Sophistry is defined as making a fallacious (or false) argument with the intention of deceiving the listener. It is the art of emotional manipulation, and making false ideas seem good through the use of general nice-ities and changing of terms to fit an agenda.
This is a tactic as old as time, and many people are complicit in it without even realizing. Any time you use a cultural term that you don't fully understand, or repeat a phrase given by a cause, without having done due diligence in researching the meaning or greater scope, you engage in sophistry.
A story from the Bible comes to mind when talking about this idea, from the book of Mark 7:9-13, where Jesus is speaking out against the Pharisees and their tradition of "Corban". The word Corban means "given to God" or "devoted to God as a gift", and the Pharisees would often take their financial wealth and declare it as Corban by giving it to the temple.
Now this, on its face, seems like a good thing right? I mean, the Pharisees are giving their money to God and devoting their finances to the temple, so what could possibly be wrong with that, Jesus? Well if you look at the verses just before Jesus condemns the Pharisees, he talks about the practice of Corban as a way that the Pharisees were neglecting the commandment "thou shall honor thy father and thy mother". The Pharisees were actually taking their money and dedicating it to the temple so that when their aging fathers and mothers would come to them for financial support (as was common in the old days before things like retirement pay and government aid) the Pharisees would say, "I have no money to give to you, as all I have is Corban". This allowed them to neglect social responsibilities, all while looking righteous in the process. And the double kicker is that since the Pharisees were the religious elites of the time, they had access to the temple funds! So they could confidently declare their money to be dedicated to God, when in reality it was dedicated to themselves as a way to skirt social responsibilities, and the command of God, through a false religious piety and man-made tradition. How despicable!
So despicable, that Jesus called them out in the presence of many people, that their shame and selfishness might be put on full display. We like to mentally convince ourselves that the Pharisees were just an isolated group of people, committing these self-righteous acts of man-made religion that they might profit or look good among men, but we often neglect that they were teachers. The Jews saw them as wise men to be revered and looked up to in culture. Enlightened. Righteous. Justified. And as such they taught many people their traditions and ways; the same traditions that Jesus condemns wholeheartedly in this passage. This is also seen in Matthew 23:13-15, where Jesus says that the Pharisees make their followers "twice as much a child of Hell" as themselves. It was a way for Jesus to not only show them their hypocrisy, but to expose it to those who would follow them.
Wait, did Jesus just call people "children of Hell"? Yes, dear reader, which brings us to our next point: how we should combat sophistry. When we see strong language we inherently recoil. We think, "oh, that doesn't seem like a very christ-like thing to say", or "that doesn't really seem loving/caring", yet we disregard the words that Jesus, God in the incarnate flesh, uses to expose the lies and wicked hearts of the Pharisees of the day. Scripture is filled with examples like this: Jesus calling the Pharisees whitewashed tombs, hypocrites, fools, blind guides, sons of murderers, snakes, and broods of vipers, just to name a few.
So what should we say then? Was Jesus, son of the living God, being unloving when he said these things? On the contrary, it was the most loving thing he could possibly say. Jesus was exposing hypocrisy and the commonly used sophistry at the time. He wanted them to know that these ideas lead to death and destruction by telling them the plain, simple truth. Mockery and satire are like swords; blades that when used in their proper context, and honed properly, can cut back the layers of deceit and corruption in peoples minds and ideas. Jesus was a master of it, and he recognized that there were some ideas that were deserving of mockery because of how damaging and utterly ridiculous they were.
