#500 Uncomplicated Series# 4, Cancel Culture

Uncomplicated Series# 4, Cancel Culture
By: D. Karl Thomas

Restaurant Reviews – 2018 Eater.com
“There’s V for Vegan. There’s GF for Gluten Free. There’s DF for Dairy Free. I think they’re missing a few. There should be TF for Taste Free and JF for Joy Free and AAHYWEH for Abandon All Hope, Ye Who
Enter Here.”

“The sprinkling of gold flakes lent a top note of *#^%&#@. And that was the good part. The skin had an off-putting tang and a rancid flavor, which seeped into the dried-out meat and left a greasy feeling on the roof of my mouth that, like the demonic clown from It, could not be destroyed.”

“The initial flavor was bland, quickly followed by a fetid, ammonia-like tang. It was an aroma that recalled room-temperature hamburger meat from a grocer that lost power. I felt my eyes water up as I chewed. I tried to swallow. I felt my entire GI tract prepare to purge.”

For beauty and clarity to be revealed you need context.    Example: Diamond in setting.
The Family of God is the context where the Nature and Kingdom of God are best displayed. 

Titus 3:10-11 (TPT) “After a first and second warning, have nothing more to do with a divisive person who refuses to be corrected. For you know that such a one is entwined with his sin and stands self-condemned.”

Titus 3:8-11 (The Message) “I want you to put your foot down. Take a firm stand on these matters so that those who have put their trust in God will concentrate on the essentials that are good for everyone. Stay away from mindless, pointless quarreling over genealogies and fine print in the law code. That gets you nowhere. Warn a quarrelsome person once or twice, but then be done with him. It’s obvious that such a person is out of line, rebellious against God. By persisting in divisiveness he cuts himself off.”

Saul wanted to cancel David. — Leaders wanted to cancel Daniel. — Brothers wanted to cancel Joseph.
Jonah wanted to cancel Nineveh. — Judaizers wanted to cancel Paul.  — Pharisees wanted to cancel Jesus.
Church wanted to cancel Martin Luther.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2021)

Cancel Culture:— the practice or tendency of engaging in mass canceling as a way of expressing disapproval and exerting social pressure.    (First Use 2017)

Urban Dictionary — August 29, 2019
Cancel Culture:— A modern internet phenomenon where a person is ejected from influence or fame by questionable actions. It is caused by a critical mass of people who are quick to judge and slow to question. It is commonly caused by an accusation, whether that accusation has merit or not. It is a direct result of the ignorance of people caused communication technologies outpacing the growth in available knowledge of a person.

Bill Maher on Cancel Culture: “And this muddying the waters is unfortunate because cancel culture is real. It’s insane. And it’s growing exponentially. And it’s coming to a neighborhood near you.”

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because this who mind dob’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” Dr Suess

During the second world war, Seuss published anti-Japanese cartoons and vocally supported the establishment of concentration camps for Japanese-Americans. Years later he sought to apologize for his actions and wrote the book Horton Hears a Who! to reflect his changed views. The books that will cease publication are nowhere near his most popular works, and it is doubtful most Americans have even heard of them. Those books will not be burned; they were not forced to be removed by a horde of liberals; and the rest of his catalogue will remain untouched.

Mr. Potato Head. Why is Mr. Potato Head the perfect husband?
He’s tan, he’s cute, he knows how to accessorize, and if he looks at another woman, you can rearrange his face.

Consequences and being held accountable for irresponsible behaviour is not cancel culture.
Carl Lentz and Ravi Zacarius …   Preachers must be held to higher standard … Bible says so! 

Galatians 6:1-5 (AMP) “Brethren, if any person is overtaken in misconduct or sin of any sort, you who are spiritual [who are responsive to and controlled by the Spirit] should set him right and restore and reinstate him, without any sense of superiority and with all gentleness,…”

“overtaken” (prolambanō) :— to take by surprise; be taken unexpectedly.
“trespass” (paraptōma) :— a stumbling aside, a false step.
“spiritual” (pneumatikos) :— of persons, gifted with a spiritual frame of mind, spiritually affected.
“restore” (katartizō) to restore to a forfeited condition, to reinstate.

“… keeping an attentive eye on yourself, lest you should be tempted also. Bear (endure, carry) one another’s burdens and [troublesome moral faults, and in this way fulfill and observe perfectly the law of Christ…”

John 13:34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you,…”
“…(the Messiah) and complete what is lacking [in your obedience to it]. For if any person thinks himself to be somebody [too important to condescend to shoulder another’s load] when he is nobody [of superiority except in his own estimation], he deceives and deludes and cheats himself. But let every person carefully scrutinize and examine and test his own conduct and his own work. He can then have the personal satisfaction and joy of doing something commendable [in itself alone] without [resorting to] boastful comparison with his neighbor. For every person will have to bear (be equal to understanding and calmly receive) his own [little] load [of oppressive faults].”  

Matthew 18:15-17 “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’  And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.”

How do you treat a heathen or tax collector? Who wrote this Gospel?

REVIVING INTELLECTUAL HOSPITALITY Cherie Harder February 11, 2021
“We are so focused on the darkness in others we can no longer see clearly. The irony is that while partisans are busy asserting that their opponents are evil and stupid, the very act of doing so—widely replicated as it is, and provoking a corresponding vitriol from the other side—renders our public discourse and character as a whole ever more callous, clueless, and cruel. We are becoming what we denounce.”

Alan Jacobs (How to Think) “To think independently of other human beings is impossible, and if it were possible it would be undesirable. Thinking is necessarily, thoroughly, and wonderfully social. Everything you think is a response to what someone else has thought and said.”

Matthew 7:1-2  (NKJV) “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” 

Matthew 7:1-5  (Message)  “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.”

Proverbs 26:17 “You grab a mad dog by the ears when you butt into a quarrel that’s none of your business.”

Romans 12:17-18 “Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. ‘I’ll do the judging,’ says God. ‘I’ll take care of it.’”

Psalm 89:13-15  “Your arm is powerful, your hand strong, your right hand victorious. Equity and justice are the foundation of your throne … Loyal love and faithfulness characterize your rule. How blessed are the people who worship you! O Lord, they experience your favor.”

Proverbs 24:23 (MSG) “It’s wrong, very wrong, to go along with injustice.”
Jesus cleansed the temple … their system of worship excluded people.

Jesus came to cancel sin not people. 

Jesus calls us to recruit and not to prosecute.

“So, let us love others and let them know it!  Let us take the time to build meaningful relationships.  Let us love, support, and encourage others.  Let’s walk in their shoes, let their heart break ours, let’s celebrate with them, get dirty helping them put theirlives back together. Let’s not take shortcuts, but love. Let us laugh with people, really listen to them, learn to ask better questions, stop giving unsolicited advice – let us love without agenda.  Let us enlarge our life with people.”   Kelly Michalczyk

When you have been forgiven so  much and you won’t forgive others … you are not a kingdom person … you have been unimpacted by the love of God … you have rejected the fee gift of grace!!!

Ucomplicated Series# 4, Cancel Culture, Sermon notes to print, PDF