“Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing”.
The dilemma for the American church is that when Jesus spoke it often offended people.… and we are some of the most easily offended people on the planet. Our default response to correction is victimhood. This predicament interferes with us “recruiting” members for our church.
Our focus on increasing membership makes us unwilling to lovingly address unpopular topics that are clearly defined by God’s Word. Any honest reading of scripture reveals God’s definition of marriage, sexuality, morality, the value of the unborn, greed, and a host of other topics that have been deemed “off-limits” by our culture … Jesus addressed difficult subjects, and never once changed truth to pacify His audience.
It is not our goal to offend but some will see truth as offensive. If you call truth hate, you will hate truth. But like a good doctor we cannot be overly concerned with how medicine tastes to the patient - only that it heals them. I must lovingly give the correct dose, no matter how it impacts the patient’s opinion of me.
If the truth offends my audience, the remedy is to remind them that truth does not originate from man; man came from truth. You can’t look through the lens of deception, and self-will, and expect to see the truth of God.
If you desire to change scripture and only follow what suits you … it is because you have forgotten who wrote it. It isn’t a rough draft for you to edit. It is a document written by the omnipotent Creator of the universe. Its purpose is to light your path, and without it you’re walking in the dark.
“Christian” is not something you comfortably add to your resume. You die to yourself, and Christ lives in you. You become “unoffendable” by anything written in scripture and simply dedicate your life to following it.
If the Bible offends you… It is not scripture that needs to be adjusted…. You have options for responding to The Word of God, but being offended by it, and demanding it be changed isn’t one of them.
"An offended heart is the breeding ground of deception." - John Bevere
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