Cancel Culture is from Hell, Please Don't Bring it to Church

By Tim Hunter

Cancel culture is from hell. 

And no I do not make that claim as some sort of political pundit. My concerns with the thinking are largely theological and not political. 

It flys directly in the face of the gospel and kingdom of Jesus. It harms the images of God in man and threatens to dissolve the salt and diminish the light that the church is intended to be in the world. 

So, quite literally, in the name of God can we keep it out of the church? 

I do not pretend to be an expert on culture. (For someone who is, check out Carl Truman and his brilliant: “The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self”) So my aim in this article is not to explain all that “cancel culture” is or to unpack a nuanced explanation of the thought system or ideological framework. I simply want to identify a problem, warn the church, and then ask the question why on earth is this same harmful tendency in me??

The madness 

We have reached a point in our culture, or at least what the media propagates, that good is evil and evil is good. It is madness. 

Think about it: oftentimes the same voices crying out for individuals’ careers to be canceled because of dissident opinions are the same voices crying out for the perceived right for babies to be murdered.

Phew. 

The cries to cancel others for harmful words or ideas in this cultural moment are built upon a shifting moral ground, surprisingly little historical significance, and no transcendent framework. It is built upon a radical individualism that asserts that my opinions and my feelings are the rulers of the universe and everyone else must bow before them. 

Who is this God-guy anyway? 

We could spend a lot more time decrying the ills of the culture but I don’t want to spend any more time doing that. It makes me want to take a nap and an Advil. 

Instead, let’s examine prayerfully and humbly that this same mindset may be creeping into the church, our pews, our dinner tables, our families. 

The Church 

Here’s my concern. We, as followers of Jesus, may fall all too prey to this destructive mindset. 

We are called to listen to brothers and sisters. Not cancel them. We are called to hope for the best. Not assume the worst. We are called to lovingly confront, not dismissively cancel. 

Could it be that the same mindset that causes actors, news anchors, authors, and sports analysts to be swept away never to be seen by the public eye again is the same mindset that causes us to lash out at or dismissively disregard fellow members of the body of Christ? 

Here’s what it looks like: I disagree with a thought, opinion, or action that a brother or sister thought, said, or did. Therefore, they are irrelevant. 

By who’s standard?? This thinking is verifiably not Christian, but demonic. 

See, this mindset when in the church is the same radical individualism that we would decry in the culture at large. Let it no be so. The Gospel that we are supposed to give our lives for is built upon the entire assumption that we are the ones that deserve to be canceled. Our sins, our transgression, our rebellion is worthy of being canceled and annihilated by the wrath of God. 

But God. Rather than being canceled by God, we were chosen to be recipients of miraculous grace. How dare we stand on the foundation of the gospel of grace, and with our mouths share the gospel of cancel culture? To quote the apostle Paul: my brothers and sisters this ought not to be. 

ME 

Okay, I probably haven’t made many friends. But if you’ve stuck with me this far you are getting to my point. Congratulations. 

The elephant in the room is me. See, there is this tendency in my own heart to cancel anyone who does not fit into my version or vision of how my life and reality should go. 

You don’t agree with me? You don’t have the same lifestyle? Do you hold to a different theology? Do you have different interests or upbringing? My sinful tendency is to dismiss you with a sinful, mental wave of the hand.

Maybe cancel culture has crept into the church because of people like me. 

Wow. 

But the Jesus I claim to follow was anything but. He was born into an oppressive Roman regime. He shared the table with oppressors, victims, the religious elite, and prostitutes. Over wine and bread, he shared his life-giving, upside-down kingdom, eternity-altering message; grace for sinners, healing for the sick, and freedom for the captives. 

He came to save not to cancel. 

God forgive me, may I do the same.