Cancel Culture
What is cancel culture?
Cancel culture is a contemporary phrase used to refer to a form of ostracism (banishment) in which someone is expelled from social or professional circles, whether online, on social media, or in person. Those subject to this (banishment) are said to have been "cancelled". The expression "cancel culture" or culture of cancellation, has mostly negative connotations and is used in debates about freedom of expression and censorship.
The notion of cancel culture is a synonym for the terms “call of attention or scold”. Often taking the form of boycotting or rejecting a person (usually a celebrity or “an influencer”) who is deemed to have acted or spoken in an unacceptable way (or what is considered unacceptable by most).
Generally, groups are created that pursue the same interest therefor organize a public boycott, no person who exposes another to being cancelled, will act autonomously, but will seek sympathizers.
Some critics argue that the culture of canceling someone has a chilling effect in the public realm, since this culture suggests specific expectations and behaviors in order to be part of public society or a specific group. Others argue that calls for "cancellation" are themselves a form of free speech and that they promote accountability. Some public figures claim to have been "Cancelled" as they carry on with their careers as before. Others have had a quite negative impact on themselves and have not been able to get up from said boycott or social exile.
**Text taken from wikipedia and edited by me for better clarification**
In the year 2021 we were able to see several celebrities victims of this cancellation culture, I will cite some, among them are;
Chrissy Teigen
Justin Timberlake
Johnny Depp
J.K. Rowling
chris noth
Ellen Degeneres
Matt Damon
You can Google their names and investigate specifically why they were cancelled.
Most of them were canceled due to unfounded rumors, things they said years ago, direct problems with the LGTBQ community, infidelity, Abuse related problems, bulling, ideals, religion, etc.
**This culture says; “This person is not capable of changing, so it must disappear from the system”, or, “I do not agree with what that person says, therefore it must be cancelled”, or, “this person doesn't think the way I think, so it needs to be vanished”.
If you are in the middle of the year 2023 and you are a Christian person who opposes both abortion and homosexual marriages and you are in favor of the prohibition of both, or you are against the teaching of gender ideology taught in schools to children, you may be subject to being canceled by those who do support it, even more so if you are famous, or on the contrary, if you are a Christian and support these things and also has a social voice, you will definitely be subject to cancellation by the same Christian community, because “Love Is Love”. Therefore, the fact that many Christian celebrities have remained silent about their position on this particular issue is very striking.
In this time more than ever, many of the decisions taken for political reasons that favor religious beliefs, do nothing more than create hatred and rejection among the multitudes towards the Christian church, or any religion that believes in salvation through Jesus Christ.
Let's not play crazy, these things are biblical, I think that everything that is being done at this time is with an agenda in mind and indoctrination.
We see politicians who do not even follow religion using Christians to win elections and favoritism, they use beliefs to come to power and once in power, do whatever they want and end up turning their backs on the church, or on the contrary They fully support these movements just to make the majority happy, a matter of winning votes.
Our responsibility as Christians
If we return to the issue of cancellation culture, we must go to the Bible and see what it says about it, I have seen that many Christians are giving themselves the task of playing the role of God, judging Christians (condemning them) and non-Christians left and right, and literally canceling and exposing others to public scrutiny, simply because they don't think the same way or live the gospel of Christ in the same way.
Just as there have been celebrities victimized by this culture in the secular world, there have also been many Christian public figures who have been written off for one reason or another over the years, some of these people were able to walk out victoriously, and others have sunk into their confusion and have not been able to get up or remove the sign from above. Among these public figures we can mention some who were victims for a period of time, some longer than others;
Mascot Witt
Jesus Adrian Romero
Guillermo Maldonado
Cash Luna
Christine D'Clario
Jotta A.
Rudy Gracia
And these are just some of those that reach my memory, I know there have been many more, but it is so that you understand the idea (Not trying to point them out again, quite the contrary, some of these people have served as an example of restoration and testimony for the church of Christ)
Let's see what the Bible says;
“If your brother does something bad, go and talk to him alone. Explain to him what was the evil he did. If he listens to you, you have got your brother back. But if he doesn't listen to you, go talk to him again, accompanied by one or two other people, so that they can witness everything that is said. If he doesn't listen to them, tell the church. And if he doesn't listen to the church, then you should treat him like a disbelievers in God or like a tax collector.
Matthew 18:15-17 PDT
Here, of course, we can see that when one speaks of a brother, one does not speak of a blood brother, but rather of a brother in faith, a child of God, another Christian.
It clearly says, "Explain to him what was the evil he did", it is as if the person who acted improperly did not know that he acted improperly or that what he did affected you directly, I love these other bible version that says; "If one of my followers does something bad to you, talk to him alone so that he recognizes his fault", this verse speaks specifically of a personal fault, not like many for years, even centuries I could say, have believed that it is a sin against God, rather it is a fault against YOU, and it clearly says, “If he listens to you, you have got your brother back”. -That is, before declaring it to anyone else for the sake of that brother.
