Looking no further, a world of nice people, content in their own niceness, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of Salvation as a miserable world—and might even be more difficult to save. —C.S. Lewis
With the Lewis remark as our backdrop, it seems proper to note that modern “Churchianity,” with its various filters and interpretations, takes pride in its “taming” or “civilizing” of the Bible. The Bible has been amended to teach, above all else, that we must be “nice.” As such, “niceness” has become the sine qua non of acceptable religion for modern-day Christendom. Thus, the prohibition against “offending a brother” is misunderstood and misapplied to uphold the middle-class idea that we must be “nice” at all cost, even at the expense of truth. Consequently, reflecting the wisdom that comes from below and not above, charging one’s interlocutors with being mean-spirited has become a useful device for skirting the arguments and charges of one’s critics. Although such craftiness is a sad commentary on our times, it will continue to be despised by men and women of integrity.