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Kierkegaard on those offended by Christ

Kierkegaard distinguishes between Christians who authentically believe, and the “offended." Those who believe are willing to undertake, even embrace, personal sacrifices that will, as Christ Himself predicted, lead to intense personal persecution, ridicule etc. These crosses will far exceed the normal trials and tedium that come with everyday life. The “offended” on the other hand are those who are ostensibly with Christ up to a point, perhaps for public reputation, but then, when He [Christ] prescribes a radical remedy to eradicate sin or anticipates the persecution of the believer because of Him, the believer quickly back off. “That’s going too far. What was I getting into with this whole Christianity thing? 'If my eye causes me to sin, pluck it out?!' That's crazy talk!" Fair weather faithful like these are not genuine Christians.

The decisive mark of Christian suffering is the fact that it is voluntary, and that it is the possibility of offense for the sufferer. … What therefore offends is the endless passion with which the eternal blessedness is conceived, corresponding to the endless fear of offense. This is precisely what offends natural man.

In a singular way, Kierkegaard has in his sights those Christians who offer up hardships and trials as Christians, and yet the “trials” are simply the regular, day-to-day burdens that anyone, Christian or Pagan, will surely face at one point or another. Such Christians presumptuously assume that they’ve done their duty as Christians. Not so fast, says Kierkegaard. You’ve done nothing exceptional, nothing saintly. As he colorfully explains,

But listening more closely, one discovers with surprise that these many tribulations are nothing else but illness, financial difficulties, anxiety for the year to come. … or the fact that one has not become what one desired to be in the world, … and one crazily connects them with Gethsemane. In case it were through these many tribulations one enters into the kingdom of heaven, the heathen also must enter into the kingdom of heaven, for they also pass through the same. No, this way of preaching is in an exceedingly dangerous way the abolition of Christianity, in part it is even blasphemous.

Again, Kierkegaard’s message has such relevance today when, all too often, Christianity is co-opted to give sanction or cover for every kind of lifestyle under the sun. Christianity, according to the modern, is not about a deep, personal commitment to Christ, rooted in self-denial and demanding a daily struggle against sin. It is not about "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done." Rather, it is about being, first and foremost, non-judgmental and accepting about other people’s ways of doing things. It is about tolerance, openness and understanding, or as Peter Kreeft put it when speaking about ethics, "It is about 'sharing views' rather than seeking truth." It is about "My will be done." If this is the essence of Christianity, why did Christ predict, even assure, persecutions for those who remain faithful to Him? Why should persecution be expected if our new universal axiom is all about “Celebrating Diversity”? There’s simply no room or need for persecution in the magical land of I’m Okay, You’re Okay. Again, to cite Kreeft: "Why have we reduced him to 'meek and gentle Jesus'? Because we have reduced all the virtues to one, being kind; and we measure Jesus by our standards instead of measuring our standards by him."

That is why, in a world where most of the brake-off brands of Christianity are petering on irrelevance or incoherence against the onslaught of secularism’s relentless demands for lifestyle accommodation, the Catholic Church’s granitic, even stubborn refusal to acquiesce is so remarkable. And so it has been for 2,000 years.

Of course, the dirty little secret is that these harbingers of a new epoch of tolerance and diversity have their knives drawn against the Catholic Church. There you have the persecution. There you have Kierkegaard's offended on the one hand. And there you have the martyrs, saints and, ultimately, Christ on the other.