Tag Archives: Christians

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Racial Justice is too Important to Give to God

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A friend of mine recently expressed frustration on Facebook over the recent injustices towards people of color in our nation. One of the comments on the post was as striking as it was familiar. A white person expressed sympathy towards the plight of people of color in America today, expressed her own frustrations, and then concluded that we just have to ‘give it to God’.

Can I be so bold as to suggest that what we mean when we say ‘giving it to God’ might be the most backwards and unbiblical thing believers can do? To be sure ‘surrender’ and ‘submission’ to a holy God are undoubtedly biblical concepts, but those concepts only make sense when our will is in conflict with God’s. When we want true biblical justice, we don’t need to surrender our will to God because we know that our will is God’s will.

All too often what we mean when we say ‘give it to God’ is that we’re done trying, we’re throwing our hands up and hoping it all works out. It’s a very spiritual sounding way of saying -“I’m not going to do anything about this.”

Does this work in any area of life? If you lose your job, do you sit back and hope it all works out or do you get to work on a resume, and ask your friends and family if they have any leads? When your child is sick do you take a passive approach or do you get them to the doctor?

The entirety of scripture is the story of God inviting human beings to participate and partner in redemption and reconciliation with God.

My fear is that perhaps our real feelings are more sinister than simple exasperation, and are in reality an unwillingness to follow God into true participation of a radical reconciliation process.

As a white person, partnering with God probably means being intolerant of my church being 99% white and having no positions of leadership belonging to people of color. Partnering with God might truly mean moving out of my 95% white neighborhood and sending my kids to a school that isn’t 95% white.

Partnering with God means intentionally, purposefully and regularly praying against violence, against the idea that black men are to be feared and presumed guilty, and that poverty within minority communities is simply a choice they have made, and examining ourselves to eradicate any of those feelings within ourselves.

We can’t act as if God hasn’t given us a means of being co-laborers with Him, that’s not His nature, He has promised to prepare good works for us in advance (Eph 2:10). If we feel like there is nothing that can be done, that should be the signal within us that we have found God’s calling too radical and too impractical to be bothered with.

Photo by 1950’sUnlimited

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How Should Christians Feel About Muslims?

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We hear of  a new terrorist attack in the news seemingly every week. Isis, Al-Qaeda, mass killings, beheadings; it’s enough to make us scared.

I remember when the Sandy Hook school shootings happened and parents across the country were struggling to find ways to tell their kids that it was safe for them to go to school. The problem was that children don’t have a good grasp on the vast remoteness of something similar happening to them; the idea that yes, something horrible happened but, there are over a hundred thousand primary schools in the country and all but a minute number of them have had a very peaceful existence, is lost on a 6-year-old who’s scared.

By now maybe you’ve gathered where I’m going with this.

Many adults, Christian adults, also have a problem conceptualizing that the frequent reporting of Muslim terrorist attacks in the news in no way portrays a picture of  the minutia of Muslim terrorists in a sea of 1.57 billion Muslims world-wide.

So to be clear, to portray Islam as a religion of hate/war/death/etc., based on those Muslims involved in terrorists attacks is first, factually inaccurate, and facts should matter for Christians, we’re called to be truth tellers and seekers. We tend to act like there’s no one who calls themselves a Christian who embarrasses us. How would you feel if you were lumped in with Woodsboro Baptist Church as they protest funerals of members of the military, or the actions of Christians in the Crusades where the death toll is somewhere between 1 and 3 million? 

Second, and maybe more importantly, it’s no way to show love to Muslims in our community. I say ‘more importantly’ because it wouldn’t really matter if 100% of Muslims were terrorists or extremists, our call to from the mouth of Jesus himself to love our enemies does not change, and although many have tried, it takes an enormous suspension of disbelief to conclude that literal violence or even speaking hatefully is loving.

Don’t misunderstand me! This is not an ‘all religions lead to the same God’ post. I find it intellectually impossible to follow the Jesus of scriptures and also believe in that type of Unitarianism. In fact it’s this belief in the exclusivity of Jesus as Lord and Savior that compels me to share his radical love and not disparaging generalizations with everyone.

 

Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one’s first feeling, ‘Thank God, even they aren’t quite so bad as that,’ or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies are as bad as possible? If it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as black. Finally we shall insist on seeing everything — God and our friends and ourselves included — as bad, and not be able to stop doing it: we shall be fixed for ever in a universe of pure hatred. -C.S. Lewis

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My Fellow White People, 6 Things We Need to Get Straight

I originally wrote this post with Ferguson, Missouri in mind, but sadly it addresses something happening all of the country, so I’ve made some small edits to address not just Ferguson, but Baltimore, New York, Charleston (sadly the list keeps growing) and all of the other places around the country that are experiencing similar injustices. I posted it after hundreds if not thousands of blog posts had been written.

