Another area where self-control is greatly needed is in the area of mockery and scoffing. The reason this is needed is because mockery is a deadly weapon, and a lot depends on where it is aimed. This is important because mockery is inescapable—it is not whether you mock, but what you mock, when you mock it, and why.
The Lord holds the rebels of this world in derision (Ps. 2:4). Elijah mocked the priests of Baal, cutting themselves with knives that way (1 Kings 18:27). At the same time, we are told not to sit in the seat of scoffers (Ps. 1:1). We must not mock what they do, or in the way they do. Whether or not mockery is godly or ungodly is a function of direction and motive.
And this is why self-control in the matter of entertainment standards is so important. The entertainment industry is the Catechesis Department for the humanist state—they are the ones responsible for teaching you what is ridiculous. They are the ones instructing you when to distance yourselves from someone who is being laughable. And the laugh track for all their vacuous sitcoms is that great comedic cattle prod, telling you when the hapless conservative is being a buffoon. Ha ha ha!—all the independent thinkers laughed together independently.
Christian parents who allow their kids to imbibe a steady diet of worldly entertainment, but who expect them to turn out as rock-solid evangelicals are like that Catholic family who had their kids memorize the Westminster Shorter Catechism, or the Lutheran family who sent their children to the VBS sponsored by the Jehovah’s Witness, or the farmer who planted barley in high pursuit of a lentil crop.
Even with this said, Christians have done some decent work in trying to protect their children from overt filth in entertainment. But cuss counts, nudity, and violence are not the main thing. The main thing is who we are being trained to laugh at. Who is being made wince-worthy? And there we have done virtually no creative work at all.
I think mocking, the vast majority of the time, is poorly done no matter if we have a tribal affiliation with the mocker or the one mocked.
Who the recipient is is far less important to me than whether the words are being spoken in love or in hate, and whether the listener is being taught to think wisely or is being encouraged to take a shortcut around critical thinking.
Amen! The state of the world is so bad at this point, I tend to believe if someone isn’t trying to mock you, you probably just haven’t gotten out of bed yet. Now someone trying to express some love for you, that is a rare occurrence indeed, and sad to say, often even rarer within churchianity. I love the verse in “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us,” Behold the Man upon a cross, My sin upon His shoulders Ashamed I hear my mocking voice, Call out among the scoffers Do we understand WE are the ones who mocked and… Read more »
Ah…the nebulous “in love or in hate” standard. How do we know–indeed, how CAN we know? If I mocked you for something you said that I believed was worthy of ridicule–that is; it was ridiculous–and you took offense, which is understandable, would you conclude that I had spoken in hate? Is the hearer’s level of perceived offense to be the standard by which we judge the speaker’s motives? Or do we take the speaker at his word and conclude that since he said it was delivered in love it therefore must have been no matter how upset we might feel?
I know pretty clearly whether I am speaking in love or in hate. It’s not really a difficult thing.
I agree that we can’t always know about others, though sometimes it is more obvious than other times. But those who have developed significant self-awareness should at least know about themselves, and Jesus makes it clear that that is of primary importance.
Hmm…
Is it mocking?
Or is it the serrated edge?
‘Tis a puzzlement.
Near as I can figure, when someone does it to someone I like, it’s mocking. But when someone does it to someone I don’t like, it’s the serrated edge.
YMMV