Thursday, October 31st, 2019

Former President Obama made a few headlines recently when he embraced an idea that many have been saying for years: our nation’s “cancel culture” is both destroying people and our nation as a whole. The “cancel culture” is the unrelenting tendency for people online and in real life to bring shame and ruin to anyone who they deem has stepped out of line, or “cancel” them. We have all seen it for years and it has only gotten worse. This tendency is not new to human nature; it is simply a modern day version of stoning someone in the public square. Jesus made a point to speak out against this sort of human behavior because it is a behavior that comes directly from the enemy, not God. In the Book of John, he famously challenged a raucous group of “teachers of the law” about to stone a woman caught in adultery, saying, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” When we are quick to judge others for something we perceive them to have done wrong, we are no better than the “teachers of the law” that Jesus so often was at odds with. Thus, we are at odds with Jesus himself. In a world when grievances are aired more frequently than praises, be the one who speaks love and life in Jesus’ name to those who are being judged in the public square.

“And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” – John 8:7 ESV