Why do Christians love telling the world how offended we are?

Christians in the West, and America in particular, are spoiled. We really have no idea what it’s like to suffer for our faith, yet we imagine we are persecuted when lost and hurting people are used by the enemy to shock and offend us. A case in point is an e-mail alert sent out by Focus on the Family’s Citizen Link, calling upon Christians to complain to NBC about a special it plans to air that features Madonna wearing a sparkly crown of thorns on a mirror-covered cross. Focus wants believers to tell the network’s entertainment president that “mocking the crucifixion of Christ for the sake of controversy-driven publicity and ratings is offensive to Christians.”

As Christians, why are we so quick to take offense? Is this the message we want to send people who are desperately in need of Christ’s love and forgiveness? Is this how Jesus taught us to evangelize—by telling the lost how much they offend us? Will complaining about NBC’s depiction of Madonna in a crown of thorns lead one network executive to Christ? I doubt it. If anything, it will alienate the very people we should be trying to reach with His love.

Instead of whining to NBC about how “offensive” their programming is, why not tell them how much Jesus loves them? How about showing them the same forgiveness Jesus demonstrated when He took our sins to the cross and said, “Father, forgive them…”?

Now wouldn’t that be a radical message?