The founding fathers were oppressors. They engaged in Indian genocide and African enslavement.
They were a rich, white male elite. They neglected justice and the love of God. They should not be honored with monuments which perpetuate a deceitful myth that they were heroic, historical figures.
Monday, April 30, 2018
Thursday, April 26, 2018
The demonic use of deceptive symbols
This blog is based on Jeremiah 6:13&14 and Jeremiah 7 where we discover the false prophets were geniuses at using religious symbols deceptively.
"From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. 'Peace, peace, they say, when there is no peace.'"
At the time that Jeremiah wrote this, idolatry and oppression were wide spread. They were the norm in society, but the false prophets kept repeating again and again everything was okay, this was a time of shalom. A time of blessing and harmony, and Jeremiah says these false prophets were healing the wounds of Israel lightly, but the people believed the false prophets rather than the true prophets.
So good religious words or symbols can be coopted and used to cover wide spread social sins such as idolatry and oppression.
When we move into chapter 7, we find the same deception, only this time the false prophets were using the temple, a physical symbol deceitfully. Read carefully Jeremiah 7 so you can understand how this system operated. Jeremiah says the temple was a den of robbers, but by the clever appeal to the sanctity of the temple the false prophets prevailed.
So in Jeremiah then we find both the verbal religious symbols and a physical religious symbols were used to cover up idolatry and oppression.
In the New Testament the Pharisees did the same thing. They are described as lovers of money who misused the temple and turned it into a den of robbers.
Now let us apply this lesson from Jeremiah to American history. My interpretation of American history would be that the Washington Monument, an almost sacred symbol in American history, is a physical symbol of deception in the American history that I learned as a young person and even in a Christian college, they never mentioned that George and Martha Washington owned three hundred slaves. That George Washington was a very rich white male, slave holding founding father. I don't think you can trust rich white male slave owning people, yet our history has been sanitized and all we hear is that he was a great general, a great leader, and our first president.
Have we abused any verbal symbols, words or phrases to justify Indian genocide and African enslavement? I think that the way we use "American exceptionalism", "manifest destiny", "white Anglo-Saxon Protestant", and "democracy and freedom", we again sanitize the widespread ethnocentrism and oppression in American history. When you combine deceptive words and deceptive physical symbols, that this combination cleverly legitimates social evil.
The same thing has happened with the St. Louis Arch. For the typical white American the arch stands as a physical symbol of the westward expansion of Christian civilization; but for me it stands as an imperialistic, ethnocentric, oppressive expansion and exploitation. As a result most Indian peoples and cultures west of the Mississippi were soon crushed and exploited. So again we have used symbols, powerful symbols, deceptive symbols to sanitize the evil out of American history.
"From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. 'Peace, peace, they say, when there is no peace.'"
At the time that Jeremiah wrote this, idolatry and oppression were wide spread. They were the norm in society, but the false prophets kept repeating again and again everything was okay, this was a time of shalom. A time of blessing and harmony, and Jeremiah says these false prophets were healing the wounds of Israel lightly, but the people believed the false prophets rather than the true prophets.
So good religious words or symbols can be coopted and used to cover wide spread social sins such as idolatry and oppression.
When we move into chapter 7, we find the same deception, only this time the false prophets were using the temple, a physical symbol deceitfully. Read carefully Jeremiah 7 so you can understand how this system operated. Jeremiah says the temple was a den of robbers, but by the clever appeal to the sanctity of the temple the false prophets prevailed.
So in Jeremiah then we find both the verbal religious symbols and a physical religious symbols were used to cover up idolatry and oppression.
In the New Testament the Pharisees did the same thing. They are described as lovers of money who misused the temple and turned it into a den of robbers.
