Warning: Sensitive Christians Should Not Read This Post

Seriously. Click at Your Own Risk

Image by Lindsay_Jayne from Pixabay

So, I’m assuming if you’ve clicked on this post that you either

1. don’t consider yourself a sensitive Christian,

2. didn’t read the title before clicking, or

3. you’re sensitive but your curiosity won out over your fear of being offended (good luck with that. From here on, you are officially on your own!)

We’ve all been thinking lately about sensitivity and offensibility (yes, I made up that last word), about being “in” this world but not “of” this world, about how best to represent biblical truth (often offensive enough on the bare facts) without living in a perpetual state of indignant outrage.

Indignant outrage: 1. incredible waste of energy better directed toward growing up in Christ, 2. posture encouraged by the enemy of our souls because it distracts us from the real work, 3. foolishness rooted in pride, Phariseeism, racism, liberalism, progressivism (really all the -isms), immaturity, and false teaching, 4. the spirit of the age clearly opposed to the unity of believers and the furthuring of the Gospel.

Years ago I was talking with someone about the TV show M*A*S*H which I enjoyed watching with my father who served in the Marines during the Korean war.

She shook her head as I spoke and finally held up her hand saying, “Oh, I can’t watch that show (or apparently even hear about it) because I’m so sensitive to sin.”

Not being stupid, I understood the implication (backed up by her facial expression) that I was somehow calloused to sin and perhaps should check myself that I was able to tolerate this obvious assault on Christian sensitivities without taking offense.

My initial thought was, “Lighten up, lady.”

My second thought was, “Man, she’s right. I’m such a sinner. What’s wrong with me that I’m not offended by M*A*S*H? Am I drifting from a godly perspective?

My third thought was, “I don’t want to give up watching M*A*S*H! I love that time spent laughing with my dad. There are situations depicted that I don’t endorse but also greater themes that I do.”

My fourth thought was, “From now on, I just won’t talk about M*A*S*H with other Christians. There, settled.” (Not the best place to settle. Hope you can tolerate my transparency.)

Image by İ. A. from Pixabay

Have you ever gone through a similar thought process? (You can be honest. Remember, if you’re a sensitive Christian, you shouldn’t even have read this far in this post!)

Exchanges like that make me want to check my conscience and always reflect on how insensitive I’ve grown to the things that offend God. I mean, seriously, Sodom and Gomorrah grew up around Lot and his family and I’ve been hard on them. I probably owe him an apology.

And yet, those conversations also leave me worried about becoming weirder than God really needs me to be in order to represent Him here.

Once I sat with a group of writers, none of whom claimed to be Christian, trying to explain some of the parameters of traditional Christian fiction. No cursing. No graphic violence. No sex scenes. They were fascinated with these challenges but also wary.

One of them asked, “How fragile are you people, anyway?”

Now, in my opinion, relying on graphic depictions of sex or foul language is just lazy writing. Christian writing should reflect the excellence of our Creator. Hard work but worth it.

But, neither are we called to be thin-skinned, fretful, whiny-Marys hall-monitoring the world. Judgy-ness like that isn’t a biblical posture but a worldly one. There is no shortage of indignant self-righteousness in our modern culture and MUCH of the tongue-clicking comes from people who would have NOTHING to do with Jesus. Policing and censuring other people’s language, attitudes, viewing habits, and behavior has become a national pasttime with squads of legalists forming from a wide range of world views. Sure, some of them say they represent Jesus but they certainly aren’t the sole owners of that plot of perpetually pearl-clutching, protest-forming, folk-singing, reel-sharing, speech-making, hand-wringing real-estate. Judgy-ness abounds in our times, no longer the sole purview of a few overly serious church ladies, for sure.

I don’t see this posture at all in Jesus. It just doesn’t appear from a read-through of the Gospels as though the Son of God walked around gasping and averting His eyes at every corner and if anyone was ever sensitive to sin, well, He would be THE one, right?

Of course, He also didn’t wink at sin or indulge in sinful behavior Himself. Jesus was One with God. He did nothing opposed to the Father.

Sin: Any behavior, thought, attitude, posture or state that is contrary to or in opposition to God as He reveals Himself to humanity. An unnatural state for humans who were not designed for sin but designed to be in relationship with the Living God.

