Its just satire

The Babylon Bee website is an increasingly popular website with its scathing and humorous articles which are shared often. It is the brainchild of Adam Ford. He is not the only contributor but is the main one, and the editor.

It is incredible how many people read the articles and believe it is real news. As Christians we have become accustomed to expressing righteous indignation over the latest scandal involving the modern church, modern culture and the erosion of Christian values in our society. Recently ‘The Bee’ did a article entitled, “Mainline protestantism declared a safe place for those offended by the gospel“. A number of people commented on it decrying the gospel being no longer preached. They thought it was a real article. Are we so lacking in awareness that we can’t spot satire from the real thing? Is it possible we have a persecution complex?

This week we heard the awful news that 22 Christians were killed on their way to attend their Church in Egypt. This is persecution.

Sometimes the Bee crosses the line. When they printed this article, “Hillsong United split glory with God” I personally felt they were personal and unnecessarily mean spirited. There is an underlying premise that Hillsong is at least partially ministering for their own glory. Now everyone is subject to critique, but thats mean and personal.

I like having a laugh and clever satire can reveal truth about ourselves which is uncomfortable and humbling. All of us have feet of clay. However the glee at which some share the sometimes derogatory and mean nature of some of the Bees articles concerns me. Ministry is hard enough without unnecessarily harming our own tribe.

All I would suggest is having discernment, with a discernment website.

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