Part of the reason why I waited so long to speak up about Ferguson was because I was wrestling and wondering if the world needed another white voice contributing to the conversation. I’ve decided to proceed with writing about it because this piece is intended to speak to other white people, and not signal to people of color that I’m ‘one of the good ones’, also, there have been people in my life that have told me things that were hard for me to believe, and if it had been anyone else talking, I wouldn’t have received it, but because I loved and trusted that specific person, I was able to receive and believe what they were saying. If I can be that person to anyone and say that white privilege is real, there is a big problem, and we need to do things differently, then this will have been worth it. Furthermore, I’ve become convinced that silence is not an option.

I don’t have all the answers and I’m not perfect. Christians many times have no problems admitting in general that we are sinful people, that we can be self-serving and unloving, but when it comes to the specific sin of racism we often claim we are immune. So if I can be uncomfortably honest and transparent, I’ll say that although I don’t know of any forms of racism in my heart, ugliness is not beyond me, so it is plausible that there may be racist ideas, and thoughts in the hidden recesses of my soul, and if there are, I pray that when they are revealed to me, God will eradicate them, and heal and cleanse me from that unrighteousness. Yes, God has made me a new creature, but often I forget to put on that ‘new self’.

So let’s talk about 6 things we have to realize…

1.) Hard facts and statistics show white privilege is real.

The example most widely known is the rate of arrests of black Americans for marijuana as compared to those of white Americans. The rate of use between the two races is similar while the rate of arrest is staggeringly uneven. How do you account for this? The only plausible reason is that whites are treated far more favorably than blacks. That’s white privilege.
But you don’t smoke pot, so you’re not privileged, right? Not so fast. Marijuana arrests are just most well-known and often cited example. Have you sent in a resume to a company you want to work for and received a call back? In all likelihood white privilege had a role in that call back. Easily acquired housing? White privilege. Been given the benefit of the doubt by authorities? White privilege. It’s real and it’s pervasive.
Many of us mistakenly believe that white privilege = racism, so when we hear someone talking about white privilege we think they’re saying – all white people are racist. That’s not the case. We benefit from white privilege whether we want to or not. That’s not to say we shouldn’t fight against the system that perpetuates white privilege, we should. One thing is for sure, not acknowledging it does not make it go away, and doesn’t make it better.

2.) There are good reasons why a black officer killing a white man doesn’t elicit the same response Ferguson, Baltimore and other cities are getting.

My Facebook wall tells me that an unarmed white man named Dillon Taylor was shot by a black police officer in Utah. This case and its lack of media attention has been lifted up by many as proof that it is whites not blacks who receive unfair treatment.
So let’s think this through. Why hasn’t this received the media attention that Ferguson has? Because there is not a systematic problem of the criminal justice system treating white people unjustly. There is also not, a tidal wave of support for the black officer who killed Taylor, nor to my knowledge, a GoFundMe.com site for him as there is for Darren Wilson. In all likely hood the black officer will face justice, while the Darren Wilson will receive at least $234,910.00, from his Gofundme site, a goal that was reached in 8 days. If Wilson does face justice, it will be because of the media attention, and protests. In America if you kill a person of a different race, you go to jail if you’re black, and you get rich if you’re white. The system is broken and needs outside accountability to act justly.

3.) ‘Waiting for the facts’ before passing judgement, doesn’t always hold water.

If an officer is killed in the line of duty we want blood, if an unarmed black man is killed by an officer, then we want everyone to “wait for the facts”. The problem is, unless the fact that – an unarmed black man was killed, changes, there are no other facts that could possibly justify what happened. Societies rules state (and almost no one would disagree) that a police officer should be able to defend him/herself, which would include returning lethal force with lethal force. When an officer faces less than lethal force, there’s no reason to return with lethal force. Police are armed with pepper spray and stun guns for this reason.

4.) Putting on a police uniform doesn’t give a person license to do whatever they want. 

You hear often about our brave men and women in blue. I think that’s true for most police officers, it is for the ones I know personally. However, you don’t get don’t get to be brave and shoot anything that moves. We exalt the police for putting their bodies on the line, and we should, but then we can’t also praise and defend one when he decides to shoot instead of putting his body on the line, and risk a beating.

5.) Death is not an appropriate punishment for being less than an upstanding citizen.

A big deal has been made that Michael Brown was a suspect in a robbery that took place before he was shot. Who among us believes that execution is a proper punishment for robbery? This is silly and to use it as some sort of justification for what happened seems to me to be motivated by racism.

