Today, the Babylon Bee was banned from Twitter for hate speech after they named a trans woman “Man of the Year”. Their CEO claimed that they will not delete the offending tweet because they are unwilling to “bow the knee” to compromise the truth. Interestingly, my continued readings in Ecclesiastes led me to chapter three today.
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven….a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate.” (Eccl. 3:1, 7b-8a – ESV)
What happens when one’s “time to speak” is branded “a time to hate”? What does it mean when shining a light on the truth of a situation is branded hate speech and the silencing of that truth is viewed as righteous justice? Or, what does it mean when the “truth” being exposed is shrouded in hateful mockery, then espoused to a wider world with vindictive rhetoric? I believe these issues are what Solomon notices when he pens Eccl. 3:16-17.
”Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work.”
We live in a day and time when justice and even truth are being twisted into a nonsensical unreality. It’s considered unjust and hateful to say that a 6 ft tall, broad-shouldered man should not be able to compete against biological women in sports competitions. Simultaneously, it is viewed as just and right to allow women to murder their unborn children while still in the womb, while blocking that is seen as unjust and hateful. And yet, nowhere in Scripture does Jesus set the example of using open mockery and sarcastic humor to expose the sin of sinners. In fact, the only people who draw His ire are the super-religious followers of the law. Indeed, wickedness abounds.
It certainly leaves us with the question, “Ok, what now?” What are we as believers to do in response to these issues? For one, Solomon comes to a first conclusion in Eccl. 3:22 – we should rejoice in our work. As we seek to fulfill God’s call on our lives, we should seek joy in what we do. At the same time, I think Jesus gives us another goal. We must begin to seek greater unity, and we will only accomplish this well if our goal is to love one another. For example, if Jesus, his disciples, and the Pharisees and Sadducees were walking the earth right now as they did in the Gospels, who among them would be posting the Babylon Bee’s tweets everywhere? Which group would be happier about chanting, “Let’s go Brandon”? My guess is, “Not the Savior we’re supposed to look most like.”
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