Woke Church Chapter 5 - I've Got a Lament of my Own (Part 2 of 2)

All right, well, we have Woke Church, chapter five, the second part. We're gonna do the last five laments in this chapter. I'm gonna try to do this a little bit faster than the first one, but suffice it to say that the first half of these laments was actually better than the second half of these laments.

Justice as a Primary Doctrine

And if you saw my other video, you know that those weren't very good at all. But let's just jump right into this. The sixth lament is, he laments, Dr. Eric Mason is lamenting that justice is not seen as a primary doctrine.

And I think that this is just very obviously false. What isn't seen as a primary doctrine is Dr. Eric Mason and the Social Justice Warriors brand of justice, because it's not biblical. Why would we see income inequality and wealth inequalities and cultural disparities?

Why would we see that as a primary doctrine when it's not in the Bible? It's just not in the Bible. So that's what he's actually talking about. But Dr. Eric Mason can't conceive of any kind of justice that's not as he defines it.

That's just not something that he's capable of doing. And so when he says justice is not a primary doctrine, that's what he means. He means his conception of justice, and that's just not true. He talks about how in the Bible, the prophets talk about justice all the time, and that's very true.

He talks about how the law of God is about justice. That's very true. But every person on my side of this debate actually sees that and acknowledges that and already knows that. In fact, the statement on social justice, which everyone's criticizing, actually specifically says that about the law of God.

But anyway, in this section, if you watch Dr. James White, I'm not gonna go into this too much, but if you watch Dr. James White, you will know that in this section, Dr. Eric Mason just flat out lies about something that Dr. James White said.

James White posted a tweet, a meme, that basically said that when you come to the Lord's table, your identity is in Christ. It's not in all of these ethnicities or skin color or anything like that. That has no place at the table because at the table, we're celebrating our unity in Christ, the unity that Christ accomplished for us.

And so if you're bringing your racial differences to the table and looking at that as something that's important, that's wrong. And that's very obviously true. It's very obviously Christian. But Eric Mason in this chapter says that he was pushing this colorblind theology that denies Galatians chapter three, the covenant with Abraham through all the nations that you'll be blessed.

He's saying he denies Isaiah 49, which it doesn't, denying Psalm 67, which it doesn't. And this is just, I'm not gonna read it because I refer you to James White's dividing line about this. He goes into thorough detail about it.

But suffice it to say, it's just a lie. It's just a bold lie. And the reality is that this is a common thing. People are lying constantly. Dr. Eric Mason's not the only one who's willing to just lie. Russell Moore is lying through his teeth very irregularly about the statement on social justice.

What do you say about people that are just lying constantly? That's just their second language. I think the Bible says something very specific about those kinds of people, but I'll leave that for you to decide on your own.

So anyway, yeah, so lament number six is, I think it's just obviously false. People do consider justice a central doctrine in the Bible. It's just not your brand of justice that they talk about. Now, lament number six, or I'm sorry, number seven, listen to this.

Black Lives Matter and the Church

Dr. Eric Mason is lamenting that the church didn't create and lead the Black Lives Matter movement. The church didn't, oh my goodness gracious. Let me show the screen here. This is the Black Lives Matter webpage.

And if you look at the guiding principles, they're talking about diversity, that's good. Globalism is a guiding principle. Queer affirming is a guiding principle of the Black Lives Matter movement. Unapologetically black, okay, whatever.

Collective value, empathy, loving engagement, transgender affirming. Black villages, who knows what that means. Black women, black families, intergenerational. Here's the thing. If you wanna know about the history of Black Lives Matter, well, you can't because all you can do is learn about the herstory of it.

You see, here's the reality. Black Lives Matter is a Marxist anti-Christian movement. And so the fact that Eric Mason would lament that the church didn't start it is puzzling at the very least, very puzzling.

Now it could be that Dr. Eric Mason wishes that the Christian church started it so that it wouldn't have turned into a pagan movement, an absolutely evil movement. Black Lives Matter is an evil movement.

That could be what he means, but I don't know because he doesn't really explain it. But the reality is this, listen to this from page 107. In the eyes of many, Black Lives Matter has become the voice of black dignity.

So let's just say this for what it is. If you wanna know more about Black Lives Matter, I'll let you explore this, queer affirming all this stuff. And this is the voice for black dignity according to Eric Mason.

Fine, quote, Black Lives Matter is an ideological and political intervention in a world where black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. Dr. Eric Mason, prove it, prove it. I think that this sentence shows that you're disconnected from reality.

You are disconnected from reality. You think that our world today, the United States is systematically and intentionally targeting black people for demise. That is an amazing statement. It is obviously false, but you know what?

I'll give you an opportunity to prove it. I don't think the proof is coming because it never is. And we're almost done with your book. And all it's been is a bunch of statements, a bunch of radical, ridiculous statements.