More proof of this can be found with the apostle Paul and his letters to the churchs of Galatia, and Philippi. To the church of Galatia, they were teaching to the gentile nations that in order to be saved one must enter the old covenant (that of circumcision) before they would be allowed into the new covenant (that of the blood of Christ). Paul, knowing the teaching of the gospel, and the requirement for salvation being of faith and not works, was not too happy with this, and rightfully so. Paul explains that if anyone desires to be saved or justified by the old covenant through keeping even one part the law of God, then Christ is of no use to them and they are then subject to the whole law (Galatians 5:2). For why would Christ die as a pardon for your sin if you intend to justify yourself before God, anyway? He was essentially saying, you must choose; either live in the law, and ultimately die as none are perfect to fulfill its demands; or die to Christ, and be born again into new life. But to those who wish to preach about being saved in the old covenant of circumcision? Paul says he wishes that they would emasculate themselves (Galatians 5:12) and just cut the whole thing off. "Wow, Paul, harsh words, how unloving and un-christlike of you." No! Quite the opposite! In fact this is almost, textbook, exactly the same thing that Jesus used strong language against, too. Traditions of men blinding them to the truth.
And to the church of Philippi, Paul is warning them against boasting in the flesh and their own personal credentials/pride. In Philippians 3, we see Paul write out this enormous list of his own credentials as a Jew. We've lost some of the cultural context here, but on paper Paul is saying that by Jewish standards he is flawless, none could compare. It would be like if Michael Phelps, the decorated Olympian, walked into your local YMCA swimming pool with all of his medals on. Trained at a young age, put in countless hours of practice and energy into his sport, unmatched fervor and zeal to win, and a whole host of medals that say he's the best in the world. That was Paul to the Jews, and they would have regarded him as such. And yet, Paul says "all of these things I count as rubbish, that I may gain Christ" (Philippians 3:8). I know you're probably saying, "well that doesn't sound too harsh, what's wrong with that?" To which I'd reply, you probably shouldn't just be blurting out questions to an already written blog, people might get the wrong idea. But in all seriousness, here's a little Greek lesson: the word being used here for rubbish in Greek is "σκύβαλον" (pronounced Skoo-bal-on) which quite literally means "s--t", or "human excrement". Paul wants you to know that all of his credentials are to be considered as such, that he might gain Christ, and he wants you to look at your own earthly credentials that very same way. Again Paul is calling out the spirit of the age, and the dangerous pride being seen in the early church through man-made traditions/doctrines.
But as my wise pastor, Michael Clary, once said: "it's not courageous to fight yesterday's battles. We need courage for today's battles", and while I can sit here all day and write about the failings of people in ancient Judea and the early church, we must consider how to exercise this biblical wisdom in today's age and culture. We must, as Christians, be able to discern the ideas and sophistry of our culture today that are deserving of the blade of mockery.
It's also important to note that I'm not advocating for us as Christians to be offensive all the time, but rather with tact and precision to be able to use this tool to cut through the lies and hypocrisy of our day. Think of it as a literal blade, as lethal force. There are not many times in normal life where something like lethal force is considered necessary, so we should be careful in when, or where, we decide to use cutting language. The force we use should be proportional to the idea we're refuting. When you see a child about to touch a hot stove top, you may be inclined to use a strict tone or stern voice to convey that they ought not to do that. But if you see a child running into a busy street, the tone suddenly becomes a shout of alarm and urgency. This is because the risk to the child is significantly different between the two scenarios, and, likewise, our speech should be fitting to the ideas we are talking about. Also know that regardless of the severity of the situation, we are never called to compromise on truth at any given time. Our tone may change, but truth must never suffer for the sake of tone.
Alright, now let's get specific, shall we? Let's identify topics in today's culture deserving of mockery, and the tearing down of sophistry.
