Volume 2, Issue 3

October 15, 2024

Hi First name / friend!
 

I remember a few years back hearing Jenn Wilkin say that one thing they never did in their home was use sarcasm. She went on to explain all of the detrimental effects of sarcasm and honestly left me feeling very convicted because sarcasm has always been a regular thing in our home. I have even been known to say that sarcasm is my “love language.”

 

However, my conviction did not last long. While I am sure Wilkin would argue that she was convicted by the Holy Spirit, I was not—I was convicted by her. And all of it changed when I started noticing sarcasm in Scripture.

 

The issue most Christians have with sarcasm is that it is a form of mocking. And we all know that the 11th commandment accidentally omitted from the tablets is “thou shalt be nice” (oops, there I go again!). Christians have allowed the culture to condition us into being so politically correct that we can’t handle anything else. But political correctness was just the first step in the social justice lunacy we see around us today.

 

One particularly sarcastic account in Scripture that comes to mind is when Elijah was on Mount Carmel with the 450 prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18). Elijah taunted the prophets who were dancing around, cutting themselves, and calling out to Baal telling them they should probably shout louder because their god could be relieving himself and couldn’t hear them. Elijah openly mocked these men for turning to a false god instead of worshiping the One True God.

 

All throughout the book of Isaiah, the prophet drips with sarcasm as he admonishes the Israelites for worshiping idols made by their own hands. In Isaiah 44:9-20, he mocks them for using the same tree to make firewood, cook their food, and make an idol, which they worship even though it couldn’t even feed them or warm them.

 

Lest you think these were merely men whom God blessed in spite of their sin of sarcasm, I encourage you to turn to Job 38 where God begins his rebuke of Job and his “friends.” Verse 5 continues God’s questioning as He says, “Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?” Throughout the rebuke God includes many rhetorical questions intended to shame Job for the way He had questioned God in the previous chapters.

 

In the New Testament, we see Christ respond to the Pharisees or speak about them with sarcasm, as well. He even goes so far as to call Herod “that Fox,” making it clear that sometimes name calling is in order.

 

Of course, I am not advocating for intentionally offending people and trying to sow discord, but our culture has tried to convince us that “conviction comes from God, but shame is from the Devil.” I would disagree. Sometimes shame is a tool God uses to draw our attention to our sin. No, He doesn’t want us to live in shame or wallow in shame; that is yet another way we take something He has created for good and pervert it, but shame has its purpose.

 

While I am sure there are those who feel Holy-Spirit conviction to refrain from sarcasm, it is important that we recognize this is an issue of Christian liberty. That means, while the Holy Spirit may convict you and therefore sarcasm in your speech would be a sin, He does not convict everyone equally on this issue, so you must not hold others to your standard.

 

Here are a couple of blog posts to unpack this conversation even more:

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