Standing Up for Truth

Over the past few months, I have noticed several celebrities, ones who also profess to be Christians, make statements about current events and then hastily amend or remove those posts because their words were offensive to others.

I witnessed this scenario play out repeatedly, as well-known actors, singers, politicians, and athletes made uplifting, truth-filled statements, and then, those individuals removed their words, apologizing for the offense taken by some (not all) readers. Sometimes, this retraction occurred after a post that offered condolences over the murder of Charlie Kirk, a message about the return of the bodies of Israelis killed on October 7, 2023, or even a commentary on the outcome of recent elections.

No matter what the situation, each time, the plot was the same: a statement was made; people were offended, the statement was removed, and an apology was issued.

Now, this is not a new cultural phenomenon, for certain, but it does tend to puzzle me when professing Christians back down from speaking the very truths of the Bible. It also makes me wonder who we are most concerned with offending – God or man.

According to a study conducted by Pew Research Center in April 2024, 47% of surveyed adults believed that people often say very offensive things to others. In contrast, 62% of these same respondents also admitted that people are just too easily offended by what others say, and almost one-third (30%) of those polled agreed that taking offense so easily is a major problem in today’s culture.

But is offensive speech truly the problem? Or has America (and the entire world, for that matter) simply lost its fear of offending our holy and righteous God?

A November article by Dr. George Barna, “Churchgoers Exhibit Significant Changes in Political and Religious Beliefs and Lifestyles,” suggests that America’s deepest problem is not so much about finding the right words as it is about finding the right way – the biblical way to life in Christ.

In this timely article, Barna discusses findings from a recent study conducted by Family Research Council in partnership with the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University. Out of the 1,000 regular church attendees that Barna’s team surveyed as part of its annual American Worldview Inventory, 30% of those churchgoers claimed to have a biblical worldview.

Yet, after further questioning, only 11% proved to have a true biblical worldview, while almost half of churchgoers were not sure if they even had a worldview of any type. An extended study of the survey answers also revealed a declining understanding of biblical clarity on cultural hot topics such as homosexuality, transgenderism, and abortion.

Perhaps most disturbing, only 54% of the participants in Barna’s study believed that the Bible is “the true or inspired, error-free Word of God.”

So, if we, as a nation, do not recognize the inerrant and eternal truth of God’s Word, then it is no wonder we are most worried about what others say and how those words please us or offend us. But this modern-day ignorance of the Bible is not and will never be a viable excuse for self-idolatry.

In fact, our current lack of reverence for His Word, contrasted by our ever-growing, high regard for our own words, is a definite and troubling sign of the times – perhaps, even the end of time:

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myth (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

So … what is sound biblical doctrine on the issue of offensive words?

Well, James 1:19 does warn that we should be “quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.” We are also warned in Proverbs 18:19 that “A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city, and contentions are like the bars of a citadel.”

But read the next two verses in Proverbs (20-21) to understand that we always have a choice to make when we speak – words of life or words of death:

     With the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach will be satisfied;
     He will be satisfied with the product of his lips.
     Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
     And those who love it will eat its fruit.

And the only real words of life are His words, for as 1 John 1 teaches us, Jesus, the Son of God, is the Word of Life.

So, the next time we feel led to share some words with others, aloud, in a social media post, or even within a blog, we would be wise to make sure that we are sharing His truth (His words of life) in love.

Then, once we do share, we must remember that “the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

This means that we are not in control of the response to His powerful, piercing, living word. His words may indeed offend as they cut to the heart of the matter. And that offense might cause hearers of His words to retaliate with hate and vitriol.

In that case, it’s up to us as Bible-believing Christians not to pick up our own offense over words spoken to us or about us, out of someone’s offense to the gospel of Jesus Christ. If God calls us to speak His truth, we must speak it in love and then stand on the rock-solid truth of that life-giving word. We cannot back down, back up, or apologize for speaking His words. Wouldn’t our sinful disobedience to not speak be offensive to our righteous and holy God?

Instead, Colossians 3 reminds us that we are to die to our own earthly desires (such as being accepted and loved by man) and hide ourselves in Christ, lest His holy wrath find us living as “sons of disobedience.”

And the only words that would be more offensive to us than those three words would be, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41b).

So, as Ephesians 6 instructs us, let’s armor up, my brothers and sisters, and then, let us open our mouths and use His words “to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,” so that we can point our easily offended fellow Americans straight to the cross of Jesus Christ.

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