Let’s discuss the issue of pro-athletes kneeling when the flag is raised and the national anthem is sung. It came to the public attention again when Drew Brees said he considered it disrespectful to kneel before NFL games during the National Anthem. A firestorm of hateful dialogue swept over him from black athletes. It occurred to me: we’re not talking about Gospel truth, where God is right and every human being is wrong. We’re discussing social issues between two sides, each of which has contributed to the problem. However, in matters of opinion, freedom of differences should be expected, not name-calling or bludgeoning rebuttals. We still need the position of the man disagreeing with his neighbor, but saying he would defend to the death his right to say it.
Blacks seem unable to acknowledge that right. As if they’re the only ones with a valuable opinion on flag loyalty. Again, only when both sides have an equal voice can common ground be reached. While they represent 81% of athletes in the NFL, they don’t represent the majority opinion of 300 MILLION people in America. Those millions also have the right to be heard. The savage attacks by pro blacks led Brees to first qualify, then retract, his criticism. He even admitted he “missed the mark.” Maybe he doesn’t know that “missing the mark” is a description of sin. Even given that he made a mistake, he didn’t sin. However, another issue is at stake here. When someone takes a stand for what he believes is right—he should have the fortitude to defend what he said. If he doesn’t, he shouldn’t say it. Furthermore, listening to explanations from Lebron James et al, Brees came to the conclusion that the kneeling wasn’t about the flag. Really? When it’s done publicly when the national Anthem is played and the flag is raised? How inconsistent can you get and still claim to be rational? But...accept their position for a moment. If it isn’t the flag, let pro players find other ways to express their displeasure with America. Like...boycotting luxury home builders...but no, the athletes live in those mansions. Or protesting before yacht builders...but no, they sail those luxury ships. Or protesting before luxury automobile builders...but no, they drive their cars. Or boycotting luxury clothing manufacturers...but no, they wear their fashion-plate duds. In other words, they kneel in a public venue and get attention, but the ostentatious act is but cheap sympathy, costing nothing they want to keep as a lifestyle. In conclusion I add a statement I sent to the Union-Tribune for their Reader’s Write column. They didn’t accept it. Here it is in full. Cowardly NFL owners bank billions annually as owners. Black athletes demand toleration of their intolerant views, but show no tolerance of NFL peers who express appreciation of the flag. Since...black athletes have a career under the flag, make millions under the flag, buy mansions under the flag, drive expensive cars under the flag, expect soldiers serving under the flag to keep them free and policemen to keep them safe, etc., etc., etc., shouldn’t they honor the flag and Anthem supporting it? That would be entirely RATIONAL if the issue hadn’t become so EMOTIONAL. Fini
0 Comments
Saying Black Lives Matter is racist, but can hurt feelings, overlooks the fact that it isn’t a new slogan; the present problems have simply made it seem nearly-necessary to show support for our black brothers and sisters. It isn't necessary. All human life still equally matters, and emphasizing one race’s importance subconsciously exalts their importance in society.
Now...a point of greater importance. Truth almost always hurts our feelings because we disobey whatever fact it demands we obey. Truth never hurts when we consciously and perseveringly TRY to live by, and up to, whatever facts it demands. Indeed, merely making serious efforts to obey its facts reduces or eliminates hurt feelings we otherwise bear. As an example, I’ve never heard a tither feel hurt when hearing tithing preached. But for those who don’t tithe—a different response. That’s the powerhouse message Jesus taught in John 8:31-32. Knowing and living by and for God’s will both forgives our sin and empowers life beyond the guilt of having sinned. A great release that gives us freedom of thought and perspective. So...let truth hurt—its natural impact when we don’t obey its demands. For in release from the sin we also experience release from its guilt! The entire Christian message teaches our liberation from a past that bound us and gives us a future of spiritual freedom. God won’t have us returning to the shackled life Christ forgave. His own resurrected life shamed all satanic powers arrayed against him, symbolized by the 16-man Roman guard at his tomb. His resurrection so terrified the soldiers that they “became as dead men.” But Jesus didn’t rush over, shred their standards, strike them dead, then break their swords in two. He instead let them be witnesses to the leadership that they had committed a colossal blunder—SIN—by having him crucified. His personal resurrection rendered destruction of heathen symbols unnecessary. True, later in Ephesus, the former dabblers in the white and black arts brought the scrolls of that life to the burning Acts 19:18-19. Their decision, however, not Paul’s. That truth applies to the Fifth Suggestion. Black culture today has the ability to live pro-actively for their freedoms rather than responding reactively to the slavery of their ancestors. One hundred fifty-five years of freedom enfranchises them to be 155 light-years beyond that unjust, criminal and sinful imposition. Their