The Heresy of Wokeism (Part 2): What Is Our Response?
Wokeism is deceptively attractive to sincere Christian people. If you are tenderhearted, care for the outsider, and are willing to sacrifice for the marginalized, then without clear teaching, wokeism will be almost irresistible. Whose heart does not ache for the oppressed? Who doesn’t want to be a champion of the weak and disempowered and marginalized?
In part 1 of this series, we looked at some of the roots of wokeism, an outgrowth of the earlier Christian heresy of Marxism. Over the course of the 20th century, Marxist thought was applied to areas outside of economics such as race, sexuality, and gender. This general spirit is what we mean by wokeism. We call it a heresy because it takes the language of Christianity and uses it to espouse a worldview that is actually hostile to the kingdom of God and the mission of the church.
In this second article we’ll consider a Christian response to wokeism, first by clarifying why it is different from Christian orthodoxy, second by considering the cultural impact of wokeism, and third by offering a strategy for Christians to resist it.
HOW DOES WOKENESS DIFFER FROM CHRISTIAN ORTHODOXY?
Wokeism is deceptively attractive to sincere Christian people. If you are tenderhearted, care for the outsider, and are willing to sacrifice for the marginalized, then without clear teaching, wokeism will be almost irresistible. Whose heart does not ache for the oppressed? Who doesn’t want to be a champion of the weak and disempowered and marginalized?
But when we say that wokeism is a heresy, it means it is not just a minor error in Christian doctrine. There are many errors that Christians believe in the Christian faith that might not be helpful, but that don’t upend the faith. Heresies strike at the vitals of the Christian worldview and must be handled with far deeper scrutiny.
So, in what way does wokeism deviate from Christian orthodoxy?
One of the most basic Christian beliefs is that all people have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). Jesus called both the rich and the poor, the Israelite and the gentile, man and woman to repent of their sin and turn to him to be transformed. Sin is not concentrated in any of these groups more or less than another. His compassion for the outsider was paired with a call for the outsider to repent.
When the righteous are exclusively seen to be among the disempowered, it gives opportunity for proud and wicked people to wield the power of guilt over their leaders.
In addition, while all are sinners, the Bible also recognizes that there are righteous and wicked people. There are people who are imperfect sinners, but who nonetheless live what we would regard as a righteous life. We all know people like that. And the righteous and wicked are not necessarily more or less concentrated among those in authority. Both rich and poor, white and black, man and woman, pastor and congregant, boss and employee all have the righteous and wicked among their numbers.
For example, you will not find anywhere in the Bible that says women are more righteous than men. They may be more disposed toward certain aspects of righteousness—piety, kindness and compassion, gentleness (of course these are generalizations)—but they are also more disposed to certain sins: being gossips and busybodies, being easily deceived, or being critical of their husbands (e.g. 1 Tim. 2:12-14; 5:13; Prov 27:15). Men, too, may be more disposed to certain aspects of righteousness: defending the truth, courage, encouragement, and discipline. But they also have sin temptations: abdication of responsibility, harshness and anger, lust (e.g. Gen 3:6; Col. 3:19; Matt. 5:27-30).
The same can be said for the rich and poor, or pastors and congregants. There are righteous rich and wicked rich. You see both in the Bible. Especially in wisdom literature, wealth is routinely attributed to two opposite lifestyles: sometimes to righteous living, other times to fraud or violence. The same is true for the poor. There are the righteous poor and the foolish poor, impoverished precisely because of their sin, typically laziness. In the Biblical view, a person’s character is not determined by their class or station in life, nor does someone’s character necessarily determine their station, but “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Cor. 5:10).
Christ wills the ten commandments and our fair treatment of each other; he does not will equal outcomes for all people.
When the righteous are exclusively seen to be among the disempowered, it gives opportunity for proud and wicked people to wield the power of guilt over their leaders. This kind of revolutionary spirit is seen as highly suspect in the pages of Scripture. Consider, for example, the rebellion of Korah and his followers against Moses in Numbers 16. The story has the same envy and entitlement that plagues our culture:
“They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, ‘You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” (Num. 16:3)
The rebels were saying to Moses, “We should be considered just as authoritative as you! We want equity, this is unjust!” Truly there is nothing new under the sun, as we’ve seen this same scene from the 15th century BC play out again and again in the 2020s.
Practically speaking, wokeness only has the power to tear things down, but can never build up.