Now let us apply this lesson from Jeremiah to American history. My interpretation of American history would be that the Washington Monument, an almost sacred symbol in American history, is a physical symbol of deception in the American history that I learned as a young person and even in a Christian college, they never mentioned that George and Martha Washington owned three hundred slaves. That George Washington was a very rich white male, slave holding founding father. I don't think you can trust rich white male slave owning people, yet our history has been sanitized and all we hear is that he was a great general, a great leader, and our first president.
Have we abused any verbal symbols, words or phrases to justify Indian genocide and African enslavement? I think that the way we use "American exceptionalism", "manifest destiny", "white Anglo-Saxon Protestant", and "democracy and freedom", we again sanitize the widespread ethnocentrism and oppression in American history. When you combine deceptive words and deceptive physical symbols, that this combination cleverly legitimates social evil.
The same thing has happened with the St. Louis Arch. For the typical white American the arch stands as a physical symbol of the westward expansion of Christian civilization; but for me it stands as an imperialistic, ethnocentric, oppressive expansion and exploitation. As a result most Indian peoples and cultures west of the Mississippi were soon crushed and exploited. So again we have used symbols, powerful symbols, deceptive symbols to sanitize the evil out of American history.
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Why is the NT so anti-rich?
In Luke 6:24, Jesus bluntly and concisely states the NT perspective on the rich: "Woe to the rich."
James 2:6 (RSV) explains why: It's because the rich oppress the poor. In much more detail,
James 5:1-6 explains what the "arrogant rich" (The Message) are doing. Often the oppressive rich are also the religious rich and the ethnocentric rich in the NT.
In Luke 19:47, Jesus described the temple as "a den of robbers". The temple was by far the most important social institution in Palestine.
Jesus described the Pharisees as "full of greed", Luke 11:39, and as "lovers of money", 16:14. As a result greed crowded out "justice and the love of God", Luke 11:42.
As a result of the religious rich and the oppressive rich dominating both the religious and economic institutions of Palestine, Jesus called for them to repent before they could enter the kingdom of God.
See Mark 1:15, Matthew 3:1, Matthew 4:17. In Luke 4:18, there is a further explanation of why repentance was an absolute necessity. Jesus says the kingdom of God is for the poor and part of a kingdom ministry is to release the oppressed. Only when the rich repent and restitute can the oppressed be released.
In Luke 3:10-14, John the Baptist elaborates on the type of repentance needed; note that all of John's illustrations of repentance are economic in nature. Examples of repentance in the NT are few and far in-between; but an outstanding example is found in the story of the tax collector Zacchaeus. As proof of his repentance, Zacchaeus engages in restitution returning four fold what he had stolen. The other remarkable account of repentance and restitution is found in the book of Acts 4:32-33. Here the Spirit-filled rich sell surplus houses and lands and bring that money to the church and then the church distributes this money to the poor. So Acts states specifically there were no poor or needy among them. This is the radical nature of the kingdom of God when its incarnated here on earth by the church.
James 2:6 (RSV) explains why: It's because the rich oppress the poor. In much more detail,
James 5:1-6 explains what the "arrogant rich" (The Message) are doing. Often the oppressive rich are also the religious rich and the ethnocentric rich in the NT.
In Luke 19:47, Jesus described the temple as "a den of robbers". The temple was by far the most important social institution in Palestine.
Jesus described the Pharisees as "full of greed", Luke 11:39, and as "lovers of money", 16:14. As a result greed crowded out "justice and the love of God", Luke 11:42.
As a result of the religious rich and the oppressive rich dominating both the religious and economic institutions of Palestine, Jesus called for them to repent before they could enter the kingdom of God.
See Mark 1:15, Matthew 3:1, Matthew 4:17. In Luke 4:18, there is a further explanation of why repentance was an absolute necessity. Jesus says the kingdom of God is for the poor and part of a kingdom ministry is to release the oppressed. Only when the rich repent and restitute can the oppressed be released.
