In John 15:18, Jesus said, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” But why? Jesus provides the answer in verse 19, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” Can this be avoided? According to Jesus, I’d say no. He said, “If they persecuted me,” which they did, “they will also persecute you” (v. 20).

Scripture repeatedly informs us that we will be hated, rejected, and persecuted for our faith, so we shouldn’t be surprised. Following Jesus means to counter all of man’s natural desires, making it both controversial and offensive to the unconverted. And the Bible, authoritative and eternal, does not change with the times. So, as the times evolve further away from adherence to biblical mandates, Christians can only expect pushback to intensify and become more common. The world doesn’t necessarily hate you, but it hates the Truth you proclaim.

A recent poll conducted by Whitestone Insights asked 2,088 U.K. adults if they agreed with this statement: “Unless the offending parts can be edited out, books containing what some perceive as hate speech should be banned from general sale, including if necessary religious texts such as the Bible.” The results showed a substantial amount of Brits agreed with the statement above, with 18 to 34-year-olds making up 23% of those who agreed and 35 to 54-year-olds making up 17%. These statistics reflect what we already see in the U.K.

Street preachers preaching the Bible and pro-life advocates silently praying have been arrested. Päivi Räsänen, former Minister of the Interior, was acquitted of hate speech charges for posting a Bible verse on X. Hate crimes against Christians have increased throughout Europe, and persecution remains widespread in other parts of the world. So, an uptick in the Bible being classified as “hate speech,” to the point of people being open to banning it, only follows suit. But the larger issue are the Christians folding under the pressure of these claims.

Romans 12:2a states, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” Yet, we see the church conforming to the world to avoid offense. Aaron Renn, a senior fellow at American Reformer, wrote, “Where once there was a culture war between Christianity and secular society, today there is a culture war within evangelicalism itself.”

Most clearly seen among LGBT and abortion activists, modern secular “morality” demands the church needs to change, lest it be “canceled.” While a flimsy threat to the strong in faith, the tidal wave of criticism has, indeed, caused many churches to fall away from Truth and modify their doctrine. I believe it goes without saying that a modified doctrine (such as with same-sex marriage) is no doctrine at all. If anything, it’s self-governance, which is really just chaos.

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