The term "dumbing down" is the deliberate oversimplification of intellectual content for some agenda or other. It happens in many ways.
"The term 'dumbing down' was a secret code used by film writers in the 1930s to revise scripts to appeal to viewers of lower intelligence…today's Americans are in serious intellectual trouble…in danger of losing all cultural and political capital because of illogical rationalism, diminished civic education, false idealism, and lowered expectations…Cogent knowledge is replaced with rumor, gossip, half-truths and non-truths."**
This is not a political page and I do not ever intend it to become one, but this springboard will help us in a spiritual area as well. In several ways, we have started "dumbing down" God's people.
Recently, I posted a quote which suggested that the Scriptures should make us uncomfortable, undermine our complacency, and upend our usual pattern of behavior. It was meant to be a wakeup call, something we need in an era where no one wants to upset anyone, and certainly not warn them about God's righteous indignation. And, as I should have expected, someone came in to remind us that God is a loving God and his Word will encourage and comfort us, too. Of course it will, but that comment completely undermined the effects of a needed message. A young man once told me that he listened to sermons his entire life that never made him straighten up despite the fact that they were entirely scriptural. What finally changed him was sermon after sermon by a man who was not afraid to say, "Repent or perish," just like Jesus did.
This has been a problem with God's people for centuries. Look at these passages below, all of them spoken to the people of God by the inspired prophet Jeremiah.
They have contradicted the LORD and insisted, “It won’t happen. Harm won’t come to us; we won’t see sword or famine.” The prophets become only wind, for the LORD’s word is not in them. This will in fact happen to them (Jer 5:12-13). No matter what Jeremiah told them, they would not listen. "God won't do that to us."
Stand in the gate of the house of the LORD and there call out this word: Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the LORD. “This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your deeds, and I will allow you to live in this place. Do not trust deceitful words, chanting: This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD (Jer 7:2-4). They still had the Temple. How could God ever destroy it and them, his chosen people, they asked in wide-eyed wonder?
For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is making profit dishonestly. From prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have treated My people’s brokenness superficially, claiming, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace (Jer 6:13-14). And I replied, “Oh no, Lord GOD! The prophets are telling them, ‘You won’t see sword or suffer famine. I will certainly give you true peace in this place.’ ” (Jer 14:13). This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are making you worthless. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the LORD’s mouth. They keep on saying to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD has said: You will have peace.’ They have said to everyone who follows the stubbornness of his heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’ ” (Jer 23:16-17). Just like today, they had people who wanted to focus only on the goodness and mercy of God. "God is a loving God. He would not want us to be unhappy."
What did Jeremiah say about all of that? Your prophets saw visions for you that were empty and deceptive; they did not reveal your guilt and so restore your fortunes. They saw oracles for you that were empty and misleading (Lam 2:14). When we focus only on the kindness and mercy of God and forget his promise of punishment to the disobedient, when we do our best to take away the sting of some difficult passages because we "don't like them," or when we undo the warnings of the men of God who preach them, we are no better than the false prophets of old. We have successfully "dumbed down the church" with a diet of pablum instead of the meat they need to chew, and chew hard on.
The next time you see or hear a tough message, thank God that someone still has the chutzpah to preach it, and then make yourself a little uncomfortable by heeding it.
Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. (Rom 11:22).
*Statistics from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
**William Haupt III, "The Dumbing Down of America" in The Center Square.
Dene Ward