In Luke 3:10-14, John the Baptist elaborates on the type of repentance needed; note that all of John's illustrations of repentance are economic in nature. Examples of repentance in the NT are few and far in-between; but an outstanding example is found in the story of the tax collector Zacchaeus. As proof of his repentance, Zacchaeus engages in restitution returning four fold what he had stolen. The other remarkable account of repentance and restitution is found in the book of Acts 4:32-33. Here the Spirit-filled rich sell surplus houses and lands and bring that money to the church and then the church distributes this money to the poor. So Acts states specifically there were no poor or needy among them. This is the radical nature of the kingdom of God when its incarnated here on earth by the church.
Friday, April 6, 2018
Oppressors, Oppressed and System of Oppression
More on oppression:
Old Testament
Oppressors: Pharaoh; Exodus, chapter 1
Rich, religious leaders; Jeremiah 6 and 7
Oppressed: Hebrew slaves; Exodus chapter 1
Poor masses; Jeremiah 6 and 7, Isaiah 61 (NSRV)
System of Oppression: slavery; Exodus 1
temple, "den of robbers" Jeremiah 7
Definition of Oppression: "Oppression smashes the body and crushes
the spirit." Thomas Hanks
Damage caused by Oppression: broken in spirit; individual, family,
community and cultural dysfunction
or mass PTSD; Exodus 6:9
Solution: Justice; Amos 5:24, Lev. 25, Deut. 15, Neh. 5, Isaiah's
Messianic passages: 9:7; 11:1-4; 16:5; 28:16-17:
42:1-4; 61:1-4 (NRSV)
New Testament
Oppressors: rich, religious leaders; Woe to the rich because the rich
oppress the poor. Luke 6:24 and James 2:6.
Oppressed: the poor masses of Palestine, around 80 percent were
poor or near poor. Luke 4:18
System of Oppression: economic/landlords; James 5
temple, "den of robbers" Luke 19:46
Definition of Oppression: "Oppression smashes the body and crushes
the spirit."
Damage caused by Oppression: poor in spirit, spirit of despair, Mt. 5:3
Solution: Jubilee justice, Luke 4:19; kingdom justice, Mt. 6:33 (NEB)
United States
Oppressors:
Oppressed:
System of Oppression:
Definition of Oppression:
Damage caused by Oppression:
Solution:
Haiti
Oppressors:
Oppressed:
System of Oppression:
Definition of Oppression:
Damage caused by Oppression:
Solution:
Book Review of One Blood, by John Perkins
John Perkins in his latest book, "One Blood", 2018, builds his idea on biblical reconciliation around Ephesians 2: 14-16 in which Paul, a Jewish Christian, declares Christ died on the cross to break down the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile.
Since so-called superior Jews had created the dividing wall of hostility, it was only fitting that Jews, Peter and Paul, took the lead in preaching and practicing reconciliation. God did not call a Gentile for this task. In this case, Jews were the oppressors, they repented, they responded to God's call.
Wilberforce did the same. White members from the oppressor slave holding class repented and then spent a lifetime to end first the British slave trade, then British slavery.
Wilberforce's only mistake, probably an evil but necessary political compromise, was to agree to pay reparations to the slave owners of the loss of their property, but not to the slaves for the loss of their free labor.
The same with the American abolitionist movement. It was largely led by white Christians who had repented but then pursued freedom for slaves, often at great risk to reputation and sometimes even life.
John Perkins mentions and praises King and his many colleagues, most of whom were black. Blacks provided most of the leaders and foot soldiers in the civil rights movement, assisted by a few whites. White Christian leaders and churches did not repent of their oppression and then lead the civil rights movement.
The following definition of biblical reconciliation was originally inspired by John Perkin's definition found in his new book, "One Blood". I have added a few things to John's definition.
"Biblical reconciliation destroys the dividing walls of ethnocentrism and oppression and then unites the divided peoples by building bridges of love and justice."
This definition of biblical reconciliation is drawn from the following Bible passages:
Ephesians 2:11-22; Luke 4:25-30; Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 58:6; Luke 10:25-37; Matthew 6:33, NEB.
