Can You Stand Against the "Shame Game"?

It's a deliberate method used by cultural interest groups (as well as totalitarian governments). They cannot allow any view but their own. They cannot allow freedom of speech or freedom of thought, so they resort to “shaming techniques.”(1)

They force people to choose between being silent or being hated, being mocked for speaking truth or applauded for speaking lies.

Even worse, some professing Christians who give in to the “shame game” try to take genuine believers with them. That’s why we’re hearing more and more from “ex-vangelicals” and “progressive Christians” who encourage us to “deconstruct” our faith, removing the parts that make us unpopular and creating a "jesus" who approves whatever culture approves.

And don’t expect them to disagree graciously or honestly. Expect to be called “hateful” and “on the wrong side of history” if you believe God’s design and commands are loving and true.(2)

Our culture is celebrating serious sins that break God's heart and they want us to join them.

We've all heard the saying "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em," and that's what many are doing. But God's children remain faithful even when we're insulted and mistreated (Matthew 5:11-12). And we never stand alone (Deuteronomy 31:8). 

We can bear up under the insults, misrepresentations, and outright lies because we are looking forward to the day when our Lord will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23).

-------------------

Footnotes:

(1) "The radical secularists are not satisfied with 'live and let live.' Rather, they demand that we totally capitulate to their agenda. And they have discovered that vilifying those who disagree with them gets more results than reason and civility." ~ Erwin W. Lutzer, page 225, We Will Not Be Silenced. In his book, Lutzer explains how totalitarian governments employ shame to silence those who disagree, and he compares this to the cultural methods now being used to silence Christians.

(2) "Hateful" no longer means that we have shared something rudely or harshly. It simply means that we believe what the Bible teaches about moral sins. 

"The wrong side of history" should refer to people who supported slavery or racism, but it has a much broader meaning in today's world. It is used to shame people who hold to Christian beliefs. And it is also used to discredit most of American history. 

Those who discredit America need to do better historical research. They'll discover that atheistic and pagan governments have done far more evil than democracies like America. Is America responsible for some big sins? Yes. But we have done more good and less evil than many nations in the world. We should neither sugarcoat nor vilify our history. 

Bible Love Notes