Holy Mockery

Mockery is a lost art in the church today. The claim that it ever was an art may even sound offensive to you. On the right occasion, however, mockery is a very strong tool in our arsenal. In fact, mockery oftentimes is more effective at shutting the mouths of unbelievers than a well-articulated theological diatribe.

Nice Guys Finish Last

Everyone likes a nice guy, he's easy to be around, he's always willing to bend over backward for you, and he's also really easy to get along with. Here's the thing, no one respects the nice guy. The nice guy will rarely stand up to the bullies in his life, he has no backbone. When the trials come, he tries to win his bullies over by hugging them, all the while they pummel him into the ground.

The church today is the "nice guy" of the culture. Christianity is mocked today by the pagans and our "leaders" try to win them over with flattery. It doesn't work though, things keep going the same, and they lack the introspection to determine whether their pragmatism is actually... working. The irony is thick as peanut butter. Scripture tells us that atheism is "foolish"(Psalm 14:1), it tells us that sodomy is an "abomination"(Lev 18:22) and that the slaughter of innocence is "an abomination" (Proverbs 6:16-17). Yet our leaders treat these lifestyles as legitimate and try to reason them out of it. We will argue that these things need to be treated as scripture treats them.

Mocking Idols

The most striking example of mockery is found in 1 Kings 18, where the prophet Elijah encounters prophets of the god Baal. Elijah decides to put their god to the test by offering a challenge. They will each offer a bull, and whoever's God/god answers by consuming it with fire shall be worshipped. (v. 22-25). Well, the false god Baal does not answer his' prophets offering and Elijah proceeds to mock them, "...Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened." (Vs. 27). Elijah mocks them by saying their god must be off urinating in the woods. Our evangelical leaders would like you to know... before you think about letting out a chuckle, remember that Elijah sounds mean and you should repent. Anyways, Baal's prophets proceed to cut themselves like the idiots that they were to get him to respond. Shocker, he never does. By the end of the story, God answers Elijah's prayers and Elijah proceeds to slaughter all the false prophets.

At no point did Elijah treat their false god as legitimate. He knew that the prophets were foolish, and treated them like the fools that they were. I can already hear the cries from people in the church about how mean he was! Could you imagine having actual men saying things like this today from our pulpits? I can't, because it doesn't happen.

Modern Idols

You might say that we don't have idols anymore, and in the sense that there are no crafted idols, that is generally correct. However, idolatry has taken on a different form. We now worship ourselves as idols, Romans 1 makes this clear. "Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things." (Rom. 1:22-23). There is no better example than the issue of transgenderism. Men and women are rebelling against who God created them to be and are literally shaping themselves into their own idols. This can make the mockery much more personal and cuts much deeper because the idol and the person are the same. Where do we go from here? Do we go around mocking every transgender person we come across?

Nuance Alert!

Mockery is a dangerous tool, and it needs to be used carefully. At this point, a distinction needs to be made. There are two types of people, those that are hurting and confused, and those that are unholy prophets of current cultural idols. For the first group mockery is not needed, someone who has hurt themselves and is broken, needs the grace and restoration of the gospel. The second group is what this blog is targeted towards. There are many today who are champions of our modern idols. They do not need to be flattered by the nice guys, they need to be mocked, and treated as the scriptures treat them. Once the church grows a backbone, there may still be hope for us yet.

Cover image:

https://mybible.com/bibles/kjv/books/1ki/chapters/18