The Black community has traditionally been very close to propositions of faith. In particular, the Black Christian church within the United States has been the place that has shaped values, held the community together and been the place from which much community change growth and development has occurred over the years.
To be clear, the abolition of slavery, the creation and promotion of civil rights agenda and many other things that we now enjoy, were direct products and results of religious and bible based concepts with secular ideology in tow. I contend that the proliferation of freedom all around the world would not exist unless it was for religious influence and in particularly that of the Christian religion and religious influence. I further contend that for someone to doubt the benefit of the church within modern society is someone who hasn't taken the time to study, but bury their head in the sand and someone who doesn't know or simply hasn't been taught how to reconcile history...HOWEVER...and that's a huge HOWEVER...the modern CHURCH has done itself no favors with her desire to be relevant, pseudo-spirituality, lust and desire for sin, search for physical and material wealth, and morally debase practices which allows, and in many cases, supports PERVERTS, sexual immorality, and moral & spiritual impurity, in congregations and pulpits all across the nation...
I mean, did you see the HORROR Church movie "Honk For Jesus"??? YES, it was a HORROR FILM, similar to "Friday The 13th" and "Halloween" or better yet "Psycho". From beginning to end this movie it was a complete horror flick, displaying the horrors of big church "showtime" (in many cases and places) and a look at what people will do and allow and promote within the church. Although this movie may have been about and mixed scandalous acts of the late Bishop Eddie Long & his predecessor (spiritual father) the late Bishop Earl(you ARE the father)Paulk. The movie's culprit was not only a sick, debase and narcissistic out of control pastor, but also a complete corrupt accountability and support system, beginning with what appeared to be, at first glance, an innocent/supportive wife, who, along with others, wanted relevance, acknowledgement and material position in this world greater than they wanted God, truth, right and moral and spiritual purity. I could give you a complete synopsis of the movie in the comments, as I was enamored with it, but I digress...
So while the church has her faults, flaws and sins, she is still yet the vehicle that God has used and will use to unite himself to this world. the fact is that no matter how bad it gets or is, the very "gates of hell shall not prevail" against her. (Mt. 16:18)
Sad Result Of The Church's Apostasy
The apostasy of the church, in my opinion, has caused a greater secularization of the Black community. Not only are former servants of the church running from her vowing to never come back, usually because of some church practice based on governmental or hierarchical structure, as opposed to doctrine and or biblical teaching, what cannot be overlooked is that common people who were raised in church and that have benefited from Church and Christian morality in particularly in their own lives, have, in many cases, also hit the door with a promise to not come back to the church. This has also, in many cases, fueled with disdain against church practices and actions and caused many, who's ancestors prayed for their deliverance and freedom to leave and move away from the very institution through which deliverance and freedom was prayed for.
Recently, in a Twitter forum sponsored by an organization named NewsToter, a topic was raised "Has Religion Helped Or Hurt Black Americans?" One question that I was looking to address was the matter of tithes and what has the Black community has received in return...however, I could not and was not able to get to that issue, but short answer, in too many places...WE BEEN ROBBED!!!
My message was that religion, in particular the Christian religion has certainly helped, but that there is a distinguishable difference between the practice of religion and that of spirituality or service to God...I mean in my opinion, the very question is like a healthy, fed child standing on his mothers lap, with a full stomach questioning, "Is it good that my parents feed me?"...The very question overlooks the fact that you have what you have and are full solely because your parents and their efforts to feed you because you couldn't feed yourself. In this case it is the mother, that has fed you, otherwise you'd still be hungry or hospitalized for malnutrition or even dead leaving your ability to take care of yourself up to you.
With that said, as I was commenting, my phone went out and would not allow me back into the forum, but I was able to hear the recording the next day. After my abrupt mid comment departure, most were very nice, including the host himself, but a gentlemen raised a comment saying that I was a liar and that the God of the bible was responsible for over 266 wars and or conflicts and for some over 2M deaths and suggested that was his reason to reject religion and Christianity. Another also didn't know what the word "novel" meant as it pertained to historical events...It is that commentary, which has been common among many atheists, that I would like to deal with in the balance of this post.
The God Of The Bible...
Is He Unjust?
Has He Caused Over 2M Deaths Within The Bible?
Is Man Better To Men Than God?
Certainly the gentleman stating this erroneous information was not a biblical scholar, but he was also no less of a biblical critic than many of the modern atheists. At this point I will reprint my response to him, that was at least 15 parts on Twitter, with revisions and insertions to add additional information and clear up misinformation.
"...my brother stated after my phone went out last evening (not due to "judgement") that the God of the Bible was responsible for over 266 incidents of violence in which over 2M people were killed. For sure he is incorrect, but for sake of argument, I say he is on point and 100% accurate.
The young man is a good young man that believes in justice, right and equity, I am confident. Let's look at 3 things that displays the inadequacy of that (his) argument when we speak of the implications of religion (aka: Judaeo-Christian Biblical belief)
1- Israel's time in SLAVERY for over 400 years.
We BOTH agree that slavery is/was horrible and needed to be put down. In Ex. 3 God sends Moses to free Israel from slavery. Folk die as a result. (INSERTION: Even 1st born children die in the last plague. The critic says that God kills children. However, without exception EVERYONE'S 1st born could be saved during this plague. Only those who followed the instructions of applying blood to the doorpost and lentil, whether one worshiped and believed in the God of the Israelite's or not, would actually be saved.) Is/was God unrighteous by ending it (slavery) and setting people free?