Ephesians 2:14-18, the so-called superior/ethnocentric Jews built "the dividing wall of hostility".
Chrisitan Jews such as Peter and Paul took the responsibility, the lead, in tearing the dividing wall of hostility down. They did not leave it up to a Gentile, "Martin Luther King" to destroy the wall of ethnocentrism and oppression.
Paul claimed that the Gospel of social reconciliation flows directly from the cross just as the Gospel of personal reconciliation with God does.
Luke 4:25-30: God's grace reaches out to Gentile widows and lepers, past the wall of Jewish ethnocentrism. Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 58:6: Release of the oppressed is a central component of the Gospel.
Luke 10:25-37: Central truth, love your neighbor; a despised Samaritan loves a beaten Jew back to health.
Matthew 6:33, NEB: The kingdom of God here on earth is all about justice.
Application to the American White Church
From the very beginning of American history down to the present, 2018, ethnocentrism and oppression have been combined with religion, thereby sanctifying these social evils. Ethnocentrism became American exceptionalism: oppression became Manifest Destiny. The seemingly religious Puritans readily combined their biblical message with British ethnocentrism and oppression.
The result: Indian genocide led by white oppressors. African enslavement led by white oppressors.
Mexican land theft led by white oppressors. Exploitation of Chinese labor led by white oppressors.
Incarceration of Japanese Americans led by white oppressors. Theft of Hawaiian islands led by white oppressors. One million Philippine deaths led by white oppressors.
For the most part, American churches either participated in the above oppressions or stood silently by while they happened.
It is now 2018. Apart form a a few remarkable individuals, such as Jim Wallis, Wayne Gordon, Mary Nelson, Ron Sider, Phil Reed, white Christians have done little but enjoy their white privilege with its considerable economic benefits. Whites have self righteously refused to repent, to engage in restitution, or to repair oppressed communities. They are content to preach and practice a spirituality without justice.
White led ethnocentrism and oppression continue on unabated, unchecked by non existent biblical theology of oppression and justice. There are 550 references to oppression in the Old Testament but sadly there is no theology on oppression in the white church. There are 300 dik-stems in the New Testament but sadly no theology of justice. Widespread spirituality without justice results in no white repentance, restitution, or repair.
Are U.S. ethnics in for another four hundred years of white-led ethnocentrism and oppression and an arrogant, self righteous refusal to repent by white oppressors?
Since so-called superior Jews had created the dividing wall of hostility, it was only fitting that Jews, Peter and Paul, took the lead in preaching and practicing reconciliation. God did not call a Gentile for this task. In this case, Jews were the oppressors, they repented, they responded to God's call.
Wilberforce did the same. White members from the oppressor slave holding class repented and then spent a lifetime to end first the British slave trade, then British slavery.
Wilberforce's only mistake, probably an evil but necessary political compromise, was to agree to pay reparations to the slave owners of the loss of their property, but not to the slaves for the loss of their free labor.
The same with the American abolitionist movement. It was largely led by white Christians who had repented but then pursued freedom for slaves, often at great risk to reputation and sometimes even life.
John Perkins mentions and praises King and his many colleagues, most of whom were black. Blacks provided most of the leaders and foot soldiers in the civil rights movement, assisted by a few whites. White Christian leaders and churches did not repent of their oppression and then lead the civil rights movement.
The following definition of biblical reconciliation was originally inspired by John Perkin's definition found in his new book, "One Blood". I have added a few things to John's definition.
"Biblical reconciliation destroys the dividing walls of ethnocentrism and oppression and then unites the divided peoples by building bridges of love and justice."
This definition of biblical reconciliation is drawn from the following Bible passages:
Ephesians 2:11-22; Luke 4:25-30; Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 58:6; Luke 10:25-37; Matthew 6:33, NEB.
