Teen Vogue and So-Called Unforgivable Sin

Over the last few years, Teen Vogue has made headlines for regularly serving up deeply offensive content, including condoning abortion and offering advice to young women on how to obtain illegal abortions.

But the publication is back in the news this week for firing Alexi McCammond, its incoming editor-in-chief. Back in 2019, she was declared an “emerging journalist of the year” by the National Association of Black Journalists.

Ms. McCammond was let go before she even started because of some offensive comments she tweeted back in 2011 – while she was a freshman in college. Even though she had deleted the comments and apologized for her poor judgment, Teen Vogue nevertheless rescinded their offer to her for employment.

In what is yet another manifestation of “cancel culture,” the New York Post reacted to her firing with a sober but provocative editorial.

Headlined, “No sin is ever forgiven in the brave new woke world,” the piece went on to observe, “But in this world the left has created, there is no path to forgiveness. There is no redemption. There is only smug dismissal. Childhood idiocy makes you a pariah for life.”

I suspect Ms. McCammond and I have profound ideological differences, but I do empathize with her dilemma.

The New York Post is precisely right – this “cancel culture” phenomenon portends poorly for the rising generation. Kids inevitably and invariably make mistakes of judgment. I’m grateful every word I uttered or action I took back in high school doesn’t still hang like a millstone around my neck. I have long ago confessed my sins of youth to God.

“If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins … who could stand?” wrote the Psalmist. “But with you there is forgiveness…” (Psalm 130:3-4).

I am so grateful that Christ offers forgiveness for our sins. The gospel of secularism does not. The secular religion of conformity is now running rampant and doing great danger to many.

As the culture moves increasingly away from God, I suspect these canyons will continue to widen. To whom will these individuals turn for help? When one slips and makes a mistake, how is one rehabilitated and redeemed? Are they lost forever?

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you,” wrote C.S. Lewis.

As we move closer to Holy Week and the commemoration of Jesus’ crucifixion and Resurrection, I hope we might enjoy a renewed appreciation for the gift of our faith and the power of cancelled sin.

Let’s continue to pray for those who remain locked in the grip of unforgiven acts and ask that they may turn to Him, a Savior who can cancel the one thing we need cancelled most of all – our sin.