present attacks on Confederate symbols instead at least implies a needless mental and emotional captivity to them. You have risen far beyond the limitations the Confederacy placed on your ancestors—indeed on the potential THEY had to excel. Since they had no opportunity to excel, and you have by your creative successes in many fields, you prove the Confederacy lived a lie—and would have been proven a lie had your ancestors enjoyed your freedom. The clinching argument against slavery in any race, at any time, is that all races, once free, instinctively develop God-given skills within them, and ACHIEVE. Removing the symbols will never increase self-esteem like personally having gone beyond what the captor expected could be accomplished. Indeed, leaving them in place shames the shortsightedness of the penitentiary culture that began in 1619 and lasted till April, 1865. Indeed, letting them remain mocks the racism that raised them as symbols of a Lost Cause that God considered a Sinful Cause. Sixth, the problems of drugs, incarceration rates and welfare dependency, whatever the culture, must be solved from within the culture. Not by restricting funding to police departments so more community money can be SENT into the afflicted communities. The billions of tax dollars spent over the decades have helped a few but failed to solve the problems of the many in black communities. Why would we think millions more would? We have surely heard the old saying, “Don’t send good money after bad.” Here’s a single suggestion that could increase home ownership in black communities, improve their neighborhoods and make them uncomfortable places for drug dealers to hide. Establish a black-operated financial consortium, tapping for investment purposes the millions of dollars in their businessmen, pro-athletes and professional people—as well as inviting public, not government, investment. Pay dividends to investors by making loans to people for home purchases or improvements, charging interest according to the ability to pay. Allow for an incremental rate increase as their income grows. Give nothing. Expect people to pay their way. That’s as essential for their confidence as individuals as for your profit. That empowers individuals and families to make a home from a house and a neighborhood from scattered families. That’s only a small effort, but it’s a start. A bigger help would be if married couples of different races, who have succeeded in careers by taking advantage of educational opportunities, would rear families in those communities, buy homes, improve them and model what life can still be when caring, capable people lead in the effort. Many such neighborhoods in America have been rehabilitated in just that way. End Part III Third, Shared blame must be accepted. The police, where they have allowed authority to become authoritarian. The blacks, by taking refuge in victim-hood. Nothing will be resolved so long as the stories are all one-sided, with blacks the innocent and police the guilty: predators preying! Truth to tell however: why is the discussion nearly one-sided? As in, “what can be done to reduce police brutality?” Why is no one asking, “What are black community leaders doing to help the police use less force by encouraging their people not to run when stopped and not to resist when arrested?”
We look in vain to find common ground in a one-sided issue. Seeing it as a two-sided problem empowers a call for human decency under a just God against bad decisions by both parties. It brings a meeting of equals before God, seeking solutions to wounds that intentional or unintentional charges and counter-charges have festered into open, ugly, conscious distrust. Such people are agents of reconciliation, not aggravation. They compromise to seek common ground, not pontificate to defend positions. They want healing, not contention. They negotiate disputed points, not defend doctrinaire stances. Such discussion necessarily excludes those who have a street mentality. They’re professional agitators, lurking everywhere and immediately flying to wherever they think opportunity exists to stir discontent into a witch’s brew of looting and violence. Their forte is hustling and provoking confrontations that make good press for the ever-sensational-seeking media. Those people know how to blow smoke into fire; but not how to nurture a flickering wick into a candle-light. They know how to stomp people’s dreams to death; but not how to cradle a bruised reed in gentle hands until it heals Matthew 12:20. They satisfy themselves by disturbing the peace, exacerbating differences and creating disruptive warfare where strong divisions exist. They pass combustible situations and casually throw explosives, delighting in the blowup that follows. Then, like arsonists returning to admire their handiwork, the street agitators stand by WATCHING with pleasure at the mayhem they have caused. Obey Paul’s directive in Titus 3:10-11 regarding such people. Fourth, black preachers need to help their people take command and assume responsibility for their lives. They have that very influence in their communities denied white ministers in theirs. Let them by teaching and personal example lead their people from believing others owe them. They instead owe themselves the right of every race in a free America. And it’s being done by hundreds of thousands of black brothers and sisters by putting effort into satisfying careers instead of waiting for someone to help them find one or to provide a living without having one. Their success in a highly technical age proves how wrong the slave masters