Here’s something I am quite certain of, we are accountable for our words. There is the power of life and death in our tongues, it says so in the bible. What we say, speak, and write, matters.
But we are responsible not just for the actual words we say, but for how they are subjectively received by others. I see this quite clearly in myself. I have a dark sense of humor and can be pretty self depreciating, but I must be careful not to wound others, not to create misunderstandings. I was just joking, is not an excuse. They took it all wrong, is not an excuse. They have no sense of humor is not an excuse.
Some 90 percent of the time, I’m sorry I offended you really is the appropriate response. I can only carry that gentle spirit so far however. Like no, I will not be hiding my cross under my sweater simply becasue it triggers you. I need my cross more than you need your comfort zone, sorry.
First let me say, I am not interested in banning any free speech or regulating hate speech, or passing any laws, or kicking people off of facebook as Franklin Graham himself recently experienced. (Ha! Shout out to my new brother in detention. We have now bonded, we are kin.)
So I’m not interesting in a social justice campaign, I simply have a desire to change a few hearts and minds, to open some eyes as to the nature of the problem.
People really are radicalized by hate speech, by words, facts, and emotion that confirms their own biases, that steers them in a certain direction. You see this happen in advertising, in fake news, in addiction, and in the radicalization of Muslim terrorists.
The truth is, if you take some wounded, bent individual and start talking to him about how the great satan that is America is the root of all his personal problems, and then start hinting at how he can go from powerless to powerful, you’ve hooked yourself a victim. 98 percent of hurting people will walk away from those messages, but that two percent really is at risk of driving a car into a crowd of pedestrians.
Those are totally made up statistics. I have no idea what the actual numbers are, but I have spent many years on the internet watching people bullied into behaviors, lured into porn, nurtured back into addiction, and taught to hate entire groups of people. Those red pills I often complain about have a long history of being woven into the background of some pretty serious crimes. People often deny this truth, but if you read the actual words, you will often see celebration, encouragement and praise for great atrocities. “The Incel Rebellion has already begun! … All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!”
Elliot Rodger killed six people and injured fourteen others near the campus of University of California, Santa Barbara, before killing himself inside his vehicle. He is just one. There are many others who have a well documented history of looking for answers in the red pill and instead finding something that just seems to nurture their offense, hatred, paranoia, and violence.
You are accountable. Those who radicalize people are seldom held accountable in a legal sense, but they are at least partially accountable in a moral sense. I am quite certain God is not looking down and going, “oh well, not your problem, you can’t be blamed for how some people subjectively receive your words.”
Christian people need to know this, they need to pay attention to who is listening to them and what the subjective response is. I’ve tried to address this issue with the red pills, with some objecting to the #Metoo movement, with some outright racists, with people much like some of the stragglers who remain attached to the Westboro Baptist “church.”
I am quite certain that God does not look kindly on those who wittingly or unwittingly, use His word not to heal, but to inspire hatred. It is hard to sort out in a world that has gone quite mad, because today everything is “hate speech.” That’s a real bummer, but the fact that there is an extreme response going on in the culture, does not entitle Christians to go extreme in the other direction.
A pastor I am really fond of once said, “is the Lord’s word safe in your mouth?” I love that analogy and I take that very seriously. If I am claiming Christ’s name, I am fully accountable for what His word looks like in me, and how it is received by others. I can’t be blessing and cursing out of the same mouth. God is love, it says so in the bible, so if what is coming out of our mouths is hatred, that’s not of God.
I really get people’s subjectivity, the way my new buddy in the timeout chair, my partner in crime Franklin Graham, never said anything close to hateful, but got censored anyway. I myself have been unfairly hidden behind a twitter warning, locked out of facebook, bumped out of various places, because the mere fact that you are a Christian, now allegedly makes you a hateful hater.
So the struggle is real, the injustice is true, and we all walk through it patiently waiting for the internet world to sort it all out. All in good humor here but Romans 15:1, “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.”
To me it doesn’t really matter if you are Left or Right or what your politics are. People of a more leftward bent are often to be found inspiring antifa, hatred of Trump voters, hatred of Christians, hatred of America, so the field is broad, and the seeds that are planted in it are coming from all sides. They are bad seeds too, seeds no Christian should ever sow.
People I like, people I admire, wrestle with these issues too. Some have made declarations like, “we are not responsible for people’s subjective response to the word of God.” I tend to think we are. It is our job, if you will. We are called to see to it that message is received as it is intended. Obviously we cannot fully control all outcomes, nor force people to see the light. But sometimes our alleged word of God is actually just the word of man, out trying to slay our personal enemies.
I’m curious to hear what others think about that? How has this issue impacted you? Do you think you’ve ever engaged in hate speech? How responsible are you for the words you say? How burdened are by how they are subjectively received? Really the sky is the limit, I’m simply curious about this matter and want some input.
As you can see below, I’m all ears…..

Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.com
Above all followers of Christ have to stand in these days. The devil twists words to his own advantage. The Apostles would never have succeeded in building the church if they had given in to the harassment of polite bullying which is engineered by the devil. We need to stand on truth.the rock. The Saviour has a work still to do and we are the ships crew. Who is going to make us abandon ship?