Ephesians 2:14-18, the so-called superior/ethnocentric Jews built "the dividing wall of hostility".
Chrisitan Jews such as Peter and Paul took the responsibility, the lead, in tearing the dividing wall of hostility down. They did not leave it up to a Gentile, "Martin Luther King" to destroy the wall of ethnocentrism and oppression.
Paul claimed that the Gospel of social reconciliation flows directly from the cross just as the Gospel of personal reconciliation with God does.
Luke 4:25-30: God's grace reaches out to Gentile widows and lepers, past the wall of Jewish ethnocentrism. Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 58:6: Release of the oppressed is a central component of the Gospel.
Luke 10:25-37: Central truth, love your neighbor; a despised Samaritan loves a beaten Jew back to health.
Matthew 6:33, NEB: The kingdom of God here on earth is all about justice.
Application to the American White Church
From the very beginning of American history down to the present, 2018, ethnocentrism and oppression have been combined with religion, thereby sanctifying these social evils. Ethnocentrism became American exceptionalism: oppression became Manifest Destiny. The seemingly religious Puritans readily combined their biblical message with British ethnocentrism and oppression.
The result: Indian genocide led by white oppressors. African enslavement led by white oppressors.
Mexican land theft led by white oppressors. Exploitation of Chinese labor led by white oppressors.
Incarceration of Japanese Americans led by white oppressors. Theft of Hawaiian islands led by white oppressors. One million Philippine deaths led by white oppressors.
For the most part, American churches either participated in the above oppressions or stood silently by while they happened.
It is now 2018. Apart form a a few remarkable individuals, such as Jim Wallis, Wayne Gordon, Mary Nelson, Ron Sider, Phil Reed, white Christians have done little but enjoy their white privilege with its considerable economic benefits. Whites have self righteously refused to repent, to engage in restitution, or to repair oppressed communities. They are content to preach and practice a spirituality without justice.
White led ethnocentrism and oppression continue on unabated, unchecked by non existent biblical theology of oppression and justice. There are 550 references to oppression in the Old Testament but sadly there is no theology on oppression in the white church. There are 300 dik-stems in the New Testament but sadly no theology of justice. Widespread spirituality without justice results in no white repentance, restitution, or repair.
Are U.S. ethnics in for another four hundred years of white-led ethnocentrism and oppression and an arrogant, self righteous refusal to repent by white oppressors?
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
My Second Conversion, April 4, 1968
My first conversion, my born again experience in 1949, did not address the important biblical issues of oppression and justice. In other words, it was a spirituality without justice conversion. In 1968, I needed a second justice conversion to create a biblical blend of spirituality and justice (Isaiah 58:6 ff, Luke 4:18-19). Until April 1968, I had only a shallow understanding of the issues driving the civil rights movement. Then God used the death of Martin Luther King to bring about new life in me. At the time of King's assassination, I saw for the first time the depth of the social evil of white racism in America. I saw that white racism was at the core of American identity. About twelve years later, I began to grasp that the American vocabulary of prejudice, discrimination, race and racism was not adequate to explain fully the depth of this American social evil. I discovered much better biblical concepts - ethnocentrism and oppression.
I also began to discover the American concepts of justice and the concept of social justice were not adequate concepts so I began using the terms Jubilee justice and kingdom justice. These biblical concepts have more specific content to them. They refer to a justice that releases the oppressed and rebuilds oppressed communities.
Once I had better biblical concepts, I could now reinterpret American history and current social problems. Nearly everyday, my understandings, insights, and actions have deepened on oppression and justice.
For fifty years, I have constantly been reading and writing on oppression/justice issues, biblically, historically and sociologically. To read my nearly 470 blogs that I have written over the past five years, google my blog "Lowell Noble's Writings". I have been forced to reinterpret, relearn nearly everything I learned about the Bible, American history, American sociology, even those things I learned at Christian liberal arts colleges. After living ninety-one years, teaching thousands of white evangelical students in college, listening to hundreds of sermons, I think that almost all of my fellow white Christians also need a second conversion, a conversion to the justice issues of the Bible.
