That's Offensive!

In my first post, I mentioned that most likely you will be offended at some point. I would like to expand on that a little. I will not, nor should we ever, seek to offend for the sake of being offensive. I will offend you because you may strongly disagree with what I say, or it may "cut to the heart" or rub you the wrong way...and that's OKAY. In this ever-increasingly "politically correct" and post-modern world we live in, we are being indoctrinated by media, congress, and the PC police to think that we are never allowed to tell anyone they're wrong, or say anything is wrong, b/c it's OFFENSIVE. Well, that offends ME. Not to mention that it's a self-refuting idea. Think about it. Person A tells Person B that they are WRONG and JUDGMENTAL for telling Person A that what they did or believe is WRONG. How absurd!

I'm reminded of a conversation I heard recently between Todd Friel of Way of the Master Radio and a post-modernist. Todd was preaching open-air and this guy in the crowd says something to the effect that Jesus can't possibly be the only way to God because what is right for you may not be right for me and we all have our own "truth". Todd asked him, cleverly, if he thought Todd was WRONG for preaching that Jesus is the only truth. The guy said no. Wait a second...Todd says Jesus is the only way, this guy says everyone has their own truth, therefore they disagree, right? Todd could not get this guy to say since they had opposing viewpoints he thinks Todd is wrong. Ensuing was a conversation that went something like this:
Todd says "What am I standing on?"
"A bench."
"Well, I think it's a watermelon."
"Okay."
"Am I wrong?"
"No."
"But you say it's a bench."
"Yes."
"I think it's a watermelon. Am I wrong?"
"No."

And on it goes. Todd likes to say, "It's like nailing Jell-o to a wall." There are two things going on here, but I will only address one for this post. What kind of world are we living in now that we can't even disagree on anything? This country was partly founded on the principle that it's good and okay to disagree, hence the first amendment. But we are quickly heading down the road where all thoughts and speech will be censored at the risk of offending someone. The same thing is going on in "evangelicalism" (I use that term very loosely) today with the emergent movement. Rob Bell, Brian McLaren, Doug Pagitt and others are saying that the "fundamentalists" are wrong for preaching doctrine (God's yes and God's no) and being "offensive."

We may and will disagree on some things. Again, that's OKAY. Let's discuss it. Take it to heart. Ponder over things. Then do with it what we will. After all, the only way to get your clothes clean are to throw in some strong detergent and agitate the snot out of them.

Now that's offensive!