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I quite agree, we are the ship’s crew. But I think what we sometimes forget is that some of the crew went ashore on a drunken binge and now half the town hates crewmen.
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Don’t matter it is always the ones who stay with the Captain who come through. Happy New Year my friend keep going steady and your writing will rope the drunken in,,! You really are an inspiration to me..
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Thank you for your kind words and happy new year! 🙂
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There are times I will read one of your posts and try to focus on the obvious and not some political slant.. and keep my keyboard mouth shut. But the elephant in the blog room is just so apparent. Your entire post here should be directed to the guy occupying the White House.
By the way, happy new year!
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Happy New Year, Doug!
I honestly don’t know what to say in the face of Trump hate? I still don’t even know what this thing is, it just does not compute? Last week someone I didn’t even know sat down next to me and proclaimed, “you look like one of those deplorable Trump supporters who couldn’t rub two brain cells together.” I did what I always do, smiled politely, introduced myself, and resisted the urge to sarcastically say, “why, thank you.”
But if you want a simplistic explanation for why Trump is now our president, listen to the rudeness in that statement, the dripping contempt and disrespect, the fact that my elitist overlords apparently believe I don’t have two brain cells to rub together and am a disgusting specimen, unworthy even to govern myself. And so my goal has now become, how can I keep these elitist overlords as far from the halls of power as possible?
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I certainly can’t answer for what that “elitist overlord” rudely conveyed to you but in the wider application of our brief discussion here, words do indeed make a difference in life.. and words emanating from the Oval Office (or Tweeted from the White House bathroom) very likely contributed in some small way to the overall mood of divisiveness that’s led to that “elitist overlord’s” angst.
As you posted… when do “we” begin to take responsibility for our words? Welcome to 2019.
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@Doug
The number of fake news stories that have been aimed at Trump is absurd, and still people like you lamely defend such behavior. In addition, we have organizations like the Souther Law Poverty Center labeling people haters and supposedly respectable new organizations passing on their nonsense. Then kooks run amuck and try to murder the “haters” (guilty of being Social Conservatives). That is reckless.
Fact is we are all just fallible human beings, but we are dealing with an Establishment that wants Trump out. Instead of fighting Trump, we should be trying to encourage him to do the right thing.
You don’t think Trump can be trusted? Fine, but what is it about your behavior that is so honorable? Where are the facts (unsupported accusations don’t count) that justify pursuing Trump with teams of prosecutors? How do you justify a presumption of guilt when you don’t even know the charge?
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MY behavior?? I’m not President of the U.S.., Tom. Besides… I’ve been anti-Trump from the day he was sworn in because I fully understood his inabilities and inexperience would not be good for the country… way before all the investigations started casting doubt. This is not going to be a good year for Trump or the country in general.
Here’s my greater concern… nearly a third of the country comprises his base of angry, disgruntled, and disenfranchised, predominantly rural-based fellow Americans. Keeping Trump around is not going to help them or the country one bit given all his political support is drying up and going to get much worse. We are WAY beyond “Trump-loving Conservatives suck and are deplorables” accusation games. If Trump Conservatives want representation in government they should strive to find a capable and experienced person to represent them and understands the job of being President for ALL Americans.
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@Doug
We don’t have the right to make our own choices? We should have voted for H. Clinton? Seriously?
You can complain all you want about Trump, but there are plenty of reasons why Clinton should be in jail. She actually did collude with the Russians, and she actually did steal the presidential primaries from Sanders. Yet there you are complaining that Conservatives did not choose someone up to your standards?
You lost the election fair and square. Trump is trying secure our southern border, and the Establishment hates it. So they have deluged people like you with HATEFUL propaganda. Will you please make the effort to see through it? Can’t you see you don’t even make sense?
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I sense your frustration at our respective impasse, Tom. I wonder the same with you and your compadres as well. But kept the perspective here… because I dislike Trump as our President there’s no automatic default that it should have been Clinton. By the time the dust settles from all 17 legal investigations and the upcoming House investigations.. I’m afraid Trump will shine as the greater crook than even Nixon. But I’ll accept whatever they find.
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Something that occurs to me Doug, hatred is always irrational. It is actually just as irrational to hate Trump as it is to hate Jews or black folks. Or to hate women or liberals or whatever particular flavor our hatred takes.
So back when Obama was president, I was out lecturing people, we need to pray for our leaders. It says so in the bible. Also, they are the ones driving the ship we are ALL on. So to pray for their failure is to pray for our own. And here I am still trying to say the very same thing, the bible tells us to pray for our leaders, not to pray for their destruction. I’m not picking on you, I know some pretty conservative evangelicals doing the same thing.
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Nicely and delicately stated, IB. To which I might reply, that the Almighty helps those who also help themselves. I could also add that prayer for direct divine intervention is many times for the desperate, unable to affect their own remedy… or unable to obtain that strength to foment change on their own. Do I rely on my own God-given instincts that tell me that likely short of an Oprah-moment, there’s no reason to believe at all that a 72 year old man will change his ways and I thusly will push for his removal… or do I simply sit back and pray to the Almighty to give this guy the wisdom to lead to make everyone happy? It’s one thing to pray for personal forgiveness and to humble one’s self and proclaim faith toward the almighty… it’s totally another to pray for divine intervention for selfish reasons… like “give us a better President”.