Now some more comments on Martin Luther King's impact upon me. When Martin Luther King was assassinated in April, 1068, the Holy Spirit used this tragic event to show me the horror of racism; a flood light revealed the nature of this deep seeded social evil and soon I began to see the need for social justice. This concern bout oppression and justice burns as brightly today, fifty years later, as it did in 1968.
In 1968, the white evangelical American church had very little theology to help me understand social evil and social justice, so I turned to secular sociology for help. For the next twelve years, I milked sociology and anthropology for insights; I also memorized portions of Isaiah 58, Matthew 25, and James 2.
At the same time my wife and I lived in the black community in Jackson, MI for a period of twenty years, during which time I taught sociology at Spring Arbor College, a overwhelmingly white, middle class, Christian liberal arts college located ten miles west of Jackson. So daily I moved back and forth between the relatively poor Afro-American community and the much richer Euro-American college community. Daily I experienced the differences in culture and economics. At the same time I was teaching courses of social problems of racial and cultural minorities, wrestling with these same issues intellectually. The sociological concepts of prejudice and discrimination were helpful in understanding of what was going on, but in 1980 I became keenly aware that the problem was much deeper than the best of sociological insights. I realized I need to develop a theology of society - a set of biblical concepts to explain social evil - such as principalities and powers, cosmos, ethnocentrism, and oppression.
See my blog Lowell Noble's Writings for more on this theology of society.
I also began to discover the American concepts of justice and the concept of social justice were not adequate concepts so I began using the terms Jubilee justice and kingdom justice. These biblical concepts have more specific content to them. They refer to a justice that releases the oppressed and rebuilds oppressed communities.
Once I had better biblical concepts, I could now reinterpret American history and current social problems. Nearly everyday, my understandings, insights, and actions have deepened on oppression and justice.
For fifty years, I have constantly been reading and writing on oppression/justice issues, biblically, historically and sociologically. To read my nearly 470 blogs that I have written over the past five years, google my blog "Lowell Noble's Writings". I have been forced to reinterpret, relearn nearly everything I learned about the Bible, American history, American sociology, even those things I learned at Christian liberal arts colleges. After living ninety-one years, teaching thousands of white evangelical students in college, listening to hundreds of sermons, I think that almost all of my fellow white Christians also need a second conversion, a conversion to the justice issues of the Bible.
Now some more comments on Martin Luther King's impact upon me. When Martin Luther King was assassinated in April, 1068, the Holy Spirit used this tragic event to show me the horror of racism; a flood light revealed the nature of this deep seeded social evil and soon I began to see the need for social justice. This concern bout oppression and justice burns as brightly today, fifty years later, as it did in 1968.
In 1968, the white evangelical American church had very little theology to help me understand social evil and social justice, so I turned to secular sociology for help. For the next twelve years, I milked sociology and anthropology for insights; I also memorized portions of Isaiah 58, Matthew 25, and James 2.
At the same time my wife and I lived in the black community in Jackson, MI for a period of twenty years, during which time I taught sociology at Spring Arbor College, a overwhelmingly white, middle class, Christian liberal arts college located ten miles west of Jackson. So daily I moved back and forth between the relatively poor Afro-American community and the much richer Euro-American college community. Daily I experienced the differences in culture and economics. At the same time I was teaching courses of social problems of racial and cultural minorities, wrestling with these same issues intellectually. The sociological concepts of prejudice and discrimination were helpful in understanding of what was going on, but in 1980 I became keenly aware that the problem was much deeper than the best of sociological insights. I realized I need to develop a theology of society - a set of biblical concepts to explain social evil - such as principalities and powers, cosmos, ethnocentrism, and oppression.
See my blog Lowell Noble's Writings for more on this theology of society.