2- God commanded that Israel enter land he had promised to Abraham & his descendants.
There were only 5 nations that God said should be utterly destroyed [INSERTION: Deut. 20:17, there are 6 nations depending upon how you count nations]. Leviticus 23 (and I meant Leviticus 18) indicates what the inhabitants of the land were doing. (INSERTION: Lev. 18:3 ~ After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances...indicates that that practices, outlined in the chapter, were some of the practices that both Egyptians and Canaanites. v.25 indicates that it was because of these practices, which included baby and child murder and indiscriminate human sacrifice v.21, that God was removing them from the land) Among other things they killed indiscriminately, sacrificed children and totally perverted justice. Raping, pillaging, and denigrating themselves in every possible human way...Molech, a baby murderer was their god. God said they, the Canaanites were spewed out of the land because they defiled it. Would it have been justice to allow those things to go (on)? In other words, is the (Biblical God) unrighteous to STOP injustice? If so, then how are YOU or can you possibly be just or justified? Ie: if God himself can't order and decree evil to be stopped, then under and by who's authority do you "demand" anyone to stop their unjust acts or actions? In other words, to reject the God of the bible and claim some moral superiority is an argument of special pleading and logically inconsistent.
3- Have you ever hear of Pol Pot? (INSERT: 1976-1979) During his lifetime he was responsible for the death of some reported 2M Cambodians by himself.
Nothing to do with God. That was a product of the HUMAN CONDITION...How about Joseph Stahlin? (INSERT: 1929-1953) 6M to 9M people killed (INSERT: By conservative estimates. Some report 20M to 60M plus people killed) No God. in fact anti-God atheist. HUMAN CONDITION. How about Hitler? (INSERT: 1933-1945) over 7M and hated religion especially the Abrahamic faith of Judaism. HUMAN CONDITION.
How about Mau (INSERT: Mau Zedong, 1958-1962) Heard of him? In 5 years they say he starved to death and killed over 20M of his own people. 5 years! (INSERT: 20M is a conservative estimate. Many say the proper amount was roughly 45M people killed in 5 years under this God hating, humanist and secular regime)
You said God ordered the death of 2M through 266 conflicts and that would be over at least 40 to 80 years.
(INSERT: According to the numbers, SECULARISM and perverted concepts of governance through various forms of Marxism, has been responsible for the deaths of over 35M to over 100M people not including those killed through war in under 100 slightly over years)
The EVIDENCE says that INJUSTICES were ended by God as opposed to simply allowing things (INSERT: evil and senseless killings) to go on forever.
RELIGION (INSERT: The Christian faith) teaches that EVIL has an end and that even while evil proliferates, they that trust in God have life here, now and in the future. We have confidence that no tear shed, no striped back, no rape, murder, or other injustice will be without meaning and ultimate reckoning, Our "sky" hears us. YOURS however is simply an ongoing gripe with justice determined by you and for you as it only effects YOU. RELIGION gives us the ability to face injustice and stand up to it, bc (because) we know who and what supports our efforts and we look forward to HIM bringing that reconciliation to us.
As I was attempting to state last night, race based slavery is fairly new (that's what NOVEL actually means) considering history. Slavery occurred historically in spite of race, not because of race. Race based slavery is a newer form of slavery. Blacks and Whites, Arabs and Chinese, every race (INSERT: and ethnicity) has participated in slavery, primarily of their OWN people. You guys want to hear someone blame the victim so bad, you can't see the forest looking at the trees.
Young man, I AIN'T the one to see the tree as bigger than the forest. I also AIN'T the one to look at our current condition with fictition or fantasy, that some white supremacy boogie man, whether real of fictitious, is responsible for all moral evil...that AIN'T the case.
The HUMAN CONDITION (INSERT: SINFUL NATURE OF MAN) is responsible for moral evil and the actual physical evil we experience and our ancestors experienced. That HUMAN CONDITION has tainted (not taunted) ALL of us and if we really want justice, we should render our individual selves first as EVERY ONE is guilty.
Thanks."
I'll conclude by saying that noone is insulated from the sometimes absolute garbage that happens within the church. However, it is disingenuous and historically incorrect as well as biblically unsupportable to conflate racial hatred and bigotry with the church as a biblical teaching or something ordained by God. Where there was slavery and or injustice, God, through time, eliminated and stopped its ugly grip. The church has been the progenitor of concepts that stop evil, such as the evil of slavery, abuse and misuse and mistreatment of the innocent and support for people to treat one another in a more humane fashion for generations all over the world.
Just as we are not insulated from the evil that has crept into the church, we are also not insulated from the TRUE and real presence of God that we find within the church as well. There is church related hurt, but there is church and god related victory as well. God has not been so bad to any of us that we leave HIM behind, because he has not ever left us behind. It may take something to hold on, but don't be worldly smart and spiritually blind and defenseless.
David, with all of his faults, ways and inconsistencies yet recorded this:
Ps. 34: 8 ~ O taste and see that the LORD is good:
blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
Blessed!
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