“The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.” Proverbs 10:11
What men and women call tolerance and love today is a threat of force. Folly, the Sage tells us, is loud, seductive and ignorant (Proverbs 9:13). Indeed, the “mouth” of the Left conceals violence. The new tyrants say: “we are the bearers of truth…all truth…because we approve of sin and tyranny. If you disagree with us you are a hater and must be silenced.” Evil doesn’t present logical arguments; the righteous preach the gospel of Christ, applying it to every area of life. Evil seeks to cancel and dominate, even while calling it love; righteousness provides the light of Christ to a dark world through open debate…through freedom of speech.
Dave Chappelle, the comedian, proves this point rather nicely. (A quick point that must be addressed, though. As a Christian, we must use discernment in all things. Mr. Chappelle’s act, like many comedians today, is unfortunately quite vulgar. My choice to watch his program was in reference to this particular subject and I don’t recommend it for everyone else. As always, our freedom of choice/conscience, given to us by God, must be exercised in the Lord. That said, if this is the type of entertainment one is routinely drawn to, that’s clearly a sign of the need for spiritual growth for a Christian as the subject matter itself is not edifying. Nevertheless, we proceed with the subject at hand).
To wit, Dave’s new Netflix special is out and in it he makes several jokes at the expense of the LGBTQ “community”. There’s an old saying that goes something like this: “if you want to know who the tyrant is, look for the one you can’t make fun of.” Well, Mr. Chappelle, a brilliant and daring comedian indeed, is, to my knowledge, the only one in his trade courageous enough to point this out. So, in his latest show he pokes fun at the LGBTQs and basically calls them thin-skinned bullies.
Predictably, there are calls for him to be cancelled, which was exactly his point.
Our point is that comedy and free speech are the proverbial canary in the coal mine for a culture. God has made all men free in that they’re answerable ultimately to Him. We are not, therefore, to rule in any way over one another that oversteps the boundaries He has given us. All violence, slavery and oppression has this simple truth in common. We’re commanded to love even our enemy (Matthew 5:44-45; Romans 12:20)! We’re commanded to “overcome evil with good” lest we ourselves, in fighting evil with evil, commit sin (Romans 12:21).
Christians in the past have sadly missed this point. God’s moral order in the gospel age is that no violence or oppression can be used except in self-defense or by the civil magistrate in response to a crime. In that case, the state is God’s avenger on the wrongdoer who did something to another citizen that could have been defended with force but, for whatever reason, wasn’t. This means that the state is the organized “self-defense” arm of a culture, protecting citizens from violence, direct threats of violence, theft and fraud.
The Scriptural text for this philosophy of force is the entirety of the books of Proverbs, Acts and Romans 12-15 and the aforementioned Matthew 5:44-45. The gospel preachers went and debated, reasoned, persuaded, and argued all throughout the book of Acts. When sinners lost the argument, and they always did, they resorted to mob violence or legal threats in order to prevail. The ministers of truth, representing the Lord Jesus Christ, must understand this. The truth about God must go to all the world in peace, which is to say without force, threats of force or any kind of regulation. The book of Proverbs, as with today’s verse, shows that great dividing line.
And this brings us back to Mr. Chappelle.
In his comedy routine, he not only made jokes at the expense of the LGBTQs, but, alas, Jews and Christians too. At one point he made a masterful joke (and it was brilliantly crafted and delivered) about a thought he had for a movie involving aliens in which the punchline was aimed at Jews. He also beat-up on former Vice President Mike Pence, openly declaring that the Christian gentleman was a closeted homosexual. In that joke he used a most vulgar pretend prayer to illustrate Mr. Pence’s pretend struggle with sin.
Was all that blasphemous according to Biblical standards? You betcha! Should Christians demand that Mr. Chappelle be canceled? Absolutely not. How is it that we reconcile our hatred of sin and desire to spread the gospel with tolerance of such vulgarity, blasphemy and all-around sinful entertainment? Simple: God commands us to debate, reason, and argue but never initiate force in any way. We may not like it but a comedian taking the Lord’s name in vain gives us no right to cancel him/her by any use of force. That’s what the enemies of Christ did in Acts and it’s what they do today. Truth wants open exchange of ideas: sin demands compliance.
A simple rule is that the one who denies others the right they demand for themselves is always the bad guy. No exceptions. Only God has unilateral power. Because of sin, which is in us – all of us – we must not usurp God’s unilateral authority lest we cause greater damage than what we’re trying to stop in the first place. For example, if Christians were to cancel a comedian because of their blasphemy, where do we stop? And how does that advance the gospel of Jesus Christ? What violence has the comedian committed? What authority do we stand on in the gospel age to forcibly stop someone from exercising the gifts God has given them (even if they’re using them in sinful ways)? Did Paul try and pass a law through the civil magistrate to stop the idolatry of Athens or did he go and debate the foolish and misguided sages at the Areopagus (Acts 17)? The old civil laws against blasphemy in the Old Testament are passed away. This is the age of Christ and Him crucified. Our “sword” is the gospel. God will ultimately judge evil, be sure…but we are not to touch others except in self-defense.
Sin desires to rule, dominate, enslave, and kill. Watch for how many times in the book of Proverbs that it says evil men desire bloodshed. In Proverbs 1:11 we’re introduced to the principle that sinners “lie in wait for blood”. Avoid a hyper-literal reading of the principle as it should be interpreted in light of Cain murdering Abel and James 4:1-2. Sin desires tyrannical control over others because sin is death. Sin wants death. Sin deceives and kills. In this way, the desire to “cancel” someone by regulation, mob threats, or open violence is a bloody highway that leads to carnage. It’s the road of King Saul. It’s the road of King Ahab.
We will never fix the problems of others without the gospel because the desire to “fix” culture or “the system” is actually the desire to be god over others. Like Cain, the LGBTQs are fixated on the approval of others and they must have it at all costs. They aren’t asking for equal protection under the law (which the Bible demands they have insofar as all image-bearers of God be free from the initiation of violence, theft and fraud from others) but demanding that everyone agree with them or else. Tolerance for others is leaving them alone, not demanding they agree. Justice is the fact that God gives us all the right to self-defense and a civil magistrate that will avenge us if we’re overpowered (Romans 12-13).
Disagreement is not a crime and should never be treated like it. Freedom of speech rests not in the Constitution but in the Biblical truth that God has made us free. The 1st Amendment merely recognizes this fact. We are ultimately answerable to God alone, not each other; we must all give an account of ourselves to God (Romans 14:12). If we try and “fix” others with anything except the gospel, we aren’t trying to help, but dominate…we’re bringing glory to ourselves, not Christ. If my road to peace leads to Washington rather than Calvary, I’ve lost my way indeed.
What does this mean for the Christian and Dave Chappelle? I actually laughed at some of his skit. He’s a brilliant man. He’s also a sinner in need of grace, like me, so I cringed at other things he said and even shook my head sadly a few times. Nevertheless, I must, in the name of Christ, defend his God-given liberty to make fun of me and, yes, even the Lord. But I will pray for him and the audience too. And I remind myself of the Apostle Paul being so grieved by the idols of Athens that he was compelled in the Spirit, not to gather a mob to march on mockers and scoffers posing as philosophers at the Areopagus, but to go and debate with them. In point of fact, that’s the same thing that inspired this article (especially since Dave won’t return my calls…).
We have the sword of truth – the word of the most-high God. That is our one and only “weapon”. Resist fighting the battle of the world with the Enemy’s weapons of mobs and the state and perversions of law. Preach the word of Christ. Debate, reason, and reproof are the way, not oppression, regulation, and violence.
Recent Comments