Articles
Blaming Right for Wrong
One of the ways of attacking what is right is to blame it for the free will actions of others. For example, in the aftermath of the recent Planned Parenthood shooting in Colorado talk show host Chris Cuomo asked Carly Fiorina if she regretted her “rhetoric” in condemning the inhumane practices of the abortion mill. His accusation was that Fiorina’s opposition to Planned Parenthood for selling aborted body parts was in part responsible for the killer’s actions.
It is a common tactic of the left to stigmatize and silence those who hold to certain moral standards. If a homosexual is attacked by vicious bigots, it is because they were incited by those who oppose homosexuality. If someone decries the evil of militant Islamic extremists, he/she is helping the recruitment efforts of ISIS. If the use of illicit drugs is criminalized, it increases the market for “forbidden fruit.” Advocating corporal punishment for a child creates a climate for child abuse.
A clear Biblical example of this was when Korah, Dathan and Abiram rebelled against Moses and Aaron (Num 16:3). Moses forthrightly exposed the sin for what it was: pride (16:7); ingratitude (16:9-10); rebellion against God (16:11). At God’s command he ordered the people to withdraw from these men and called down judgment upon them (16:28-30). As Moses foretold, the earth opened and swallowed the rebels.
One would think that this would have ended the matter, but no: “On the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, ‘You have killed the people of the Lord’” (16: 41). What?! Where was the outrage against the rebellion which created the problem in the first place? It was missing because many of the people probably sympathized with the rebels. They reserved their ire for Moses who firmly took a stand for what was right. Sound familiar?
To be fair, there is great potential for words to destroy, and Scripture warns against ill-advised speech (Jas 3:5-8; Pr 4:24; 10:18-19; 12:13; 16:27; etc.). We certainly can incite others by urging them to do what they shouldn’t do. But this principle is corrupted into something more sinister. Defending what is right is just that … defending what is right. But evil wants us to stop defending what is right lest it encourage someone to do what is wrong.
This kind of criticism is, of course, selective. It is easily applied by the critic to values he rejects while refusing to apply it in reverse.
The bottom line: people are responsible for what they do. Unless they are deranged and they shoot innocent bystanders – in which case no one else is responsible for their heinous act. What we should do is hold wrongdoers accountable for their actions and punish them accordingly. What we should not do is blame people of principle for taking a stand for what is right. What, exactly, is the alternative? To stand idly by and let evil run roughshod over the innocent? When we adopt unrighteous values and tragedy results, there is nothing else to do but blame those who tried to tell you that you were wrong to begin with. “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them” (Eph 5:11).
