Cancel

We are called to exhibit Christ's character, and harboring a critical spirit in our hearts and minds can impede what God wants to do in us. Ephesians 4 says:
31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.
32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.

A critical spirit can drive what has been termed "cancel culture," hastily jumping to conclusions and thinking the worst of people, rather than seeing others through the eyes of God's grace.  We have been granted His mercy, and we are called to be merciful, as God is merciful.  It can be easy to think of ourselves as better than others; but all of us have our struggles, and our issues, and none of us have arrived spiritually - that's helpful to remember, and can free our spirits from the weight of bitterness.

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Scripture encourages us to be responsible as we consider the influences that we encounter.  James 1
teaches us:
19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

I am glad Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger are now married.  I did not approve that they had moved in together prior to their nuptials, but I do believe that they are earnestly seeking to follow Christ, despite imperfections and lapses in judgment.

That could actually be said for a lot of us Christ-followers, by the way.  We all have our imperfections; and I am thankful for the grace of God, which has been extended to me and that I continue to enjoy, even when I mess up.

Pratt has recently become a victim of what Faithwire's Tre Goins-Phillips calls, "cancel culture."  You see, according to CBN.com, Chris and Katherine were walking out on the streets of L.A., and Chris was wearing a t-shirt with an emblem - you've probably seen it. It had, according to the story, the "Gadsden symbol of a rattlesnake over a US flag with the words 'Don't Tread On Me' at the bottom."

The CBN story says:

Several social media users criticized Pratt for wearing the symbol. But they only found this out after Yahoo UK took a giant leap, calling Pratt's choice of wardrobe a "white supremacist" shirt in their story.

The article gives a little history lesson, stating:

The flag of a coiled rattlesnake with thirteen rattles on a yellow background was designed by Christopher Gadsden, a Charleston-born brigadier general in the Continental Army. It's first recorded use was in October of 1775.

The symbol has experienced widespread use:

The rattlesnake symbol was also adopted by the Continental Congress in 1778 for the official Seal of the War Office (now the US Department of Defense). The rattlesnake symbol has been used by the US Army for more than 236 years.

The article notes that, "It has also been used as the symbol of the Libertarian Party and then later, the Tea Party and other conservative causes." Also:

In 2016, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said the flag doesn't have racist origins but is "sometimes interpreted to convey racially-tinged messages in some contexts."

The article questions whether or not a symbol that has been adopted by a small group for racist purposes, does that make a person who uses it a racist?  The conclusion: Of course not.  As CBN reports:

Even TMZ.com, a website known for "gotcha journalism" simply called Pratt conservative writing:

"Our take ... Chris wearing the shirt doesn't mean he supports white supremacy or anything else hateful or extreme, for that matter. He is, however, known as a conservative guy, and that's all there is to it."

Pratt became, at least temporarily, a victim of "cancel culture," to which Goins-Phillips referred.  He contends that so did Betsy Ross recently, according to the article, which says:

It was the same kind of senseless indignation that led former NFL player Colin Kaepernick to complain to Nike about a commemorative shoe including the Betsy Ross American flag on its heel. Because Kaepernick is a spokesman for Nike, the apparel company decided to pull the sneaker from production.

Both of these incidents perfectly illustrate our cultural willingness to dismiss the value of those with whom we disagree, regardless of how respectable or ridiculous our differences may be.

Nike pulled its Betsy Ross shoe because, according to Kaepernick, the flag featuring 13 white stars in a circle, designed during the American Revolution, was “offensive.” And a small handful of people criticized Pratt for wearing a shirt with the Gadsden flag on it, calling the symbol a sign of “white supremacists.”

Ross, by the way, was "a Quaker, a religious order made up of some of the first white people to actively denounce slavery in Europe and in the American colonies and to join the abolitionist movement. Ross also served as a beacon for women, rising to prominence at a time in Western culture when women were largely dismissed."

Goins-Phillips states:

...when we “cancel” a person because of a moment of error or after a decision with which we disagree, for any number of reasons, we forget that truth, we turn our backs on our shared value as human beings.

Kirk Franklin experienced this "cancel culture" in the aftermath of his performance at the recent BET awards.  A Christian Post article says that the gospel legend was "publicly rebuked by a street preacher for allegedly failing to present the message of the Gospel during a 3.5-minute performance at the recent BET Awards show."  The article states:

Franklin shared an approximately 4-minute long clip of the rebuke on Instagram late Monday where the unidentified preacher in Jacksonville, Florida, told him, “You’ve got a lot of blood on your hands, sir!” for using his performance time to sing what he called lullabies to the world instead of pointing them to repentance.

In the encounter, Franklin asked the preacher, "You didn’t believe that I said Jesus is Lord at the BET awards?” and in the conversation invited him to "break bread" with him. Franklin said, "Let’s open up the word of God together. And let’s break the Word, like iron sharpens iron. Let’s open up the text...," an invitation to which the preacher reluctantly agreed to.

And, Franklin has had a number of high-profile people come to his defense, according to the article.

So, regarding this "cancel culture," one of the things that come to mind for me is how we should avoid jumping to conclusions or responding too quickly.  There can be a tendency to "write people off" who are our brothers and sisters in the Lord, ignoring the fact that the same Holy Spirit who is working on us is working on them.  We can attribute improper motives to other people and by so doing we pass judgment that may or may not be deserved.

But, there are some forms of cancellation that can be good.  For instance, in the process of renewing our minds, we cancel thoughts that are not pleasing to God.  There are influences on our society that are blatantly unbiblical and not beneficial.  Take, for instance, the recent Netflix cancellation of a portion of its teen suicide drama, 13 Reasons Why.  Parents Television Council has been a chief critic of the program, and provided this announcement on its website:

For more than two years, the Parents Television Council has relentlessly pushed-back on Netflix for graphically depicting suicide on its popular, teen-targeted original series 13 Reasons Why.

Late last night, news broke that Netflix was removing that scene from the first season of 13 Reasons. There is no doubt that this decision – made just a day and a half before Netflix’s quarterly earnings report, is a direct result of the PTC’s unrelenting pressure — in the form of letters, petitions from PTC members and supporters, statements and press releases, and earned media — on Netflix, its CEO and Board of Directors.

The article also said that at the company's annual shareholder meeting last month:

We asked CEO Reed Hastings what the board of directors and management of Netflix were prepared to do about 13 Reasons in light of new National Institutes for Health research that linked 13 Reasons Why to a 30% increase in suicides among children ages 10-17.

And, the Wall Street Journal reports:

For the first time in nearly a decade, the number of people subscribing to Netflix Inc. in the U.S. declined, an underwhelming performance for the streaming giant that comes as a slew of rivals are about to enter the field.

The Los Gatos, Calif.-based company said it had 130,000 fewer domestic subscribers at the end of the second quarter compared with the end of the first, sending Netflix shares sliding more than 11% in after-hours trading Wednesday. The stock is still up by double digits this year.

So, perhaps this is a good cancellation trend, sending a message that paying more for a selection that includes objectionable content is not a good business plan.

Remember, while we can resist the temptation to pass judgment or quickly criticize people, including fellow believers, we can also cancel, or reject, influences that are not grounded in Scripture.  We can guard against embracing a message that is not in line with the principles we find in God's Word.