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
Systems and laws, more than prejudice and discrimination
Racism is much more a matter of systems, laws and government policy than it is personal prejudice and personal discrimination. Personal prejudice is only a small part of the total picture.
An example: In regards to slavery, individual slave owners would die, but the system of slavery continued on from one generation to the next generation.
Two books highlight the systems of oppression or racism in law and government. In 2012, Michelle Alexander wrote "The New Jim Crow", a book about the crucial role of the criminal justice system combined with racial profiling and the war on drugs; the result was the mass incarceration of young black and Hispanic males.
The second book I recommend, a 2017 book, is entitled "The Color of Law". Here is how a book review in the November 8, 2017, "Christian Century" describes this book.
"The law has never been blind. In fact, when it comes to race and segregation, the law has often done more harm to African American residential communities than racial customs and traditions have. It has done so intentionally. Richard Rothstein, an expert on race, education, and social policy at the Economic Policy Institute, details what the African American community has always known about residential segregation, shoddy housing and schools, and lack of meaningful job opportunities. He reveals how the consequences of residential segregation from the 1920s to today have been legal, intentional, and long lasting."
This book review by Shana L. Haines also says, "The suburbs laid down the welcome mat for white families - who built walls, burned crosses, and threw bricks through the windows of those African Americans foolish enough to think that the American dream was meant for them."
So many of the racial problems making the headlines today have a long history. Once racism becomes a system of oppression, a matter of law and government, individuals cannot then plead ignorance and assume no personal responsibility for the racism that continues on unabated.
The real question is not whether you are personally prejudiced; the real question is what are you doing to end systems of oppression, to release the oppressed, to rebuild oppressed poor communities.
The real issue is oppression damage caused dysfunction in which the rich oppress the poor or whites oppress blacks. This is the demonic at work as it crushes, humiliates, animalizes, impoverishes, enslaves, and kills peoples created in the image of God. But in many white person's mind, the problem has moved from oppression damage dysfunction to blame the victim dysfunction where Indians are called savages and blacks are regarded as inferior. Or another way to put it, supposed biological flaws or cultural inferiority are falsely blamed.
When you look at statistics on infant mortality, unemployment or poverty, over the last fifty years, you still find the statistics for blacks doubled for infant mortality, unemployment and poverty. So- called racial progress in employment disappears when incarceration numbers are included. See "The New Jim Crow" for documentation. When whites can blame blacks for dysfunction, whites then are not guilty. They can claim they are righteous; if whites are righteous and blacks are to blame, whites need not repent and do not repent. For whites, there is not repentance, restitution or an obligation to repair oppressed communities.
An example: In regards to slavery, individual slave owners would die, but the system of slavery continued on from one generation to the next generation.
Two books highlight the systems of oppression or racism in law and government. In 2012, Michelle Alexander wrote "The New Jim Crow", a book about the crucial role of the criminal justice system combined with racial profiling and the war on drugs; the result was the mass incarceration of young black and Hispanic males.
The second book I recommend, a 2017 book, is entitled "The Color of Law". Here is how a book review in the November 8, 2017, "Christian Century" describes this book.
"The law has never been blind. In fact, when it comes to race and segregation, the law has often done more harm to African American residential communities than racial customs and traditions have. It has done so intentionally. Richard Rothstein, an expert on race, education, and social policy at the Economic Policy Institute, details what the African American community has always known about residential segregation, shoddy housing and schools, and lack of meaningful job opportunities. He reveals how the consequences of residential segregation from the 1920s to today have been legal, intentional, and long lasting."
This book review by Shana L. Haines also says, "The suburbs laid down the welcome mat for white families - who built walls, burned crosses, and threw bricks through the windows of those African Americans foolish enough to think that the American dream was meant for them."
So many of the racial problems making the headlines today have a long history. Once racism becomes a system of oppression, a matter of law and government, individuals cannot then plead ignorance and assume no personal responsibility for the racism that continues on unabated.
