The Sin of Cluelessness

There is nothing virtuous about being clueless:

If you go to any Bible concordance and look up the word ‘clueless’ you will likely not find it – whatever version you utilise. But a case can be made that what the word means and how it can indeed be sinful is something one can readily find in Scripture – at least in principle.

Of course any standard dictionary will tell you what the word means: unaware, ignorant, uninformed. That this would accurately describe so many people – including far too many Christians – is a sad fact of life. Here I will concentrate on the latter group, and seek to argue that not only are so many believers woefully ignorant about their own faith, but about what is happening in the world as well.

Examples of Christian cluelessness are everywhere to be found, and I have offered plenty of examples over the years. As to cluelessness about their own faith and what the Bible teaches, this is easy enough to demonstrate. For example, how many Christians today could properly and convincingly defend their faith if challenged to do so?

How many even know the very basic and core doctrines of their faith, and could properly defend them when, for example, a cultist comes along? Indeed, how many even know what is in their Bible? Too many have never even read the whole Bible through. It is pretty hard to have a vibrant, working faith, one that can challenge the critics and confound the sceptics, if one does not even read the Bible.

How many believers are utterly clueless about what the Bible teaches on some of the crucial social, moral and cultural issues of the day, such as homosexuality, or abortion? Way too many Christians are utterly clueless about what the Scriptures have to say on so many of these key issues.

This sort of cluelessness is indeed sinful. We are commanded time and time again in Scripture to be a people of knowledge and understanding. As Hosea 4:6 puts it, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Ignorance of what the Bible teaches is no virtue – it is sinful.

To state all this in more positive terms, in the sense of what we should be doing, the Bible speaks to this repeatedly. For example, Paul tells us to ‘study to show ourselves approved unto God’ (2 Timothy 2:15). And as we read about the Bereans, they were noble because they ‘daily studied and examined the Scriptures to see if what Paul said was true’ (Acts 17:11).

Having godly discernment is a big part of this. As Paul says in Philippians 1:9-10, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.”

And it is not just knowing what you believe and what the Bible teaches about the faith. It is also about using biblical truth to be able to discern what is happening in the world around us, and how we are to respond as believers. The classic text here is 1 Chronicles 12:32 which speaks of “the sons of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.”

Again, there is nothing virtuous or Christlike in being unaware, ignorant, unwise, or clueless about what is happening, and how the believer should respond to what is occurring around him. We too need to understand the times, have a basic awareness of what is taking place in the world we live in, and then seek to apply biblical truth and wisdom to these areas.

As said, I have written about this matter of Christian cluelessness often enough already. Take just one article as an example: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2016/05/31/the-cult-of-cluelessness-is-at-it-again/

But the reason for this current piece on the same theme is all the shocking things I have been hearing and reading from those who claim to be Christians concerning the current crisis in American politics. If one ever wanted to see a full-blown case of wholescale cluelessness, just reading some of their comments and posts would surely do the trick.

Not only were plenty of them clueless about what the Democrats actually believe and stand for, but with Biden now being (prematurely) declared to be POTUS by the media, they are singing his praises and carrying on as if some terrific Christian has appeared who will make everything right in the world again.

I have heard and read so much utter nonsense about him by these “believers”, such as he is a ‘fine Christian gentleman’ and ‘he is bringing peace and unity and love to America’ and he is ‘surely so morally superior to Trump’ and so on. Good grief. Talk about clueless.

The Biden/Harris team are the most radical far-left ticket yet on offer by the secular left Democrats. Abortion on demand right up until birth, the radical sexual agenda, and all-out war on those biblical Christians who will not toe the line are just some of the things they promote and will run with if they get into the White House.

Yet we have countless clueless folks who claim to be disciples of Christ who are starstruck over the pair, going gaga over a supposed Biden win, thinking the millennium has now come to America, and everything will be sweetness and light.

I even read one such person said she wept with tears of joy as she heard Biden give his speech declaring victory! Oh for heaven’s sake! Talk about clueless! Talk about those who have zero awareness of what is going on – either in Scripture or in politics. Talk about those with absolutely no understanding of the times and what we should do.

And even if Biden gets in and some of these clueless wonders do get a rude awakening that a radical left Biden administration is not bringing the Kingdom of God to earth, it will be too late by then of course. If – God forbid – the Dems also get control of the Senate, we really can kiss America goodbye. The radical transformation of it by the activists will render it completely unrecognisable.

