In our current cultural moment, it feels like something akin to hatred and a lack of tolerance is all around us. We see an impetus to punish anyone whose ideas or behaviours we disagree with. High-profile individuals, and even ordinary teenagers, endure campaigns of harassment, shaming, and boycotting. Public floggings are back, but this time in the form of cancel culture. Today, accountability is everything, but redemption feels impossible.
While we might wring our hands in despair at this hostility, we need to listen to what is bubbling under the surface. At its core, there is a passion for justice and a stark refusal to simply accept harm.
If this material world of biology, physics, and chemistry is all there is, why should we experience such disgust and fury at injustice?. If we are merely a “bucket of biochemistry,” why does it matter?. Our human rage points beyond itself to the sacredness of life. It points to the reality that every human being is infinitely precious and made in the image of God. Injustice should outrage us precisely because human beings have profound, divine value.
The problem with cancel culture is that it offers no way back. If our culture holds out little possibility of redemption, forgiveness begins to be seen as a moral weakness that minimizes harm. We see the tragedy of identity politics, where people construct their meaning through grievance, leading to ever-increasing rage and the collapse of forgiveness.
When forgiveness is gone, we are left with a cold cruelty resonant of the authoritarian regimes of the past. We are wired for redemption, yet our current systems leave us floundering in bitterness, making actual justice and peace elude us.
Is there such a thing as forgiveness that does not minimize harm or dehumanize those who have suffered?. Yes. The Christian story offers a profound alternative. Jesus of Nazareth willingly died by crucifixion, paying the ultimate ransom and price for the transgressions of the world.
Christian forgiveness does not say the incident didn’t hurt, wasn’t wrong, or didn’t matter. It affirms that the harm matters profoundly. However, it gives us the power to release our perpetrators from our vengeance because we can trust that ultimate, eternal justice rests in the hands of God. Because the Son of God paid the highest price, forgiveness is not cheap—it underscores the utter seriousness of the evil that occurred.
Forgiveness liberates us from the burden of accomplishing vengeance, a feat that is ultimately beyond us. It frees us from living in a state of perpetual victimhood and enables us to live in peace.
As we navigate this hostile culture, the power to forgive, and to receive forgiveness, may just be the greatest gift that the Christian story can offer our age. By embracing the grace of Jesus, we can step away from cancel culture, becoming “wounded healers” who help to rebuild our broken world.
If you are looking to take these truths from your head to your heart—especially as we navigate the heavy realities of pain, trauma, and trying to live faithfully in a broken world—I want to invite you to explore my book, Forgiveness. Together, we look closely at one of the most challenging yet profoundly restorative commands of Jesus, discovering how it is possible to find healing and hope even when it feels impossible.
