Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Pangea Blog

Home

Home
Progressive Christian
What Good Does It Do When Christians Are Offended? (Dale Best)

What Good Does It Do When Christians Are Offended? (Dale Best)

Last updated on: July 6, 2011 at 6:59 pm by Kurt Willems

What Good Does It Do When Christians Are Offended? (Dale Best) 2011-07-06T18:59:10-07:00 Kurt Willems

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The talk in some circles of American Christianity this week is what NBC did, or rather didn’t do, this past Sunday afternoon during their US Open broadcast. Because the golf tournament was held in Washington, DC, the network put together a short montage of patriotic clips with an audio byte that included a reading of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Only one thing: they forgot to include three little words … under God, indivisible. Two of which are words that throw all most some Christians into a tizzy if someone messes with them.

NBC has since apologized.

I’m one of those Jesus followers who happened to not be offended. Because I don’t think it does any good.

You see, I’ve never met someone who was offended by something and they haven’t told at least one person about it. When we’re offended, the emotion that’s displayed is very outward and vocal. And in this age of social media, it’s easy for our anger over a mistake or mishap to spread quickly. (In fact, FB and Twitter talk had spread so quickly, one of the commentators apologized before the end of Sunday’s broadcast.)

When we’re offended by things, it’s obvious that we take our time and influence and energy and devote those things to tell others about how horribly we’ve been wronged. The flipside is bottling that offense inside and letting it stew and simmer into resentment. And let’s be honest … how healthy is bitterness to someone’s emotional and spiritual well-being?

But how much good does it do? If we call ourselves Christians and we identify ourselves with the One who came and forsook his own rights and his own life and gave himself for others, should instances like removing “Under God” from a pledge really matter?

Jesus spent his time and influence and energy building a Kingdom that transcended anything this world had to offer. The world, essentially, has it’s own way of doing things and it never surprised him that things weren’t right. He came to reconcile those things that weren’t right … through serving and giving his life and ultimately defeating death.

Jesus didn’t come to tell everyone what he was against. He had one mission and that was to usher in His Kingdom to a world that was broken. He showed us love in a way that seemed so counter-cultural. He didn’t waste his time worrying about whether or not his Abba’s rules were posted in the town square. He taught that to be first, you have to be last. And to not expect the world to make it easy for you along the way.

I wonder. I wonder about influence. And I wonder about energy. And time, too. We’re only given a certain amount of each and I wonder about how we use all three.

What would’ve happened if we, instead of being vocally offended about what a dumb TV network did or didn’t do, devoted our time, influence, and energy to help build clean water wells in Africa? Or help pull young girls out of the sex trade in southeast Asia?

And what if we dedicated our Facebook statuses to telling the story of Gerry McIlroy, the father of US Open champion Rory McIlroy? Gerry sacrificed a lot as Rory grew up, often working 3 jobs at a time, so his family could afford Rory’s passion for learning how to golf well.

I don’t know if Gerry’s life is led by the Holy Spirit but the others-first attitude is a Kingdom quality that should be esteemed by Christ followers. What if Christians were so vocal and supportive of Gerry as a Dad and shared his story? Do you think it would change the way the McIlroy family thinks of Christians? (Again, I don’t know what faith background Gerry McIlroy has … I’m just talking hypotheticals.)

My point is, I think we do a disservice to the Kingdom when we get offended over the things we can’t control. I understand why ‘Under God’ is so important to so many in America. But you want to know who’s really ‘under God?’ I am. You are. Because we’re made in His likeness.

The way we spend our actions, our emotions, our time, influence, energy, and resources matter. In our joy and selflessness, His kingdom comes. Or we hinder His kingdom coming in our anger and outrage.

—————————-

Dale Best is a media junkie and works in the Radio industry. He is passionate about wrestling with how better to follow the way of Jesus in a postmodern world. You can catch up with him on Facebook or Twitter. He also attends the same small group as Kurt 🙂

Culture

Fundamentalism

Guest Contributors

"One Nation Under God"

God

U.S. Open

Previous Post

June 30, 2011

Third Way Allegiance: Christian Witness in the Shadow of Religious Empire (Justin Bronson Barringer)

Next Post

July 4, 2011 The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category (Series) All Out War-Spiritual Warfare (Series) Church Plant Journal (Series) Dear Reader... (Series) Earthquakes...Signs of the Times? (Series) Entering the... Conversation (Series) Evangelical Culture Myths (Series) Everything is Meaningless [Pete Enns] (Series) Evolving Evangelicalism (Series) Hell Yes. Hell No! Who Cares? (Series) Hidden Worldviews (Series) If Evolution is Right, what about Adam? (Series) in less than 300 words (Series) Jesus and Nationalism (Series) Liberating Women for Ministry? (Series) Life-Changing Books (Series) Markers of Church Plant Movement (Series) Nonviolence 101 (Series) Philemon - Reconciliation (Series) Quote to Ponder (Series) Red Letter Dialogues (Series) Resource of the Week (SERIES) Revelation Sermons (Series) Share Something Sundays (Series) Simplicity in the Burbs: $2 a day (Series) The Binding of God [Open Theism] (Series) The Creed: Anabaptist Reflections (Series) Values for Church Leadership (Series) Video to Ponder Anabaptism Animal Advocacy Books Church Ministry Church Planting Community Culture Eschatology Eucharist Evangelical Reject Evolution Fundamentalism Greek Greg Boyd Guest Contributors Hell Holy Spirit Israel/Palestine Kingdom of God Lent Missional N. T. Wright Nationalism New Creation Nonviolence Open Mic Open Theism Parenting Passover Paul Philemon Podcast Politics Restorative Justice Revelation (the book of) Rob Bell Ron Martoia Sermon Shane Claiborne Social Justice Speaking Engagement Spiritual Warfare Spirituality Temple Theology Tim Geddert Tribulation Uncategorized universalism Video Blog Women in Ministry Worship Music Youth Ministry

Select a Month August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 October 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 December 2016 October 2016 August 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which Christian festival celebrates the revelation of Christ to the Gentiles (as symbolized by the Magi)?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Pentecost Lent Epiphany Advent

Support this
Column