Thoughts of a Sojourner

The subject that I am writing about and sharing my thoughts about in this installment of penned ramblings probably will not be popular with some and perhaps many that I would align with in my faith or politics, but then again those that know me well know that I am not real good at conforming with the masses at times..lol. When I worked at UPS, I had a few friends that gave me the moniker of “Candid Keith”. In other words, I tend to be very transparent in my thoughts and tend to say what needs to be said more so than what people want to necessarily hear and the subject matter here will hit that way with some of my readers.

The term “Cancel Culture” has been around for a number of years, but really ramped up beginning in 2020. It moved to warp speed in 2020 and continues today. In 2020, we were a nation in upheaval. This disease called COVID reared its head on a worldwide scale. George Floyd died during detainment and arrest. Both of these events would set of a wildfire of panic, violence, needless destruction, division the likes of which we had not seen in decades and widespread calls for cancellation and squashing of those with differing opinions. If you dared questioned the genesis, treatment options, vaccines & their safety and the government responses where COVID was concerned, you were labeled a nut, uncaring, unchristian and just a bad person (full transparency…I am one of those that have questioned in all of these areas where COVID is concerned). In the wake of George Floyd’s death, we had massive violent protests, cities that burned, division based on race and hate seemed to spike. If you questioned the response of the police, you were labeled as one that did not support the police and law & order. If you criticized the violent protests and those committing the violence you were labeled a racist. The response to those that questioned these things would be a culture of cancellation. In other words, there were moves to squash those of dissenting views. A dissenting view just was not tolerated by the masses and people became weary of questioning authority whether it be government, organizations and even religious figures & organizations.

Fast forward from 2020 to today. The cancel culture is alive and well. In the wake of the murder of Charlie Kirk, the culture of cancelation is hitting a fevered pitch. Understand, I believe that Charlie Kirk was a generational voice for the gospel and righteousness from a biblical worldview so the opinions that I will close this writing with in no way are meant to disparage his name. I do want to remind those, that like me, supported the work of Mr Kirk to be careful about blindly following and getting on board with those that may have and still oppose the biblical worldview of Mr. Kirk. Our nation was founded from the power of having a dissenting voice. In my view, the problem with many in my camp is that we would rather just squash the opposing views by cancellation. We would rather, in many cases, have any opposing view just removed from the conversation or the public square. In many corners of the church, there are leanings or a call to Christian Nationalism. In other words, to force every aspect of our government and culture to become christianized and that would solve our problems. Those of this view seem to have a low knowledge of our nation’s founding. While our Creator is acknowledged in our founding documents, our government was established as a secular government and for good reason. Our founders were wise enough to understand that it was a mistake to force christianity on a population either through cancelation or by the point of gun. An honest look at church history over centuries shows that attempting to christianize populations never works out for the glory of God. Whether it be the Crusades, The Inquisition, violence toward the reformers from the Roman church, violence from some corners of the reformation toward the Anabaptist, Bloody Mary’s campaign against protestants in England & Scotland, the persecution of the Puritans in England which would ultimately lead to them fleeing England for the shores of the America’s. A look at New Testament scripture, shows us that the early church in the book of Acts did not pray that their opposition or rather those that oppose Christ be removed, but rather they prayed for boldness in the face of opposition (Acts 4:24-31). Jesus even tells His disciples that the world hated Him and would in turn hate them. Paul and the other apostles counted it an honor to suffer for their faith rather than try cancel those that opposed and persecuted them. As believers today, rather than spending our days endlessly cheering on the cancellation of the culture that opposes the things of God and righteousness, why not pray for boldness to engage the culture in a way that would cause them to want to know the reason for your joy, hope and contentment. The Bible tells us that we should do this with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15-16). I am weary and think it unwise of the church and those that have a biblical worldview to support the current brand of cancellation. Growing up, I loved to hunt. I especially loved to rabbit hunt with a pack of beagle hounds. I always had the upper hand on the rabbit, because I was always holding the gun! I never one time wondered what would happen if the rabbit got the gun, but I have to imagine it would have not been a good situation. Why do I use this illustration you may ask? I use it because while today for those that, like me, support and proclaim a biblical worldview have a situation from a political standpoint where the public square is a little more conducive to our point of view right now, but beware things on the political and cultural landscape can quickly change. Be careful supporting the squashing and stomping out of dissenting viewpoints because one day “the rabbit could get the gun” and those cancelation tables could quickly turn.