Jesus didn’t stand with the legalists but He also didn’t subscribe to the “I’m okay, you’re okay because we’re all just messy humans” philosophy that is so often the retreat of Christians weary of legalism.

Narrow gate: The following Jesus path that is neither license nor legalism but is notoriously, biblically challenging to find and few will find it (Matthew 7:14).

We live in a culture that has forgotten God, ignores God, defies or denies Him, and cares little about the things He loves. This culture permeates all things. We are surrounded, bombarded, invaded, and saturated in thinking that is not informed by the mind of Christ. We can’t walk out our front doors (or turn on our phones, computers, TVs, tablets, or radios) without seeing something that is contrary to His will.

Image by Alehandra13 from Pixabay

Hearing God’s voice and following His way in this atmosphere would be impossible except that with God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26) for this is a “rich man’s” problem and we are all the “rich men” who live in times where people have the luxury of squandering their hours on indignation and offense.

While I don’t think I should spend the lion’s share of my time soaking in images of sin or reading about sinful acts, I’m also not ready to spend my day’s reading Amish fiction and transcripts of Jonathan Edward’s sermons (as fine as those activities may be).

I don’t want to cause other Christians to “stumble.” Neither do I think they should judge me where we differ on debatable issues. Romans 14 and 15 are clear on this but they are also clear on many other points that we conveniently ignore mostly because they don’t lend themselves to witty memes:

• We shouldn’t be quarrelsome (14:1).

• Each should be fully convinced of what he or she believes (14:5). This would seem to me to indicate thoughtful study of what God wants not just “I can watch it because it’s 2026 and Jesus set us free didn’t He?”

• We will account to God for our choices (14:12).

• If we grieve one another with our actions, we aren’t living the love we proclaim (14:15).

• We aren’t to make choices based on just pleasing ourselves (15:1).

There is cause for righteous anger stemming from love that leads to righteous action against injustice, deception, false teaching, the taking or devaluing of human life, slavery and trafficking, poverty, child abuse, idolatry and the like. Christians are called to love justice and mercy and to walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8). Not wag our fingers, scowl, and get our backs up at every cultural slight.

AND NOT to endlessly EXPRESS our righteous anger through social media or other fruitless channels without acting productively and effectively to right the wrong.

Handy verse for all situations: James 1:19-20 NIV, “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”

I don’t reject sensitive Christians because I know many of them love God and seek to please Him. Often, sensitive Christians have helped set my train back on the right track before I followed my insensitivity right off a cliff. (And to be fair, there are some Christians who consider me a sensitive Christian. For them, even bringing up the word sin seems unnecessary and archaic.)

I am learning to listen to others and be aware of what they might find offensive but not ruled by it.

• On debatable issues (like viewing or reading habits, politics or denominational differences), I look for peace in the valley and opportunities to love others. I also aim to be fully convinced in my own mind and not lazy or making choices by default.

• On biblical truth that is not up for debate, I have to learn to let the chips fall where they will fall (although being sure that I’m not meddling or communicating in an unnecessarily unkind way).

We are impacted by what we consume but Jesus pointed to what is within us as the source of most of our problems. We must allow His light to reach the hidden places in our hearts, souls, and minds to treat the deepest sins.

Image by Jörn from Pixabay

Humility and pureness of heart will keep us able to sit at the table with others in love and share a meal, as Jesus did, representing Him and loving others while still living in and speaking eternal truth.

There is a place to acknowledge the mess we have inside and openly confess that without Jesus, none of us would be in the family of God. There’s also a place to point to the fact that the freedom Jesus purchased for us makes us able to grow, to change, to move beyond sinful living to good and godly lives that impact the world for beauty, justice, love, and peace. We can become known for what we DO and what we are FOR more than by what we don’t do and what we are against.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires,” (Galatians 5:22-24 ESV).

Thank God for the sensitive believers who remind us of God’s holiness and thank God for people who can wade through popular culture, politics, or denominational theology without stumbling so they can speak for God using the language of the times. How wise of God to put us in a family of believers and not expect that each one will be a clone of the other!

I’ve no conclusion to this post because I want to start a discussion. How do you sort through these issues? What is your insight into this problem? What can you say that’s of help here? Am I alone in wrestling with this? Let’s talk. I respond to every comment and reply to every email.