And then the wholesale persecution of real Christians certainly will ramp up. Will any of these clueless Christians finally wake up? I tend to doubt it. And even if some eventually do, as I say, by then it will be too late with America too far down the tubes.

As Christian conservative commentator Alley Beth Stuckey just tweeted: “Love to see evangelicals who latched onto every media narrative about Trump & encouraged fellow Christians not to vote for him now complain about Biden’s support of gender transition for kids & tax payer funded abortion. If only there has been a way to oppose this earlier…”

Yep, that’s it. So many of us warned and warned about what a Biden win would mean. But far too many of these clueless folks just shut their ears to the watchmen on the wall, and fully ran with the mainstream narrative and the secular left agenda. They had no clue. They had no discernment.

Because of their inability – or unwillingness – to think biblically, to have a biblical worldview, and to have their faith inform all aspects of the their lives, they too often are just clones of the world, and offer nothing of difference to what the pagans are on about.

That my friend is a sin. And as with all sins, the only proper thing to do is repent and turn from it.

[1260 words]

21 Replies to “The Sin of Cluelessness”

  1. A big part of this ignorance is because so many churches refuse to preach/teach on such topics. They dont want to offend you see.
    What shocked me here in sa, after lockdown restrictions were eased, most churches continued on as if nothing happened, but rather, lets be covid safe.
    Dont worry about the potential for future lockdowns and tyranny which threatens believers from gathering!
    So many christians are ill prepared for whats coming.

  2. Many thanks Bill for you apt, poignant, witty and encouraging article– sounds like a start to recipe. Thank you Holy Spirit, and special thanks to your encouraging articles Bill, it was through these that pricked my conscience, as a Christian, to read the entire bible. Starting over again now. Having a proper, solid foundation in God’s word provides, on the one hand, such tremendous confidence in the Lord, but on the other feelings of isolation as it seems few hold to biblical truth that God’s word never changes, and is actually true. It has certainly strengthened my resolve to rely solely on God’s word and not be so influenced by our shifting culture. Otherwise, I would have supported Biden. Perhaps what is going on is a sifting of the wheat and chaff, though, to be selfish, would prefer to have another Republican term to extend the battle/war against the death cultists and Marxists permeating what is left of the free world.

  3. Here’s another example of cluelessness from a comment posted elsewhere in response to a Christian blog article effectively conceding that Biden had won. The comment declared that:

    “(the Biden win was) … an early CHRISTmas present for the US and the world – the election was fair and Joe Biden is the legitimate President – right wing politics has not got a mortgage on Christianity … democracy needs tolerance on different political views – all tolerance was lost during the 4 years Trump had the Presidency.” (EMPHASIS in original)

    How true re tolerance, but in a warped way: tolerance was lost because the Left resolutely refused to accept the 2016 result and worked diligently to undermine and impeach Trump.

    The sheer cluelessness of accepting that the election was fair etc. and that Biden is a fair and legitimate “CHRISTmas present” when Biden is on record bragging of what amounts to a major abuse of his then political position as VPOTUS to have the Ukrainian prosecutor sacked (and so prevented from investigating Hunter Biden’s corrupt business dealings in Ukraine). The media of course looked the other way – then with breathtaking hypocrisy they later hounded Trump for asking Ukraine about the incident accusing Trump of abuse of power in self interest.

  4. God Bless You, God Bless You, God Bless You, such encouraging and truthful words in this time of utter lies and thorough deceit.

    Where is Christian Biblical Discernment?
    Why study the bible, its your spiritual glasses if you refuse to behold the outcome?
    I am 60 years old and new witnessed such a deliberate talk over of our Christian Faith as now and all I see is Christian Celebration.

    It makes me cry in prayer.
    God Bless Australia and America.

  5. People need to realize both political parties and their politicians are flawed and that we live in an imperfect, fallen world. Government is a man-made institution, and the United States is not a theocracy. Sometimes people have to choose between the lesser of two evils when they vote and trust God to bring good out of the situation. Regardless of who is elected President, believers are to be the salt and light of the world in sharing the gospel and being good testimonies for Jesus Christ.

  6. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
    Romans 12:2
    “Transformed by the renewing of your mind”.
    Many Christians DO NOT EVEN BOTHER TO USE their minds!
    Finding Christ DOES NOT EQUAL “losing one’s mind”
    I have just turned 60.

