Thread by @BethMooreLPM

Among things that concern me greatly about the malignancy and immediacy of cancel culture invasive in the body of Christ is the impact on true repentance. By God’s own design, the path of faith is pocked all the way along the way with the knee prints & foot-pivots of repentance.

Psalm 119:59 reads, “I thought about my ways & turned my steps back to your decrees.” The Lord made provision through the cross of Christ for us to realize by work of the Holy Spirit that we’ve gone astray & to return to the right path without one whit of condemnation or cancel.

But the public faith culture supplies what God is clearly lacking. Common scenario: We’re going through a really difficult season, overwhelmed with disappointment and disillusionment and think to ourselves, I quit. Not doing this anymore. A common experience. So we publicly post

what in all likelihood is a temporary condition as a permanent decision. Now it’s out there for the *Christian* world (which is meaner than snakes & twice as poisonous) to chime in on when actually God is not taking votes and suggestions on what he should do in this situation.

What God knows is that his child is going through a rough & wobbly patch &, by his help, will come out on the other side. But in the current Christian climate, there’s no other side. Just farewell, go to hell. I’d like to say thank God God is judge & not the brethren & sistren.

So, let’s say that somebody really went astray from the path of God’s good, sound and righteous ways but has now come to the realization they were wrong. “I thought about my ways and turned my steps back to your decrees.” Since they went public with their departure, now they feel

they need to go public with their return. Sometimes they’ll even say they’re sorry. But we’re like, “We do not forgive you!” “What took you so long???” “Really?? You think it’s that easy?? You misunderstood. You’re out now.”

Honestly, why would anyone come back??? Why would

anyone share that they’d had a change of heart and mind?? Our motto is, “We NEVER forget. WE TOOK A SCREENSHOT.”

I’m talking here in this thread about public crises of faith in a cancel culture, not about posers & abusers exploiting God & feigning repentance. Just simply saying

we’re all going to stray from the right path at times, all going to sin, mess up, say and post some stupid stuff, and occasionally claim we have come to a permanent decision that, in reality, is temporary disillusionment. And when we come back and say, I was an idiot, I’m sorry,

what we don’t need is, “you were more than an idiot. You were also…”

Woe be unto us when people do not turn back to God or to his ways because they do not want any further part with us.

We were told to gently restore and with a spirit of humility. (Gal 6:1) To welcome back.