The Bible never says that all people will be equal—in status, wealth, intelligence, appearance, or even spirituality. We are not given equal gifts; they are sovereignly appointed according to God’s will and grace. “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (Eph. 4:7). While we must work against any injustice that robs people of what is theirs by right before God, and while we should practice compassion and give special consideration to the poor and disadvantaged (as God does: Lev. 19:9-10; Prov. 31:8–9), we must not think we can make the world a level playing field when that is not even the will of Christ. Christ wills the ten commandments and our fair treatment of each other; he does not will equal outcomes for all people.
Most woke people simply want to give power to the marginalized. But if you have already determined that those with power will abuse it, what will these newly empowered people do with the power and wealth entrusted to them?
C. S. Lewis, in an epilogue to his classic The Screwtape Letters, “Screwtape Proposes a Toast,” describes the diabolical thinking that undergirds the woke spirit and resists the inequalities woven into nature:
“And what we must realize is that ‘democracy’ in the diabolical sense—‘I’m as good as you,’ Being Like Folks, Togetherness—is the finest instrument we could possibly have for extirpating political democracies from the face of the earth … For ‘democracy’ or the ‘democratic spirit’ (diabolical sense) leads to a nation without great men, a nation mainly of subliterates, morally flaccid from lack of discipline in youth, full of the cocksureness which flattery breeds on ignorance, blustering or whimpering if rebuked. And that is what Hell wishes every democratic people to be. For when such a nation meets in conflict a nation where children have been made to work at school, where talent is placed in high posts, and where the ignorant mass is allowed no say at all in public affairs, only one result is possible … ”
This could not be a more prescient description of woke culture from 80 years ago. Wokesim is not just a philosophical error; it is culturally destructive.
WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF WOKENESS AND WHY DOES IT MATTER TO US?
One of the great ironies of Wokeness is how self-defeating it is. If you say that all of history is about those in power oppressing those without power, how are you going to solve this problem? Most woke people simply want to give power to the marginalized. But if you have already determined that those with power will abuse it, what will these newly empowered people do with the power and wealth entrusted to them? Won’t they inevitably oppress others?
The self-defeating nature of wokeness is not just a philosophical problem. Practically speaking, wokeness only has the power to tear things down, but can never build up communities. Wokeness can’t build families, churches, businesses, schools, institutions, sports teams—it can’t build any of the organizations that make up thriving and beautiful human cultures. Why? Because every one of these communities involves leadership and authority. People must be given power.
If our worldview thinks everything is about power, then money, sex, gender, and race are all just power grabs. If you view power this way, you won’t be able to use power for good and righteousness. That is why a woke organization like BLM, as soon as it raises millions of dollars to fight injustice, itself becomes corrupt. Their whole worldview is that anyone with power is corrupt, so as soon as they are given power, they inevitably prove their own doctrine true.
So how should Christians respond to wokeism?
WHAT ARE STRATEGIES FOR RESISTING WOKEISM?
First, we need to understand it and its roots so we can recognize it and be able to intellectually resist it. That’s the goal of this series.
Second, we need to resist the temptation to overreact. Part of how Satan uses a heresy like wokeism is to tempt the church into the opposite error. It is tempting to hear any mention of abuse or racism as wokeness. We could deny that these things are even real and, therefore, not confront them when they do arise. It’s true that the church needs to call out the sins of women, just like the men. Our women should want and welcome that, even from male pastors. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t men oppressing the women who are the “weaker vessel” (1 Pet. 3:7). The church must seek wisely to be a place of justice. And that is related to a third thing we should do.
Third, we must pursue righteousness, love, excellence, and courage in every area of leadership and authority the Lord gives to us. If you are in authority, as Jesus says, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more” (Luke 12:48). Similarly James says of people who want to be pastors: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (Jas. 3:1).The church has to recognize that we often tempt people toward wokeness. Every time a celebrity pastor has a moral failing, or the Catholic church (or a Protestant church) covers up an abuse case, or handles church funds in a questionable way—each instance tempts its members toward this heresy.
Authority takes skill. We must hold ourselves to the highest standards of dignity as husbands, fathers, parents, pastors, administrators, bosses, governing officials, board members, the wealthy, coaches, doctors, and academics. There is a huge need to re-earn the trust of those who rely on our institutions, and Christians are the ones to lead the way.
What a huge opportunity there is in our day. While people have never been more distrustful of institutions, they have also never been hungrier for community. Everyday, I pray for revival in Bellingham and Whatcom county. But revival means that people from all walks of life, men and women, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, from every race—would see their own sin, and turn to Jesus, the friend of sinners. He is the only one who can build a truly just society; and, to be agents of that justice, we must stay close to the word of God and away from the heresies of our generation.