  7. Bless you Bill, patron Saint for the struggle against cluelessness.
    I loved your article right from the starting title.
    Ravi Zacharia had a segment called,” Let My People think.” Amen
    “Love the Lord with all of your……mind….” comes to mind as well.
    We have on purpose ignorance for the sake of “unity” at the expense of truth, which was a great blog you gave us recently. Thank you.

  8. The frustrating thing is that there are Christians who wilfully and deliberately chose to be ignorant.

    I have a Christian relative overseas who is completely oblivious to the culture war going on in the Western world. His church, a mega church, completely avoided the topic. I’m gobsmacked that he misses this huge elephant in the room.

    He reads the MSM and hates Trump and Republicans to the core and support the Democrats. When I told him about the dangers of the Democrats, he was caught completely by surprise. At first, he even asked for references and I gave him links and articles. But after one or two of them, he couldn’t be bothered to read.

    So, he made a wilful, active and deliberate choice to be ignorant.

  9. This, of course, is the nature of hypocrisy (putting on an act). The hypocrite puts on a great show and Jesus even said they appear beautiful on the outside but inside they are full of dead men’s bones. They built great and beautiful tombs for the prophets which they portrayed as giving honor to the prophets but what Jesus said is what they were actually giving honor to was the fact that their fathers had killed the prophets and so their hypocrisy and show-act of honor actually brought more condemnation onto themselves.

    So God knows how to turn what people portray as honor back onto themselves as condemnation when what they actually do is wickedness. This is why Jesus said people’s worship was in vain when they teach the commandments of men instead of what God taught.

    It will be interesting to see how Jesus puts it at the judgement. I suspect His condemnation of the Pharisees gives us some indication.

    I wonder how many prophets will be aborted this year and how beautifully it will be portrayed by the hypocrites.

  10. Perhaps Job’s words are appropriate here:
    Then Job replied to the Lord: “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
    Job 42:1-6 NIV

  11. So true Bill that a lot of Christians are clueless as I was one of them back 4 years ago with all the busyness of life and it didn’t help by having clueless friends. But God sent someone who spoke his opinion/truths and I started to see how wrong my thinking/believing was in this twisted world where white is black and black is white. Now I have to be brave and speak out about how wrong the Democrats are which is shock horror to some church-going people but a lot are listening.
    I had forgotten that today is 11th Nov and Christians in US and here are going to pray at 11.11am

  12. So many sins have become political issues so we decide to not speak on them to “stay out of the political fray because Christ should be available to all not just people of one political stripe”. So all they have to do to shut us up about sins is make them political issues.

    Reminds me of a Simpson’s episode were Rev. Lovejoy said “once the government has declared something legal it is no longer immoral”.

    Ah yes a Biden presidency will be all “sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows”.

    Are the cattle cars ready yet???

  13. the thing that surprises me is how many christians just take it. oh well this is God’s will and we can’t fight God. so many time we roll over while evil fights on. part of Yeats poem the second coming mentions “The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.” pool on the side of evil fight for what they believe in for their principles and for their values yet we again and again do nothing but acquiesce. do we believe in the truth LESS than they believe in lies??? are we so weak so whipped that we cant even put up a fight now before they start hauling us off to camps??? DO we lack all conviction???? because they ARE full of passionate intensity. we bought into the worlds definition of turn the other cheek so much we do so till both cheeks are sore and still ask for more. If we are nice to them they will be nice to us. (sometimes I wonder if niceness can be sinful) That hasn’t been working since I have been on this earth (I am barely middle age). Wimpy hippie Jesus is who the majority of the church follows the guy who won’t defend himself against anything, lets you run rough shot over him, and just smiles at you. A Ned Flanders type. We seem to have become caricatures of ourselves something befitting a late night skit than an actual faith.

    Christianity hasn’t been the same since we adopted the devils music. So much seems to have died in the early 60’s.

  14. Thank you SO for these latest articles. I sometimes feel so alone in my walk with the Lord. Recently, I felt that I needed to stop attending a fairly woolly prayer group after the leader told me that she couldn’t see anything wrong with the new abortion act (in NZ) because the children would have such miserable lives if they were allowed to live! She had earlier also said that she could see nothing wrong with homosexuality because ‘Jesus never mentioned it, only Paul’.
    I am praying for a genuine, Bible believing friend, but am beginning to doubt if such a one exists where I live …
    Your articles therefore mean a great deal to me!

  15. Many thanks Sue. Yes that is a woolly group indeed and time to move on! I will pray you do find a real deal friend or two. Bless you and keep standing strong.

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