Have you ever heard of the term "reproductive healthcare" when referring to abortion? Or perhaps even heard the term "reproductive rights" when referring to legislation regarding that topic? Maybe you've even used those terms yourself, but regardless, this is classic sophistry. It is presenting this idea or action in a different light by changing the terminology to be more palatable, and by relation the idea becomes more palatable. The reality of the situation is that abortion is quite clearly murder. It is the murder of an innocent human life by chemically poisoning, dismembering, and crushing the baby that is within its mother's womb. We, as Christians, should have no problems saying this, as it is the reality of the situation, even to the face of a person who is actively using these terms. And those who use soft language to support this idea are deserving of mockery, shame, and ridicule for promoting such a disgusting act. Many use these terms just becuase they've been told that they're "proper", or have heard them used by activists, but have no actual idea of what happens inside these murder factories. One might be tempted to soften your language towards these types of people who seemingly don't know any better, but, quite frankly, we live in an age where information is so readily available and easily accessed. Everyone is without excuse. Even if this weren't true, the Bible tells us that the law of God is written upon our hearts in our conscience, that we may be without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20). Don't promote ideas you dont understand, or are unsure of, and don't use the terms that culture hands you so readily in the name of "love". It is not love, it is deception.
The next topic lined with sophistry, is the LGBT movement. Notice how I didn't write "community" as even this has a positive connotation behind it to make you think it's a positive idea. We dont say things like "racist community", or "domestic abusers community", and likewise we shouldn't be using those terms here. Activists of this group will often say that they need "gender affirming care", which would be a sophists way to say that they would like to chemically castrate themselves/their children, chop off their genitalia, and then cross-dress as a member of the opposite sex. These are the true terms of this ideology, and we should see how ridiculous it is with the veil removed. We also see phrases such as "trans rights are human rights" touted at protests and on picket signs. The tactic here is to make one believe that transgender people are oppressed, and being held down as some form of second class citizen in society. That they aren't being treated as "human" if they don't live in a society that completely affirms every part of what they've decided to identify as. It's attempting to make their ideas sympathetic, when in reality you should realize that there are, in fact, no rights that are not levied to trans people, that are levied to everyone else. It's an emotional manipulation tactic, and it needs to be called out lest people fall for it. Also, while I've mostly hit on the idea of "trans" people in this topic, it's important to know that everyone who belongs to this movement is going against the created order of God. Romans 1:27 assures us that people who practice homosexuality will receive in themselves the due penalty of their error. There are real, tangible consequences to living a homosexual lifestyle that many don't know, but it is absolutely devastating to the human body. Homosexuals are also not free of their sophistry with phrases like "love is love", which truly means nothing, but is meant to make you, once again, sympathetic to their ideology. If we truly love the people who are living like this, then we mustn't affirm their delusions, but call them out to right mindedness. Another phrase or idea is the thought that homosexuals are "born that way", again as a ploy to make the idea more sympathetic. "How could you fault them? They were born into this particular lifestyle, and have no control over it!" But, the reality is that we treat no other sin this way. "I was born an adulterer! So it's okay if I sleep with another man's wife", or "I was born a murderer judge! So it's okay I stabbed that man 37 times, I couldn't help it!". Whether the idea that being born into a proclivity towards a certain sin is true or not, it doesn't change the fact that people must be called out of their sins to repentance, and not affirmed in them. If anyone should say that they are born with an inclination to sin, then, in the words of Dr. James White, I would say that person must be born again (John 3:3). We must use the blade of mockery cut through these ideas that people may see how dangerous and wicked they are, and all the more as we see these ideas begin to shift into deeper depravity. It won't be long until the latest strand of sophistry becomes normalized in things like "MAPs" (Minor Attracted Persons), which is a socially soft term to describe pedophiles who desire to defile children.