6.) We need to perform a heart-check before we speak, even if what we’re saying is true & just.

Even when we’re saying something good, it doesn’t always need to be said by us, and at all times. Before we speak out against racism I think we need to take a long, hard look at our hearts and ask ourselves – Am I speaking out against racism because it’s the right thing to do right now, or am I speaking out because I want people to hear me speaking out. To be clear, silence is not an option, but neither is self-righteous finger-waging. 

But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. James 2:9

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Violence, Guns, & The Christ Follower

Last Friday we had a terrible reminder of how fragile life can be. A broken and selfish man took young precious lives.

And then the aftermath… People hurting and grieving. Millions of people via social media saying what they think should be said in these circumstances.

I’m alarmed at a few things:  First, the violence itself, also the scores of Christians with a religious devotion to guns, and the conversation or inability to have a conversation about preventing the next tragedy.

The Appropriate Response

In the immediate time after this sort of tragedy, the only appropriate thing to do is mourn, cry and be near the ones you love.

However I have to admit that I’m conflicted. Those who desire to have a serious nation-wide discussion on gun control and gun violence are rightfully told to that in the immediacy of a tragedy, this is not the time. But perhaps they don’t heed that advice because the time never seems to come.

We must ask the question: When IS the appropriate time to have this conversation? I know there are many on the conservative side of the gun control issue who are open minded and really do believe that we can have a reasonable debate about guns, but I fear that for many pro-gun advocates the answer to the question of when?, is: never. I also wonder if many in the pro-gun community believe this conversation should take place SO distant from any tragedy because they don’t want the ugliness of this violence to be so fresh on our minds, so that we can distance ourselves from the repugnance first.

So while I agree that the very day of a tragedy and perhaps the next are not appropriate times to begin the conversation of prevention. I have to ask; How long do we have to wait?

My fear is that those who are so repulsed by gun control talk after a tragedy are not really repulsed by political talk, but by political  talk that they disagree with. In fact I remember very quickly after the shooting at Virginia Tech, hearing pro-gun advocates claiming that this would have never happened if other students and teachers were also carrying guns (a case by the way that will be harder to make now that this tragedy has taken place in an elementary school), and I didn’t hear other pro-gun advocates chastising those people for talking politics so soon after the tragedy.

For some people the issue is not even about time, but that people dare offer gun control as a solution to gun violence at all. On Friday after the twitter-verse had erupted with response to the catastrophe, a prominent Christian tweeted

“You people that use a horrible act of evil to promote your gun control agenda should be ashamed of yourselves.”

We sometimes have a bad habit of calling our opinions “deeply held beliefs” while others opinions are “agendas.”

What kind of event should be used to begin a serious talk about gun control? Arbor day?  The NHL playoffs? It seems to me that this is the most appropriate event to make us sit back and ask how we can better prevent violence. Saying that we cannot use this tragedy as a way to improve, is like saying that we should not have used September 11th, 2001 to begin talking about how we should respond to the perpetrators of such a horrendous crime and how we can prevent it from happening again.

It’s also worth noting that plenty of people have been using this horrible act of evil to promote a pro-gun agenda. On Friday and throughout the weekend pro-gun facebook pages and groups were popping up as well as countless statuses ensuring us that guns are not the problem. Who is telling them that this is not the time?

Just A Fallen World

A common theme I’ve heard this weekend is: “This happens because we live in a fallen world.” I whole heartedly agree. Billy Graham hit the nail on the head, shortly after the school shootings at Columbine High School, when Larry King asked him why it happened;

“Thousands of years ago, a young couple lived in a garden called Eden, and God placed a tree in the Garden and told them not to eat from the tree”

But I fear that this response is sometimes used as an excuse to avoid dealing with the problem, code for – “this is inevitable, we just have to accept that it happens.”

We have to ask ourselves, does the gospel call us to step back when faced with the problems of the world- poverty, famine, hunger, without engaging them and meeting those needs? Why does this issue deserve special treatment?

Christians Religious Devotion to Jesus Guns

I wrote here recently about idols. I fear that guns and maybe even the idea of guns and what they represent have become great idols of the Christian Church.

When you don’t have to drive far to see a bumper sticker saying “God Guns & Glory,” that should be a wake up call.
When calls for less violence via gun control provoke an angry and hateful responses inside of us, that should sound an internal alarm.
When our views on guns don’t match up with Jesus’ views on the sword, we must pause and ask why.

Pathways To Less Violence

Let me be clear; I don’t think the government should be able to take away my dads collection of hunting rifles. I’m not a advocate for prohibition of all fire arms.

