FROM THE MANUSCRIPT
In the author’s words
This Is Not Persecution Some people call it persecution the moment their certainty is questioned. They can question your soul, your salvation, your family, your faith, your sincerity, your destiny, your relationship with God, and your eternal future. But the moment you ask them whether they have deeply examined the beliefs they use to judge you, suddenly they are being attacked. That is not persecution. That is exposure. There is a difference between being hated for righteousness and being uncomfortable because your arrogance has been named. There is a difference between suffering for truth and suffering because someone placed a mirror in front of your contradiction. Not every wound is martyrdom. Sometimes the wound is pride being touched. Sometimes the pain is not proof that you are being persecuted. Sometimes the pain is proof that something false in you is being challenged. A mirror does not become violent because the face looking into it dislikes what it sees. Many people want the right to confront everyone else without ever being confronted. They want to speak of sin, judgment, salvation, hell, truth, obedience, scripture, and God, but they do not want anyone to ask whether their own life has been shaped by the very words they use. They want a pulpit, not a mirror. They want authority without examination. They want conviction without humility.
The God They Inherited, manuscript p. 487. Transcribed from the supplied manuscript; line breaks normalized.
The definition above is an editorial summary of this chapter, not a separately named theory or a claim of scientific proof.