Not a week goes by that I don’t hear someone somewhere suggesting that we cancel something. It could be a person or a term, a phrase or a name.
According to Merriam-Webster, to “cancel” in this context means “to withdraw support due to objectionable behavior or opinions.”
Now and again I do find myself in agreement with what people are saying we ought to cancel. That’s either because the particular name or phrase is offensive or because a group is being maligned in some way.
I hope you will agree with me that there are definitely some offensive terms people use in everyday speech which we ought to do away with. I’m not going to give examples, but I’m sure you can guess what they are. We hear them every day.
Our world would be a much better place if we took some of those words out of our vocabulary.
As Ephesians 4:29 says: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”
Amen.
But I’ve also got to say that a number of the things I’ve heard people suggest we “cancel” seemed petty and foolish to me.
I’m also concerned about the rush to judgment here. Quite often a person’s words are taken out of context. Other times, they are being excoriated for something they said or wrote or did decades ago.
Dig into my high school days and I’m sure you will find that a lot of stupid stuff came out of my mouth. It sort of goes with the territory. It’s a consequence of the incredible amount of hormones being poured out by the adolescent brain.
What’s more, we have to allow for the fact that we are all sinners. No one is or ever will be perfect. Lift the lid and look into the heart and mind of anyone and you will find sin. Cancel culture seems shocked by this.
They are shocked only because they have divorced themselves from God’s Word.
Romans 3:23 — “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
1 John 1:8-10 — “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
Ecclesiastes 7:20 — “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.”
Too often cancel culture “cancels” things that are petty and foolish, things which represent a rush to judgment or a failure to consider one’s context of life.
So I’ve decided to come up with my own list of things we ought to cancel.
See what you think.
I say we cancel hunger.
According to World Vision, the number of people suffering from chronic hunger has grown to 811 million as of 2022.
Shame on us.
Isn’t that a more pressing concern than some of these other things?
The Bible says that we should be proactive in reaching out to those who hunger — including our enemies.
Proverbs 25:21 — “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.”
James says — “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, {16} and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (Jas. 1:15-16).
1 John 3:17-18 is even more powerful! “But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”
And let’s cancel exploitation, especially that of young girls and children!
Though “exploitation” per se is not mentioned in the Bible, it is soundly condemned via principles like these.
Matthew 7:12 — “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 18:5-6 — “And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. {6} If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
Paul counseled Timothy to treat “older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity” (1 Tim. 5:2).
Along with that, I say we cancel pornography!
Pornography is unbridled lust. It objectifies women and has led to a great increase in wickedness in our world. A great many of the horrible acts we hear about can be traced directly to this. And understand: if we buy or consume pornography, we contribute to the existence of those things.
Scripture is clear.
Matthew 5:28 — “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
1 John 2:16 — “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.”
We should join with Job who said: “I have made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman” (Job 31:1).
I could go on and on.
Why don’t we cancel adultery?
Why don’t we cancel greed?
Why don’t we cancel pride and vanity?
Why don’t we cancel gluttony and material excess?
Why don’t we cancel our worship of entertainment figures and pro athletes?
I’m not against the idea that some things need to be cancelled. I just think my list looks different than theirs.