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@Doug
If evidence mattered there wouldn’t be any investigations. The only reason Mueller is out there is to get Trump on anything he can find. Using the justice system to get our political opponents with contrived charges is unethical, but that is what you are supporting.
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Mueller has not exhibited any grand unethical anything in his career. He’s human, of course, and certainly has made his mistakes as anyone of us has done… but he’s pretty much an ethical un-political “saint” as it relates to D.C. conduct. Judging from the indictments and convictions thus far he’s done a damn good job and has kept focused. That’s 17 legal investigations, Tom… that include not only Mueller but also other federal district court state and federal investigations involving to some measure everything/everyone working with Trump. Here’s the whole point, Tom… if Mueller “dredges” up charges, they’ve got to be proven in a court of law. I never once said Trump was guilty of anything other than his own incompetence.
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@Doug
Mueller has been at it for two years, and he has prosecuted anyone for anything related to what he was supposedly tasked to do. He is just harassing people for “crimes” that would not be crimes if Mueller were not a special prosecutor.
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This is a great lesson to learn from. Luckily, I haven’t ran into any personal problems. I tend to stay away from using anger to combat anger but I do see how the attacks fall on some of my family and even just people out in the public. My mom often gets criticized by my stepdad’s family just for being around. Being the token Christian always makes her the butt of nasty commentary, especially when people have been drinking.
Jesus was literally crucified for speaking the Truth with grace and love. So while Christians may face injustice and even persecution, we still don’t fight against other people but dark powers and principalities.
Like you said, “But sometimes our alleged word of God is actually just the word of man, out trying to slay our personal enemies.”
Being mindful of our divisive attitudes and speech is really about overcoming own our flesh. How could we fight the spiritual battle if we’re using all of our wisdom and energy to battle other humans, especially those who obviously need God.
We also have to remember that God already has the victory.
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Amen! What an awesome comment. I especially appreciate how you said, “Being mindful of our divisive attitudes and speech is really about overcoming our own flesh.”
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Hate speech? Ha, even Christ Himself would have accused by they who He offended. But His ‘offence’ was perfect. Sin is offensive, specially to they who say there is none, or they have ‘arrived.’
But I’ve said before that blogs need not be garbage dumps, and all it takes is a bit of discernment to see difference tween free speech and deceit. A man could cry his ‘rights of free speech’ were lassoed at a funeral.
Good free speech is usually considerate of decency.
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“Good free speech is usually considerate of decency.”
Now there’s a fabulous point, good free speech is usually considerate, and decent, too. Civilized, perhaps. It is not a, “free for all.” Free speech carries with it a certain amount of personal responsibility, or it should anyway.
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Scripture is used as a weapon – by both sides. Take account of the devil trying to deceive Jesus. In general, however, I believe most Christians try to use the scripture to be helpful. In general, I believe non-believers are not motivated by helpfulness. Sadly becoming a Christian does not do a lot to change a person’s stupidity, intelligence, or tact. 😀 Well, over the years it might make some improvement. I’m so glad He received me – and, yes, he has helped.
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I think we must be very very careful in our handling of Scripture; your comment on my blog post concerning Rachel Held Evans is much appreciated. On the other spectrum away from RHE we also need to be careful too as you mentioned; I see some people a year ago on my feed being pro-Alt-Right and even sprinkle in some verses and like that pastor you quoted said, God’s Word must be safe in our mouths and our blogging.
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Amen, Slim.
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👍
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I agree and disagree with you. I love that quote, “Is the Word of God safe in your mouth?” and I agree that we are to use it to encourage, build up others, and show all who will hear Jesus, the Way, the Truth, the Life. Sadly, some are so blinded and deafened by their own hate, fear, disbelief, and control issues that no matter how softly, lovingly, or carefully we share God’s Word–they go ballistic. If we are faithful to the Bible and sharing it in love and truth, we are not responsible for the projectile human bombs that explode because of it.
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Good post IB. I fear the actual point of it went right over the head of some, as apparently every event that occurs in the universe has to to with Donal Trump, love him or hate him
This is a tough thing IB. We are commanded to tell truth. It does no good if people feel good and comforted and then drift off into Hell after a pleasant, affirming life. So, we have to deliver the message of sin, repentance, and salvation. Period.
On the other hand, conservative Christianity has made a lot of linkages in different areas that simply aren’t part of the Gospel message. Most of the stuff we conservative types scream about actually have nothing to do with the Gospel, and when we present that way, then our words are quite damaging.
On the other hand Jesus said
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It really can be a balancing act, Wally. I love what our pastor used to say, “you can be right and be kind at the same time.” Far too often we act as if we must choose between one or the other. It’s the world that runs about saying “the truth hurts.” It’s actually the bible that says, “the truth shall set you free.”
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Being a percentage German I am thinking Arbeit Macht Frei, but then again, a lot of things can set one free. Having the right key to open to door… or gate… helps. We can probably metaphor that to death.
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