of malpractice if he “loved” his patient so much he didn’t want to give him the bad news about the cancer.

In the same way, Christians show our love for the broken and dying world by telling them the good news—which, of course, follows the bad news of our condition.

In reality, broken people know they are broken. They might not want to admit it. They may dress up their circumstances to look a if they are not broken, but they aren’t fooling anyone else. Just themselves. Their spouse, their kids, their boss, their fellow employees, even their good friends know the flaws and foibles. Because we try so desperately to hide our sin condition, someone needs to tell us the truth.

I just heard a program by Focus on the Family today which featured two guests who were both formerly in the transgender lifestyle. One man who had presented as a woman. One woman who had presented as a man. The woman said she finally came to understand her need to leave that life when, as a Christian seeking God, she read Psalm 139. Here are the pertinent verses:

For You created my innermost parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks to You, because I am awesomely and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully formed in the depths of the earth;

She asked herself then, What have I done?

Praise God she and the male guest both “came to their senses,” much like the prodigal son in the Biblical parable, and returned to the life God had intended for them.

But how long will Christians be allowed to say things like God heals the broken gender-confused individual? We are on a course in which that statement will soon be considered hate speech.

The main thing, I think, is for Christians to do what Daniel did: when confronted with compromise, he made up his mind to do things God’s way. We today must make up our mind, and the sooner, the better. Are we going to continue preaching what the Bible says, or are we going to bow to the culture? Many Christians have already decided to follow the culture when it comes to child rearing. Many follow the culture in the matter of woman pastors. Where is our line in the sand, that point where we say, as the apostles said, We ought to obey God rather than man? At that point, we will likely be accused of hate speech.

Blessings

When I was a young adult, I hated the word “blessing,” especially in a song like “There Shall Be Showers of Blessing.” It seemed like an empty word, along the line of “nice.” I wanted meatier words. Something that said something weighty.

I’ve changed my tune since then. I do so often feel blessed, and it isn’t because God has been nice to me. It’s more. It has the idea of His hedge around me, His protection, provision. Like He’s watching out for me, there to catch me when I fall. There to pick me up and patch up my skinned elbows and knees. There to perform surgery on my heart whenever I need it.

Above all, He’s with me. He comforts, encourages, prods, instructs. I could go on, but what I learned today about blessings is something beyond the definition. I heard a radio sermon by Pastor Tony Evans entitled, “Why God Wants to Bless Us.”

His point was kind of revolutionary, I think. At least it had an impact on me. God wants to bless us, not just because He loves to give good gifts. He wants to bless us so that we in turn can be a blessing. In other words, He gives in order that we might give. He doesn’t give so that we can use up His gift on ourselves.

The first example Dr. Evans gave was of Abraham. God blessed him, no doubt, giving him a son in his old age. In fact, giving him many sons after his first wife Sarah died. God gave him long life and much wealth. But above all those material things, He gave him a promise. In him—that is, through his descendants—many nations would come into being, and they would also be blessed.

At this point, God flipped the script. The blessing He was talking about wasn’t just temporal. This blessing was for everyone and it was eternal.

Not just Abraham’s kids and his kids’ kids, on down the line, would receive God’s blessing. This blessing was for the nations. Galatians 3 spells it out:

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”—in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

The blessing, given to Abraham, received in Christ by all who believe, even us Gentiles.

Time and time, that’s the way God works. He gives so that we may give. Think about the young guy, a teen perhaps, or younger, who gave Jesus the food he’d planned on eating that day he followed the crowds to hear Him teach. When the disciples went among the people asking if anyone had some food, the text implies the boy gave them his few fish and loaves of bread.

But the disciples didn’t accept that small blessing and start chowing down. They in turn gave the food to Jesus who turned it into a blessing for 5000 other men, plus an unnumbered group of women and children.

Of course, Christ Himself is the greatest example of this “pay it forward” approach to blessing. He came to the people in the first century, teaching and healing. He was a great blessing to many. But He turned His time on earth into much more because He gave Himself as a ransom for us all.

I think, too, of the Philippians, giving generously to the Apostle Paul to meet his needs, so that he in turn could bless many, many others through his preaching and writing. Those Philippian believers had no idea the blessing that would come from their gift to generations.

There are a lot of other examples—the Israelites, giving their gold and jewelry coming out of Egypt so they could build a tabernacle. Each giving, all receiving a blessing as a result—a blessing that lasts in the pages of Scripture.

This “receive God’s blessing so that you can give a blessing to others” seems to be God’s modus operandi. I don’t know why, but He seems to delight in involving us in His work. He could rain manna from heaven any day He wanted, but that particular way of providing for a needy people, hasn’t been repeated. But people blessed abundantly with the necessities of life—those folk—God nudges and instructs and leads by His Holy Spirit, to feed the poor and the needy. He does that throughout time and in all kinds of places.

Why? Why would He choose to involve us in His work?

I think Paul gave us one reason at least—He does it so that we might receive a blessing.

Say, what?

It’s true. When we give the blessing away, not only do others bask in God’s provision, but we receive, too. Paul spoke of it as “profit.”

Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. (Phil. 4:17)

Christ, again is a great example. Scripture says that He endured the cross for the “joy set before Him.” Yes, He gave, but as a result, He has the joy of seeing His banqueting table fill up.

It’s a continuing cycle, sort of like the water cycle, but I suspect this one is eternal.