For a long time, in the churches it has been preached that if your brother sins you must go and declare it in the assembly, shaming your brother, and they even remove them from the ministries, put them aside, in the corner of shame, and put on donkey ears like they did in schools (I mean this metaphorically), which always seemed like torture to me.
In other words, it is incorrect that once you find out that your brother is sinning, you go to the assembly to publicly undress him, rather, you should talk about it with your brother, make him reason, according to what the word says, And this is not talking about what you believe is correct or not, but according to the Bible, recognizing the true intention of your heart.
If it is for the simple fact of gossiping, or because you have something in your gut against that brother and you want to show that you have been right for a long time, that your suspicions about your brother are true, and you want to prove your point Let me tell you that you too will be judged, and the blood of that brother, when you kill and stain his testimony and reputation, will run on your head as well.
Remember what the Bible says; "with the same measure with which you measure, you will be measured", you think you are very holy, right? Do you think that you do not sin and your brother does, and you have every right to claim his sin? Well let me tell you that you are wrong.
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Story time: Several years ago, I was attending a legalist church, they don't identify themselves as legalists, but they are. On several occasions during the time I was there, I saw how they dealt with sin within the leaders or people of service. Basically they exposed the sin of the person, where all the leaders knew what was happening, and if that person who sinned belonged to a ministry, they removed that person from said ministry, they put them under discipline for a certain time and they announced it to the public (all the leadership), embarrassing the person, and what shocked me the most is that later, they did not dedicate themselves to restoring the person, but rather all the brothers in the church who knew about what had happened, had to get away from that person as if they were anathema.
I myself was a victim of these things on several occasions, and the worst thing is that it was at the hands of my own ministry partner; They had prepared me to give weekly bible studies, and they assigned me to a person who already had a group one day every week, since I arrived in this country, I have worked in retail, which is sales, therefore I never had a fixed schedule, my schedule was rotative and changed every 2 weeks.
On several occasions it happened to me that I could not go to the Bible study group because of work, and one time, in a monthly leadership meeting, where absolutely all the leaders of the Church were present, including the pastors, my partner made the decision to exposing me in front of the whole leadership, saying that I was missing the bible studies and that she did not know why, to this day I still do not understand why she did that, she slandered me and made me look irresponsible, and the crazy part is, that I was not there to defend myself, because again, I could not attend that meeting, because I had to work.
That and many other reasons made me run away from there, I gathered in that place for almost 3 years, and I honestly did not understand why God wanted me in that place, but then I understood that He wanted me to know all these things, so that I was forced to seek more of Him to not be deceived.
In more than one occasion, my family and I, who also congregated there, had to gather every night, biblically dismantling everything that was preached and taught in that place, and I can testify that they were more than the times I would want to admit, in which they were carrying an anti-biblical and erroneous message, but this is another story, with a lot more to say.
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This behavior, both secular and within the church, only denotes a lack of love, for oneself and for one's neighbor, which is serious within the people of God. Many wonder; Where is God when this or that happened? Why did he not help such person, why are there so many people suffering and hungry? But have you not stopped to think, aren’t you the one who has the hands of God? What are you doing to help, are you part of those who judge (condemn) and cancel other people for the mistakes they make, as if you didn't make them too? Or are you one of those who make a difference?
Are you part of the solution? Or are you part of the problem? Do not hold God responsible for what is in your hands, it is very easy to blame the other for something that is our responsibility, it is very easy to blame him for something that is in our hands to do, for me this is nothing more than a synonymous of cowardice and immaturity, how many times have I not whined at God and blamed him for things that I caused myself, how many times have I spoken ill of others and it has been known and then I feel bad when I get confronted, this is nothing more than hypocrisy, because why did I speak about them to begin with, why did I sully my brother's name in the first instance, it would have saved me the shame of being discovered and confronted.
But how easy it is to throw a stone and hide your hand, this is why the one who initiates the cancellation never works alone, but rather seeks allies to start the boycott, because they cannot bear the scrutiny or the responsibility of sullying the testimony and the neighbor's reputation, and when confronted, they hide behind saying that others also did or said it.
and I end with this; Even if we fail, even if we commit sin, even if we don't do things correctly, no one has the right to judge (condemn) us. Remember the lawyer we have, Jesus Christ the righteous.
My children, I am writing these things to you so that you do not commit sin. Although if someone commits sin, we have a defender before the Father, who is Jesus Christ, and he is just.
1 John 2:1
And if we have not failed, and we are slandered and they talk about us lying, the Lord himself calls us blessed, and He himself gives us a promise;
11 “Blessed are you when people insult and mistreat you, and when they attack you with all kinds of lies because of me. 12 Rejoice, be happy, because you are going to receive a great prize in heaven; for so they also persecuted the prophets who lived before you.
Matthew 5:11-12