were. They can think with the best brains of other races, compete in every field with other races, achieve equal success with other races. Indeed, even as slaves, they outthought and outworked their masters and lacked only a free market in which to compete. Those who by effort, working with people of good-will in other races, can resolve differences that always exist in humanity, even in a thoroughly homogeneous society, certainly in a culture diverse as ours. That “work-ethic” approach to everyday life will also resolve the problem of respect. “Show me respect” so many black people say. Funny, I don’t hear any other race in America making that demand. Maybe what they’re really saying is, “Give me self-respect.” Only the person himself, no one else, can provide self-respect. In fact, it can’t be given or demanded. It certainly can’t be TAKEN. It must be earned. And the best way to EARN it is to SHOW it to others. I pass many people on my walks. Because I owe them recognition, I greet them. I seldom fail to hear a return greeting. Abraham Lincoln always said he’d show a man respect by getting off the sidewalk if he wanted the whole space. I’ve done it more than once. Not because I’m a pushover, but I save my warrior-nature for more important issues than space on concrete. The difference in many societies is: some people in every race want the government to take care of them. Others in the same race want to take care of themselves, to earn their own way by the God-given talents he put in every race. People will always find politicians who promise to “take care of them” if they vote the right way. This writer had a white member of a church who was told he would have all his family needs met if he made the right religious choice. He “no-thanked” them and continued following Christ. Communists and Nazis traded welfare societies for votes, but where did it leave their people in the end? End Part II Note: this isn’t the writing I love. It’s the quiet voice of REASON to replace the societal NOISE heard in the media. (If you see value in the proposal, pass it to several people. If possible, put it in someone’s hand who can give it wide appeal. If you think the writer needs correction, don’t do the above, but write me.)
I’ve seen the headlines and read the stories. I’ve heard shouts from high and low abhorring the death of a black man unjustly killed while manacled. What I haven’t seen—though admittedly not party to all newspaper accounts—is a balanced account to reduce the mounting tumult. It’s time for both sides—police and blacks—to think objectively, and for all onlookers to stop being so one-sided in their protests. Bull-horn shouts will pass, and unless people of good-will on both sides meet and make positive decisions, little will have been accomplished. I suggest that cool, quiet, objective voices from each side meet to reduce tensions that unpleasant encounters have turned into explosive confrontations. The following certainties could guide the discussions. First, LAW rules the land. Any effort to reduce the police presence in society is so mindless that it shouldn’t be imagined, let alone considered. Yet voices in San Diego are presently pushing that agenda. Here’s hoping the City Council will torpedo that silliness to the depths from which it came. The way the LAWS are enforced can change, in some places have already changed, further education of its officers will change the behavior of the officers must change. Second, stop using slogans that are at best divisive and at worst racist: whether it’s POLICE POWER, WHITE SUPREMACY or BLACK LIVES MATTER. Consider Police Power. It’s provocative. Police officers are authorized to stop and arrest those they think are suspicious of illegal activity. They have been specifically trained to use only the necessary force to induce compliance. One circumstance modifies this rule. If drugs or alcohol are involved, rules are dismissed. Every fair-minded black onlooker has to admit that if person has the right to use any force that addiction has given him to escape confinement, the officer involved has the right to use any force necessary to achieve it. If the suspect is manacled, the officer has no right to excessive restraint. Then he has broken the law and his training, has become an extra-legal enforcer, and should be subject to arrest, arraignment and trial. Consider White Supremacy. That wrong-headed nonsense has a home only in minds bereft of reason, humanitarianism and God’s love for all mankind. Consider Black Lives Matter. It’s racist—and I’m surprised that people of otherwise sound reasoning haven’t said it. Can they feel so subjectively sympathetic that they can’t see the implications of the sentiment? Black lives matter? No more than Asian, Indian, Spanish or Caucasian. And not for any reason unconverted humanity may suggest. All human life matters because once born, every person is destined to spend eternity with God or without God; saved or condemned; in Heaven or in Hell! Think about this fact, folks! And here’s something else to think about. Since all human lives matter, why are some of the women gathering to protest police brutality so brutal as to murder by abortion millions of babies annually? End Part I This blog is written from a Christian, Bible-based, Christ-honoring perspective. All human life matters, not just black life. Every human life, of every race. Not because they’re black or white, or whatever: that elevates one race above another in importance. And not IF, but SINCE...once born, every person is destined to live forever as either SAVED or LOST, either in HEAVEN or in HELL.
