Truth Does not Need Embellishment
An article published in the Washington Post suggested that the January 6 riot was a “Christian Revolt.” It’s a lie. Just because a rioter thought of the event as a spiritual experience does not make all those who participated that day Christians, and it certainly does not make it true that Christians in any sort of substantial way approved.
January 6, 2021, is now a ruined day. That was the day my parents would have celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary. Instead, dad was being transferred from the telemetry to ICU with Covid, and the White House was being stormed by an odd bunch of protesters. Riots had been going on all across the land for months. An entire section of downtown Seattle was occupied and ruled by protestors. In retrospect, it was extremely foolish to think that protests on the right would be treated similarly to those of the left.
Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor;
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow. (Isaiah 1:17)
The January 6 riot was wrong and illegal. So were the riots that occurred in the summer of 2020 across the nation. However, the event should not be used as a cudgel to punish everyone who has any ideological similarity to the rioters.
One of the horrible religious/political ploys is to find a thing that is commonly identified as wrong or objectionable and then find a way to associate your “enemies” with it. It happens constantly in the news media—on both sides. The unbelieving world does this all the time, we must make sure that we do not do it.
But we often do. Consider.
Some Calvinists are actually soul-winners. Spurgeon was.
Arminians are not all sold out to pragmatism. They would be offended to be grouped with those who are.
Not all Evangelicals are compromisers in the pure sense of the word.
Regarding evangelicals, there was a time several decades ago when this was basically true, but most of this generation of evangelicals are completely uninformed regarding the nature of biblical separation. “Compromiser” is probably no longer the best word. This factual detail does no damage to the doctrine of biblical separation which is as essential now as ever.
Homosexuality is a sin, but not all gay people are pedophiles. You get the idea.
We must stand upon and fight for biblical principles. We must declare sin as sin and not be afraid to call sinning people sinners, but we must do it honestly—without exaggeration, false comparison, or dishonest insinuation.
The plain truth is enough. It needs no dishonest help. We must speak justly and accurately, even if others do not.
Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord,
But those who deal truthfully are His delight. (Proverbs 12:22)