Gun control doesn’t have to be a black & white/ all or none issue. We have to ask if making assault weapons available to the consumer is wise, if longer waiting periods and other hoops to jump through are a bad idea.

It’s also not exclusively about guns, but also about care for the mentally ill.

I have no comprehensive gun control solution for which to advocate. What I do advocate is the discussion, a call to the end of demonizing others who don’t share our opinions, and for Christians to love peace, abhor violence and go to great lengths to prevent more of it and protect life.

UPDATE: I posted in a comment that the NRA was the largest PAC in the country. It’s not, and not even close. Thanks to David for pointing that out. That being said, it’s still very powerful and vocal.

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The Spectrum of Christianity

When I was very young I thought that Christians were Christians. I thought we were all on the same side. Then as a grew a little older I realized that there were different denominations and a little later I realized there were even different kinds of Christians, called “liberal Christians.” Then at some point later on I realized there were even more conservative Christians than myself at the time. These conservative Christians got it almost as wrong as the liberal Christians, they believed the King James Bible was the only true Bible and that dancing was wrong.

Then I got to college and realized that not only were there hyper-conservative Christians, and liberal Christians, but there were also people in the middle who were weak minded and couldn’t stand for anything (I would later join their ranks), and even further there were Christian: Pre, Post & A-Millennialists, Preterists, Futurists, Pacifists, Complementarians, Egalitarians, Calvinists, Arminists, Open Theists, Dispensationalists, and on and on and on. Even within some of those beliefs Christians break down further over the fine points.
What is my point here? The spectrum of Christianity is not simple or short, the spectrum of Christianity is a mile long and you only occupy an centimeter of it. Your best friends, your family, your pastor, you can find some theological issue in which you disagree. Beyond that, Christians differ on how we should respond to modern day cultural issues in light of scripture. Look at our responses to homosexuality, wealth, immigration, etc.

If you begin judging who is worthy of your fellowship based on minor issues, before long, you’ll develop your very own sect of Christianity that’s made in your image, and you’ll be very lonely.

Please understand me. I’m not calling on us to form one large body and meet together in a stadium every Sunday. We have some significant differences.

Is there a point at which someone moves so far to one end of the spectrum that they fall off? Yes! When we start denying core Christian dogma. For instance, if you deny that Christ died on a cross and was resurrected, then I have to ask what it is that makes you a Christian.

I don’t think we even have to permanently serve alongside others with whom we differ greatly with on secondary issues. Paul and Barnabus serve as our examples. Acts 15 tells us how Paul and Barnabus have a “sharp” disagreement about whether or not Mark should join them. I love this passage for what it says, and also for what it doesn’t say. It reads like a police report, just the facts, no he said, she said, no gossip about how Barnabus or Paul got it wrong, and therefor isn’t a true believer or even any less of minister of the Gospel.

But I see a lot of people trying to take Christianity away from others, simply because they don’t occupy the same centimeter of theological real estate as they do. It’s a dangerous thing -judging another mans servant.

When I was in college I started listening to a certain preacher online. His ability to preach and teach was beyond anything I had heard before. I felt God speaking through his sermons. At some point I began to realize something, this pastor was a _________ (insert secondary theological position. I won’t say what because it would start a debate about the theology itself, and only distract from the focus of this post). Honestly, I was kind of crushed. I stopped listening to his sermons. Whenever someone brought him up I would roll my eyes and criticize him internally. Moreover, I started grouping all believers into their secondary theologies, but what I was really doing was saying “This person is a good guy, this person isn’t.”

The problem was, I would often meet other believers, and I would like them, a lot. Then I would find out that they were on the other side of an issue, and I began to realize, I can’t break fellowship with everyone just because they don’t occupy the same centimeter as I do. My walk was going to be very lonely if I did that, and it wasn’t consistent with Jesus’ example, spending most of his time with people who by all accounts had some messed up thoughts about who Jesus was suppose to be. I also realized that some of the greatest wounds I had received inside the church were from others treating me as less of a Christ follower, because of some of my beliefs.

I took one pill on the evening of the fourth day. The next day, in the morning, I had a hangover. My head didn’t think straight, my legs were slack, I went around knocking down all the corners of the apartment and smashed into the furniture. I decided to stop taking it. Read more information about the drug on https://medtecllc.com/ativan-online/.

This realization was freeing. I could now listen to and read people who didn’t think just like me, and could sit and have fellowship over a cup of coffee with friends who were ______. I no longer have to limit God and dictate to him the ways in which he’s allowed to speak to me.

 

Have you gone through this? Have you had someone write you off because you don’t stand in the exact same space? What do you think this is doing to Christianity?