How believers can avoid succumbing to ‘cancel culture’ for ‘errant’ beliefs

Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

2John 1:8–11 NASB

Think of the example of the early believer Apollos. He was considered a teacher in the Yeshua¹ community by many. He had extensive understanding of the Torah and the ministry of John the Baptist, but he didn’t have a good grasp of Yeshua and His role. So, Priscilla and Aquila, took him aside and taught him “the way of God more accurately,” namely about Yeshua more fully. Because of their patient teaching and through Apollos’ humility, he became a better teacher of the faith. (Acts 18:24–28)

We all have different degrees of understanding of different things. It’s good to treat others as thought they’re wiser than we until they prove themselves otherwise. If nothing else, it’s good to see different points of view, rather than insulate ourselves from those viewpoints.

Cancel culture (or call-out culture) is a modern form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles — either online on social media, in the real world, or both. Those who are subject to this ostracism are said to be “canceled.”

“Cancel culture,” Wikipedia, accessed Jan. 16, 2021

King David also accepted the rebuke of Shimei with humility when he was fleeing from the coup d’tat lead by son Absolom. He wanted some time to think about what Shimei was saying before he decided whether to rebuke him or not. (2Samuel 16:5–14)

Apostle YokhananHebrew basis for Johannan, or John, which means “Yah dedicates. warned about people who would try to contradict the teachings of the Gospel.

They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.

1John 2:19 NASB

If someone has considered Yeshua and completely rejected Him, yet presumes to want fellowship and even a seat of authority in the community of believers, we are warned not to extend fellowship or a soap box to such people. We can’t accept the anti-Christ spirit into our meetings. We can’t accept those who are militantly anti-Christ into our community. We can’t give them a foothold or a platform to such people to teach our children or friends lies.

All of us have an incomplete knowledge of Yeshua. All of us have a hole in our knowledge and God uses that deficiency to draw us towards a closer, more intimate knowledge of Him. For many of us, the first draw was the ShabbatHebrew for “Sabbath,” the seventh day of the week (Saturday) according to Gen. 2:2–3 and Ex. 20:8–11. According to Genesis 1, the day starts at sunset.. He planted a seed in us to ask ourselves why Christians worship on Sunday when the Bible is clear that His people are supposed to gather with Him on Shabbat.

It was a sense of humility and a yearning for more that God used to bring us closer to Him. God puts a longing in our heart to experience certain things, which help us grow in knowledge. That is a life-long process.

We should not be too hasty to hit the “cancel” button on someone whose understanding of Yeshua is different from our own, even if the chasm between their understanding of Yeshua and our own is very large and seemingly insurmountable. A little humility can go a long way in making us better people and better servants of the Kingdom.

Summary: Tammy

1. Hebrew basis for Jesus, which means “God saves.” ↩︎