Black lives matter is the favorite mantra of those who complain about police brutality—which is real, if only in isolated instances, and should be nearly non-existent since policemen are trained to use only the force needed to induce compliance. However, when a person stopped by officers runs, he guarantees a chase. If arrested, and fights the officer, he invites a struggle, and that engenders violent confrontations between mortals equally concerned with dominance and survival. And...should drugs or alcohol be involved, the risk becomes exponential for both. And if, in the situation, the officer uses force recklessly or exceeds the force required, he becomes the judge of the person. That makes him accountable to the law. With these rules practiced, incidents of abuse by policemen would be fewer, though still recorded by the ubiquitous cameras present in daily life. Since all human life matters, it’s incumbent on people of every race to assume responsibility for their own lives. That will have several positive impacts. First, responsibility for begetting new human life will be limited to the marriage relationship, where both fathers and mothers model behavior expected of the child. That will vastly reduce the production of children by serial fornicators, who leave pregnant women to claim welfare for their unborn while they seek cohabitation with new partners. Second, it will encourage all races to pay the price of getting solid educations in chosen fields. That equips them to claim well-paying business and tech positions. That will reduce black men especially from relying on sports for a livelihood. While professional sports makes a few of them incredibly wealthy, education in chosen fields will bring significantly-compensated careers for many. Third, maturing in a family with a responsible male leading will provide security and stability for children. When a man leads his family in serving God, disciplines them according to God’s will and punishes them when discipline fails, it reduces to near-extinction the dependence on drugs, alcohol or fornication males of every race will otherwise use to fortify their self-esteem. In learning to serve others the need to satisfy self decreases. Jesus personified service to others, even to degrading himself as a condemned criminal to offer forgiveness of human sin. Fourth, self-earned incomes will increase the spread of every race into integrated neighborhoods. That essential to peaceful race relations will hasten community efforts to resolve conflicts, and expect armed policemen and national guardsmen only in catastrophes. It will certainly reduce rioting and looting in neighborhoods that profit only a few hooligans while it costs responsible people their hard-earned livelihoods. I invite comments from those who feel I’ve fairly represented the issues involved. I also invite debate with anyone disagreeing with my perspectives. I ask only to conduct the debate in objective good-will and with the understanding that God’s truth in the Bible is the final authority on all issues. As David embodied the model God wants followed when he reproves, corrects, disciplines or punishes us, Cain embodied what must be avoided. David admitted God’s justice; Cain bewailed God’s prejudice. He unconscionably killed Abel but instantly censured God’s sentence as MORE than he could bear! Amazing hypocrisy!
But murder in Cain’s mind began with his rejection of God for his rejection of Cain’s offering. He gave, not the first-fruits of his husbandry, as an act of faith, but what he thought adequate. When God refused to honor it by fire, he hated God. A lack of scruple that encouraged him to kill his spiritual superior. Then, when Cain cursed the soil by killing Abel—mankind’s second abuse of creation—God turned it to a curse on Cain. Which the hardened, self-willed sinner adamantly defied by “building a city” Genesis 4:12, 17, intending to be a settled resident, not the “restless wanderer on earth” God foretold. Since even the wicked can teach us something useful—learn these lessons from Cain. First, our entire life-style of behavior and decisions are determined by our relationship with God. Never underestimate this truth. Second, Cain’s response to God explains why, to this day, some people readily admit they’re wrong merely by have it called to their attention; while others refuse any suggestion of faulty behavior, however clearly demonstrated. The former want to change; the latter see no reason they should. Christians appealing to the unsaved to accept Christ’s sacrifice for their sins should be prepared for both reactions. Some people will breathe a sigh of relief that the correction wasn’t MORE severe; others will glare in revulsion that it was so pitiless. Indeed, some sinners will be delighted that faith, repentance and baptism are the steps taken to forgiveness; others will consider any requirement from God a maximum restriction on their free-will. The first response makes God an admirable benefactor; the second a never-satisfied dictator. The Cain-disposition considers any limitation on behavior unacceptable, all freedom of behavior too little and any penalty imposed “more than they can bear.” Even if their sin is cold-blooded murder. The inconsistent philosophy against capital punishment is a Cain-response. No matter how violent the crime, or merciless the criminal’s acts against innocent people, the murderer shouldn’t be executed. God’s word dashes the theory to bits and pieces, and human standards of justice follow, demanding the heaviest punishment for the worst crime. Of which murder is the poster child of infamy since it arrogates to us what God reserves as his right alone Genesis 9:5-6. One final admonition. When, as faithful believers in Jesus, we experience what: we can’t explain; seems unfair to us; is more than we can bear—always seek God’s strength to endure. Ask God to help us learn in the situation what would make us stronger witnesses for Jesus. Never...never...question WHY we’re asked to bear the burden. That leads to Cain’s response to correction, not to David’s. Fini The first result of David’s confession of sin was positive: forgiveness meant he would retain his position over Israel and his personal relationship with God. The second, and negative result, proved that even those devoted to God, in higher positions by his appointment, receiving greater honors by his grace, suffer equivalent punishment when their behavior flagrantly despises God. Keep that principle in mind when calculating God’s sentence on the Jews for rejecting Christ. Since he made Israel the center—navel—of history Ezekiel 38:12, their rebellion against God reached its completion in Christ’s ministry.