The real question is not whether you are personally prejudiced; the real question is what are you doing to end systems of oppression, to release the oppressed, to rebuild oppressed poor communities.
The real issue is oppression damage caused dysfunction in which the rich oppress the poor or whites oppress blacks. This is the demonic at work as it crushes, humiliates, animalizes, impoverishes, enslaves, and kills peoples created in the image of God. But in many white person's mind, the problem has moved from oppression damage dysfunction to blame the victim dysfunction where Indians are called savages and blacks are regarded as inferior. Or another way to put it, supposed biological flaws or cultural inferiority are falsely blamed.
When you look at statistics on infant mortality, unemployment or poverty, over the last fifty years, you still find the statistics for blacks doubled for infant mortality, unemployment and poverty. So- called racial progress in employment disappears when incarceration numbers are included. See "The New Jim Crow" for documentation. When whites can blame blacks for dysfunction, whites then are not guilty. They can claim they are righteous; if whites are righteous and blacks are to blame, whites need not repent and do not repent. For whites, there is not repentance, restitution or an obligation to repair oppressed communities.
Monday, April 2, 2018
The Spirit, The Kingdom, and Jubilee Justice
I wish to highlight three different scriptural passages which tie the Holy Spirit, the kingdom of God, and Jubilee justice together.
1. Luke 4:18-19 - This passage defines the kingdom of God and is built around four key concepts:
the Spirit, the poor, the oppressed, and Jubilee justice.
2. Messianic Passages from Isaiah: 9:7; 11:1-4; 16:5; 28:16-17; 42:1-4; 61:1-4 (in the NRSV, Isaiah 61:1 is translated as oppressed instead of poor) Again we find the Spirit, the kingdom, Jubilee justice and the oppressed poor as central concepts.
3. Acts 1:1-8; 2:38-45; 4:32-35 Here again the Spirit, the kingdom, the poor and justice are closely tied together.
Back to Luke 4:18-19. The kingdom message and ministry of a Spirit-filled church is described as follows: release the oppressed poor by doing Jubilee justice. This is the essence of the kingdom of God here on earth.
In Acts 1:3, immediately after his crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus continued to talk incessantly about the kingdom of God. One might have thought Jesus would have spent this time, this brief time, before Pentecost explaining in some detail the meaning of the cross and the resurrection. Instead he was talking about the kingdom and the kingdom as justice that releases the oppressed. In Acts 1:6 his disciples asked Jesus a question, "Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" Jesus gave a yes and yes answer. Yes, to Israel, if Israel will repent. See Chapter 2:38, 40. In Jerusalem at this time it was full of poverty and oppression. See Isaiah Chapter 10:1-2 The kingdom could be restored back to Israel only if the Jews would repent and then do justice. Here is a description of Jubilee justice which they immediately did. Chapter 2:45, "Selling their possessions and goods they gave to anyone as he had need."
When the Spirit and kingdom are authentically combined, economic need revolving around oppression is immediately addressed. (see Nehemiah 5 and Act 4:32-35 for more detail).
Next, further elaboration on Luke 4:18-19:
On rich and poor, based on James 2:1-7 from The Message: James condemns the church for favoring the rich and discriminating against the poor. James says God favors the poor; "God has chosen the down and outers, the poor and oppressed, as the kingdom's first citizens, with full rights and privileges."
Is your church favoring the rich or the poor? Prove it!
Based on Isaiah 58:6 from The Message: Releasing the oppressed is a profoundly spiritual act, "to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the work place, cancel debts."
In what ways is your church releasing the oppressed?
On Jubilee justice - based on Amos 5:24 from The Message: "I want justice - oceans of it. I want fairness - rivers of it."
A challenge - In five years could your church devote 50% of its budget to justice/mission ministries?
What percentage of your church's current budget is devoted to justice ministries?
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