It’s Not Me You Offend

 Consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.                    Hebrews 12:3 NASB

I monitor all the comments and requests that come to Key Ministry from our social media accounts. We’ve always gotten our fair share of ‘haters,’ but an advertisement we ran about for a week about one of our webinars earlier this month drew a dramatically increased amount of vitriol. When I use the word ‘hate,’ I mean actual, obvious hatred: accusing us of being a scam, arguing that Christianity and religion in general is fake and we’re stupid, and an assortment of randomly connected curse words.

Rather than describe the posts from these charming fellow residents of Earth, I’ll share a few screenshots (identifying information and curse words hidden. Feel free to click on the images so you can clearly read what was posted).

I didn’t keep an exact count on how many of these we received, because it’s not uncommon, but when it got to be about 20, I did start keeping a mental score. The total number of hate and rage-filled comments were from approximately 35 different people who took time to write a hostile comment, rather than just keep scrolling. The only one I responded to was the guy who posted on two different days that people who follow religion are too stupid to understand science. I replied with a paragraph about Dr. Grcevich’s science credentials, then blocked him. For the record, we target our ads based on the demographics that Facebook users share on their profiles. We don’t do ‘spam.’

If you are shocked to read about this experience, I have news for you: this is reality. Christianity – real world-changing Christianity – is no longer acceptable in the US culture. It doesn’t matter to the screaming mob offering baseless accusations that churches and Christian ministries run and support food banks, rebuild homes and businesses after natural and manmade disasters, provide alternatives to abortion for crisis pregnancies and provide ongoing support after the babies are born, volunteer to help at-risk children and teens with free tutoring and other supports, stock and run local used clothing co-ops, teach kids in juvenile detention to read and help them seek career opportunities. This is in addition to meeting financial and manpower needs in their families, immediate neighborhoods, and individual specific needs in the church.

I know about all of these things, because my church, my family and many, many other people I know who are Christ-followers have been involved with every single one of these efforts, and it’s far from a complete list. Most of the people I know who are obvious, sincere Christ-followers do the same.

But here’s the kicker: if you’re not experiencing any of this vitriol, you might want to lean in a little closer to Christ. Not because you’re seeking pain, but because Jesus said that those who hate him will also hate His followers.

Many years ago, I had a career in banking. At the same time I started a new job in the bank, I was really striving to be more obedient in my faith. A few of my co-workers started to call me ‘the Church Lady,’ and would say a curse word in front of me, then say “Oh I’m sorry,” just to be funny. I took it in stride, but when it continued long past being funny, I began responding, “It’s not me you offend.”

Needless to say, my response ratcheted up the ribbing. I’m confident that word about my response got around the office; there were some people at work who clearly didn’t like me. Quite a few times, I received comments about some of my choices at the time (ie, not drinking alcohol for a long season), as they said with a sneer, “Oh, right, it’s because you’re religious.”

I don’t know about being religious, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t qualify. Frankly, I never fit in well with ‘upper-crust’ religious traditions, and I thought too differently for both “high-church” and “low-church” crowds. Where I do fit is in close relationship with Christ, leaning in to listen to His voice and leading. What He asks often doesn’t make sense at the time, but it’s pretty amazing how every single time I’ve been obedient, He acts or reveals something important later, even from challenging days of being insulted by my co-workers, or by people who can’t handle a godly viewpoint in their social media feed. My faith has become sight more times than I can count, often in breath-taking, undeniably God-caused ways.

I encourage you not to actively seek to be offensive, but don’t be shocked when you offend. Our world is full of people who want to throw verbal and actual stones at people who offer a way through the madness. The Person offering that Way said it will always offend.

PS – I’m not going to respond to or approve any comments about abuses in the Church. I’m well aware of the various abuse scandals that have been mishandled, not handled, overlooked, involved victim shaming and worse. In a future post, I will address an abusive situation and how God is working to redeem it.