Lastly, if you're a Christian and you believe that this form of plain speech is offensive and not to be used by professing Christians, you may have bought in to cultural sophistry. A common issue with Christian evangelicals, or evan-jelly-cals (i.e, those without a spine), is that they've bought into this idea that they must present Jesus and the gospel in the best possible light, with only the nicest words, and the best possible context, otherwise no one will come to believe. Who has bewitched you to this idea? And since when was it of your own power that hearts change, and unbelievers desire to follow God? People who believe this have made an idol of evangelism, and placed themselves in the unique position of God by believing that they have the ability to save. "If I can just say the right words, in the right way, and develop a deep relationship with them beforehand, then they'll believe!" Nothing can be further from the truth. When they do this, they make the gospel out to be a product to be sold to non-christians. They have become a spiritual used-car salesmen, trying desperately to convince someone to buy into the faith. They have made the things of God a commodity to be purchased from them, and Jesus ought to drive them out of the temple, whip in hand, the same way he did the last time others made his father's house into a place of commerce. To hold these truths, and biblical ideas, with softness and a winsome attitude, will not win anyone over to anything other than a false depiction of the gospel that they have believed would be more suitable than the one God has already given us. Stop qualifying, stop over-complicating, stop softening, stop playing God. Many of the people who hold these soft views either are, or go on to be, what I would consider to be false teachers. They are those who affirm and excuse the things we talked about above for the sake of "love". The serated edge of mockery must be used against them, if not for their own sake, then for the sake of those who seek to follow them. Also, as a quick aside, Do not be deceived into thinking that, when addressing the sins of the world, you must also prostrate yourselves by divulging your own personal sins. "Well I'm no better than the world! I'm a sinner too!" And while this might be true, you must also know that when you go out into the world, you are doing so with a new nature in Christ, having been justified before God (Ephesians 4:24). You need not relinquish every dark corner of your heart to build some kind of depraved credibility with the ungodly. When we do this, we excuse ourselves from speaking truth, or holding firm on things that are genuinely evil under the guise of false humility. We wouldn't say something as ridiculous as "well I can't speak out against sexual assault, because I've sinned too!" So why, then, do we feel the need to qualify ourselves when speaking out against any form of evil? Evil is evil and it must be addressed that way. Hold the gospel with humility, knowing that you received righteousness not by any power of your own, but don't fool yourself into thinking that every time you challenge evil in the world that you must counterbalance it with some personal wrongdoing. Your message will lose its efficacy this way, and you will be unable to present anything worthwhile.
Remember, too, that when we as Christians are biblically confessing our sins, (i.e, to other Christians) that we should be using biblical terms to refer to our own personal sin. Anytime we soften our own offenses, towards God and others, by using different language, we are engaging in sophistry. Saying things like "I'm really struggling with temptation", or "I probably had one too many last night", or "I was just really upset with my wife this past week" can be examples of softening our personal sin for it to seem more acceptable or understandable. Call these sins what they really are. You are watching pornography and lusting after women, you are an adulterer and need to repent. You are drinking to excess and becoming a drunkard, and you need to repent. You are wrathful toward your wife, committing murder against her in your heart, and you need to repent. Use the language Jesus would have used when talking about your own sin, and be willing to humble yourself in truth; or be willing to be humbled by someone who will speak truth to you.
We should all be able to recognize and declare these truths that have been made evident in scripture, knowing that it is out of love, true love, that harsh words of rebuke can be spoken. We live in a culture where disagreeing means you must hate one another, but if speaking plain truth results in being hated, then truth must abide. And if you love the world, or the things in it, greater than you love the truth of God and his word, then you are not fit for the kingdom (Luke 9:59-62)
Know that you, as a Christian, have been given the authority from God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to preach and teach the things that God has called good (2 Corinthians 10:3-6 / John 16:13 / Titus 2:15). It is not your own will that you proclaim, but the will of your King, in whom there is no error, deceit, or darkness to be found. These are the things that should allow you to boldly speak that which is true, as it has been revealed in scripture. Expect to be disliked, or even hated for this, as we have the guarantee from Jesus that the world hated him first for the things he spoke in truth (John 15:18). And, once again, know that without the wrath of God, we can never come to know the depths of his mercy, grace, and love for us as his people.
Reflect on Proverbs 27:6 "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy."
Sophistry is the kiss of the enemy that desires your destruction, all while making you feel warm and fuzzy.
Mockery is the blade that wounds us where we need it, that we might be spared
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