The Tweeters of Righteousness
In which we arrive safely at our destination and I fisk the tweets of Kevin M Young
The vote for traveling in two cars—bolstered by many insightful thoughts and prayers on Facebook—won the day and so we divided along sex and gender (both), the boys in the dilapidated 2005 Honda Odyssey and the girls in the 2019 Nissan Kicks with radar so that when I swerve into oncoming traffic various alarms go off. The gentlemen listened to fifteen hours of the history of the Plantagenets, and the ladies consumed the same amount of Agatha Christie Content, essentially two novels and a short story. We greeted each other at gas stations along the way and chatted on the phone, and snacked to stay awake. So anyway, now we’re in the usual post-travel stupor so that’s pretty fantastic.
Also, the Supreme Court just announced a big decision, and even more wonderfully, Kevin M. Young posted this gem on Twitter whilst I was driving:
He continued:
Truly, truly, I have to say it every time, Dr. Kevin M. Young is my favorite “progressive.” He’s just so fun. He says everything that every other person of his theological ilk is thinking, but without worrying about trying to make any of it at least appear to make sense. His knowledge of the Bible is charmingly incoherent.
Because I’m not even awake yet, let’s just look at his first tweet, his “takedown” of whoever first posted “Jesus didn’t eat with sinners and tax-collecters because He wanted to appear inclusive, tolerant, and accepting. He ate with them to call them to repentance.” Young’s response—“Inclusive, tolerant, and accepting, Jesus ate with them. FULL STOP. Jesus shared many meals with outsiders, but exactly ZERO of them were leveraged to rebuke their sin, preach condemnation, or call them to repentance”—makes my heart sing.
As you know, if you have read any of the Bible, Jesus called every single person to repent and believe in him. Be perfect, therefore, he splained, as your Father in heaven is perfect. Half the crowd quivered in woe and the other half blindly and dumbly raised their hands to explain that they had already reached that exalted state. Both the “gatekeeper” and the “sinner” were called to repent because both were sinners. The difference, because there is one, is that the sinners knew they were sinners and so, when called to repent, they did, whereas the religious intelligentsia of the day, like Kevin M. Young, though perhaps brighter than most of our modern-day theological bulbs, thought they were already good and so did not avail themselves of Jesus’ offer of forgiveness and eternal life. Everyone was sick, but only some of the sick people knew they were sick. So yes, Dr. Young, the religious leaders of the day needed to repent, but so did the outcast and sinner, it’s just that more of the outcasts and tax collectors did than the religious leaders. But also, as you read along, you’ll discover that some religious leaders also repent and believe, like that synagogue ruler, and Nicodemus, and even more after Pentecost.
So yes, Jesus did eat with sinners and tax collectors, but in the main, those sinners had already repented, having heard the condemnation of their sin by the law, and then having flung themselves at the feet of Jesus begging for mercy. The meals they then shared with their Lord were filled with unalloyed joy. Whereas the meals that Jesus “shared” with those who already believed themselves righteous were grotesque affairs, embarrassing, and lacking in basic manners though Jesus, in all cases, was not the offender. He used all the sarcastic winsomeness at his disposal and yet they would not turn to him for salvation.
Kevin M. Young is so illustrative, in real, literal time of what happens to your reading ability when you reject certain unassailable truths—the very truths that made it impossible for the Pharisees to recognize that their God had come to be with them. Isn’t it ironic? In claiming to be wise, one becomes excessively foolish. In claiming to be righteous, one rejects the source and fountain of all righteousness. In meandering through the scriptures, one comes away with ZERO knowledge that leads to eternal life. So that is too, too bad.
Have a nice day!
I do "get" your appreciation of Dr. Kevin M. Young -- he is one of the most perfect specimens of his "type" that I've seen. But every time you post some tweet of his, I want to throat punch him. Then, always, I remember to leave room for the wrath of God.
Every so often, some friend of mine will post a tiresome meme which states that many people who have tattoos are great people, while most church people are scoundrels. Only their complete absence from all churches for decades could allow them to go on thinking this. It is much like how Dr. Kevin M. Young's complete ignorance of Scripture allows him to tweet such things as you quote above.
I confess to hitting the mute option on Dr. Young from time to time. His arrogance coupled with bad theology is hard to scroll by without raising my blood pressure. Your post today really helps encourage me to see the irony and wit in his vapid feed. Thank you!