8.14.23
Hey, Calvary Fremont –
JK Rowling has been banished to Secular Hell.
JK Rowling, author of the wildly popular Harry Potter books, was canceled from the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle for her “hateful & divisive” views on transgender issues. Her name and image have been removed from the Harry Potter exhibit at the museum. The exhibit wasn’t removed – just her! The museum’s transgender project manager criticized Rowling for her bigotry toward transgender people. She is no longer worthy of the Wizarding World she created.
Here are some of the more vicious criticisms leveled at JK Rowling for her views on the transgender issue –
She has been accused of being a TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist), a term that is considered derogatory and hateful by many trans-activists and allies. She has been called a bigot, a transphobe, a fascist, a Nazi, and a white supremacist by some of her critics on social media and in the press.
She has been threatened with violence, rape, and death by some of her detractors online.
She has been boycotted, cancelled, and shunned by some of her fans, celebrities, and the organizations that used to support her work. She has been sued, investigated, and censored by some of the institutions and platforms that published or hosted her work. YIKES!
Many are morally outraged at the Biblical depiction of hell and consider it to be a hideous doctrine unworthy of His character. Yet many who are morally outraged with the doctrine of the wrath of God actively practice the wrath of man. Many who reject the wrath of God and the doctrine of hell readily embrace the Secular Hell of Cancel Culture where there is no grace, no forgiveness, no hope – only darkness and gnashing of teeth. Since Rowling refuses to walk in step with the museum’s ideology, her name was removed-rubbed out-redacted, and she has been discarded-displaced-dismissed. The Bible teaches that God’s wrath is deserved by those who don’t walk in step with Him. The museum is basically saying that Rowling deserves their wrath because she is not in step with them.
The charges of dogmatism, inflexibility, and intolerance leveled against the Church are not absent from secular culture. And this isn’t to say, “Gotcha.” (OK, maybe it is a little.) The Museum of Pop Culture justifies their banishment of Rowling into Secular Hell due to the grievousness of her error. They, no doubt, felt a moral and ethical necessity to do so. Their cultural-logic demands a Secular Hell and the Bible’s theo-logic demands a Spiritual Hell – however one defines that hell. You cannot escape the logical consequences of your morality.
Here is the structure of morality – there is right and wrong, righteousness and unrighteousness. If you do what is right – you are rewarded. If you do what is wrong – you are punished. Though the Museum of Pop Culture and Secular Culture itself gets the content of Christian morality wrong, it cannot escape the structural demands of morality. It rewards what it regards as right and punishes what it regards as wrong.
I don’t think that dogmatism, inflexibility, and intolerance are necessarily negative attitudes in and of themselves. I am dogmatic, inflexible, and intolerant about some things – and I consider this a virtue. These attitudes can be held and practiced without bigotry and hatred. Am I to curse someone who viciously attacks me or the God I serve? Am I to erase their name and image from my life? No, I am to love and forgive and bless those who curse me – bless and curse not. Though the Museum of Pop Culture has banished Rowling to Outer Darkness, we are to pray for our enemies and bless them in the name of Jesus – bless and curse not.
Be blessed and stay healthy and follow Jesus – Pastor Tim
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