"Don't Be Sinphobic"

Political and ideological rhetoric has always involved a great deal of unpleasantness, perhaps more today than in the rest of recent memory. Often during the course of this sort of speech, words are thrown about flippantly, without much regard to their true meaning and weight. This is especially obvious when ad hominem (personal) attacks are employed. A very relevant and prevalent example today is the word phobia. Anyone who has watched the news or been on social media in the last few years will have heard myriad uses of phobia, phobe, and/or phobic as suffixes for whatever sin is being defended in a given context—e.g., homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, et al. All such terms are intended as insults to them at which they are hurled (often Christians), and the use of them has had some success, as seen in the spread of "cancel culture." They have been less successful lately, however. Why? The reasons are many, but arguably the most poignant is that such monikers are definitionally false.

How are they definitionally false? Consider the definition of phobia: "An irrational, persistent fear." The modern usage of the word, represented by the examples above, does not carry that meaning. The people labeled as insert issue of the day here-phobe almost never have an irrational fear of whatever the prefix is. Instead, they have a rational opposition to the sin that the prefix would express. The word is therefore misused, but we can also easily extrapolate what is actually meant when someone is labeled as having one of these "phobias." They aren't really being accused of having an irrational fear, but of bearing hatred—hatred for homosexuals, transsexuals, or Muslims, to use the previous examples. It is easily seen, therefore, that such labels are false on two levels: first, in that the word is being misapplied, and, second, that what is actually meant is also false. It is false because no true Christian hates anyone. We are, rather, acting in accordance with our namesake; Christ hates and condemns sin, but He doesn't hate sinners. Much to the contrary, He loves all sinners. Telling people that their sin will result in the loss of their soul (Rom. 6:23) is not hateful. It is loving. Telling people they're just fine as they are and don't need to repent—that's hateful.

Christians must do their utmost to ensure that they're never rightfully accused of being phobic, whether that means being irrationally fearful or knowingly hateful of others. We must "…always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear" (1 Peter 3:15). It stands to reason that we must also be always ready to explain why we condemn sin, and why that amounts neither to fear nor hatred of our fellow man. We also ought not be too disheartened when we are falsely accused of being "phobic." So long as we are "speaking the truth in love" (Eph. 4:15) and also acting in accordance with Ephesians 4:31-32, then, when we are the subject of such vitriol, it is an indication that we are doing something right. Jesus Himself said so very early in His preaching: "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Matt. 5:11-12).