The sentence God imposed on David proved particularly humiliating by having the sword slashing from within his “own household.” Furthermore, though three of his sons, each in line for succession, experienced violent deaths, the most dangerous adversary humiliated the king by lying with his “wives in broad daylight” II Samuel 12:11—treasonously usurping David’s throne, a crime not to be forgiven. Leading to a spiritual principle. First, parents need to model, practice and TEACH self-denial. The self-denial by which David lived—we can thank father Jesse for modeling that for his sons—and forsaken but once, had no positive impact on his infamous sons Amnon, Absalom and Adonijah. Whoever tutored them had no success tempering their egotism. When tutors reported their preening selfishness to David, he refused to get involved. An offense against them that I Kings 1:6 detailed. If Jesse had been so permissive with David, he would never have been the king of Israel and the namesake of Israel’s Messiah. In that sense, Jesse proved a greater man than David. Jesse produced a David, who produced at first only three malcontents. The lesson is: being a devoted Christian doesn’t automatically make one a competent parent. Different rules apply to each. Sinning against God brings the magnificent grace of Jesus to us on confession and repentance. While offenses against children—the most important being a refusal to model a disciplined self-denial followed by punishment when that fails. The one response parents want to avoid is thinking the phases of childish self-will naturally vanish as they mature. They instead grow into more intransigent self-will. A child must learn that God rewards obedience to his word and dishonors any disobedience. The second spiritual principle is to learn and practice objectivity in dealing with people. Particularly the people we love too much to apply to them the same objectivity we use for others. For example, David couldn’t believe Absalom would be the Hebrew equivalent of mythical Greek Narcissus, thoroughly in love with himself. David let himself be convinced that Absalom would be true to the rules of hospitality in his day: that all guests in a man’s home had safe conduct. All the while, Absalom pre-determined to slay Amnon II Samuel 13:23-26. However, once Absalom advertised his treason, David had no doubt about his ruthlessness, even towards him as ruling king II Samuel 15:13-14. Then there was Sheba’s far less dangerous usurpation after Absalom’s uprising had been destroyed. David was more objective about Sheba’s danger than Absalom’s. End Part V Consider the results when David confessed his sin. First, God forgave him and removed the death penalty otherwise accrued Leviticus 20:10. Psalm 51 records the king’s ego-shattering admission of: betrayal, remorse and desperate fear of losing his personal relationship with God.
David’s ready admission differed from King Saul’s reluctant acceptance of guilt for not annihilating Amalek I Samuel 15:1-35. Even prophet Samuel’s merciless hammering on the king’s conscience brought only his provisional admission 15:24. Only when Samuel predicted the end of Saul’s reign did the secular leader offer unconditional agreement of his guilt—and then only to save face with the nation’s elders 15:30. Saul’s response surfaces a mighty truth: while we may feel the need to explain, clarify or excuse our decisions to others, never even TRY that approach when coming to God. David confessed that he sinned. He never called it a mistake, a stupid decision or a thoughtless, selfish act. He never explained it wouldn’t have happened had he been able to sleep, (obviously); or he had been so anxious about his army before Rabbah he couldn’t sleep (then he should have been in the field with them). Nothing but, “I have sinned against the Lord.” The plain, ugly truth! The black-hearted spiritual betrayal of God’s word, God’s Person, God’s holiness. Unpleasant as it was, hard as it hit David’s ego to admit it, bad as it reduced the integrity before God long maintained, David confessed his wickedness before God. The very response God wanted and would bless with healing the gaping fracture in their relationship. For, what I John 1:9 promised under Grace, Moses promised under Law: if we confess our sins God is faithful and will forgive us! Amen. End Part IV |
Archives
May 2024
Categories
All
|