And I say, prove it. It's on you to prove it. Now, I think that you said in this book that you will not prove it. In fact, you don't even have those conversations. You know what, Jim, if you can't prove it and you're just gonna say that the United States is systematically and intentionally targeting black people for demise and you're not gonna prove it, I am going to just disregard it.

It's just that simple. I'm going to disregard it if you can't prove it. But that's an amazing statement. And so here's the thing, prove it, prove it. If we're intentionally targeting blacks in this country for demise, prove it.

The reality, my goodness gracious. Okay, so this is all about the shootings. And look, my opinion on the black, innocent black people's shootings that happen is nuanced. I mean, I think some of the shootings, they seem like they were completely justified and others weren't.

And the reality is the whole thing, the Michael Brown shooting is what's really started a lot of this stuff, especially in the church. If you listen to people on the social justice warrior side, they will quote, I'm sorry, they will cite the Michael Brown shooting as the linchpin, the thing that changed their mind.

And that one is so completely ridiculous to me. That one seems like, look, if you're gonna believe an officer at any time, this one is the one you believe. This guy just, the guy who got shot just got done doing a strong arm robbery.

And I know that the response to that is, well, but the officer didn't know that. Yeah, that's fine. The officer didn't have to know that. But the point is that this guy was not a good guy. This guy was a violent man.

And so if the officer says, hey, this guy attacked me, why is that unbelievable if he just got done attacking somebody else and that's demonstrated? So the thing is people are all in agreement on the Michael Brown shooting.

And so therefore white people don't care. I just find that absolutely ridiculous. Listen to this, this is page 108. Our voices should have been lifted in unison against assaults on black life. Yeah, they do when it's unjustified.

But in this case, people don't agree with you that it was unjustified. Why would they stand out against that? Why would they lift their voices against that? If this guy got attacked by this guy, Michael Brown, then he was within his right to defend himself.

Black pastors, white pastors, Asians, Latinos, all should have spoken out. So basically, Dr. Eric Mason thinks, everyone should have the opinion that I have. And if they don't, then they don't care about justice.

Then they don't care about Christ. This is what I'm saying. Eric Mason is so self-absorbed. And I do mean that, that he can't conceive of someone disagreeing. And if you disagree with him, it's really just because you're targeting, you hate black people.

This is the problem with the woke movement. There's no room for nuance whatsoever. I don't hate black people. And I don't think every one of the shootings that has happened was completely justified. So some of them seem like they probably were, some of them seem like they probably weren't.

But the reality is that there's no room for that kind of a viewpoint. You either agree with Eric Mason on everything, or you hate black people. That is not how we do this. That's not how we do this. And I don't take that very seriously at all.

That's just such a simplistic, sinfully simplistic mindset, I would add. He says, we should have hit the streets together, ringing out against these injustices. Instead, we argued and minimized the events.

Now we're dealing with schism. And our witness to the broader world has suffered in part because of our silence and inaction. Yeah, that's the thing. He's against the, anyone, any kind of debate, any kind of argument, any kind of, yeah, but you know, this Michael Brown, he's a violent man.

He just did a violent act. And this cop is telling him he did another violent act. It seems pretty believable to me. No, no, there's no room for that. You just have to agree with Eric Mason on the fact that this cop was a white racist who specifically targeted black people.

Again, there's no evidence for this, but it's just, you just have to accept it. And then if you don't, you hate black people. You see what I'm saying? That's the thing. I find this so amazing. Even if the shootings were unjustified, you have to also not only believe that they were unjustified, but you also have to believe that they were done with racial motivations in order to believe this movement.

Because here's the thing, white people get shot by cops too. Unarmed white people get shot by cops too. But nobody talks about that. It's always just the black people that get shot. And so you not only have to believe that all these shootings were unjustified, which is outrageous enough as it is, but you also have to believe that, again, there's no evidence for this, but it's actually specific, systematic, intentional targeting of black people.

There's no evidence for it, but you just have to believe it. That's preposterous, and I will not believe it without evidence. Now, if you find the white hood in the officer's closet the next day, I'll probably believe you that it was intentional.

I'll probably believe you. But until you do, I'm not going to believe you. In fact, if you look at the statistics and the evidence, the idea that blacks are being intentionally targeted is preposterous and laughable on its face.

Larry Elder likes to say this a lot. You're more likely, as a black person, you're more likely to be struck by lightning and killed than you are to be shot by a police officer. If that's intentional targeting and a systematic way for black people to die, for their demise, as Eric Mason says, then white people are pretty inept.

See, that's the thing. This is a preposterous idea on the face of it, but I'd be open to the evidence. Don't think it's coming, though. I thought I was gonna do this faster. I don't think I'm going to.

Black Hebrew Israelites and Urban Ministry

Okay, lament number eight, diminished presence on justice issues. This is a lament about the black church, actually. He's upset that the black church isn't doing more for justice issues. And I gotta, you know, the only comment I have to this is maybe it's the white man's fault.

I don't know. He doesn't really say. Lament number nine, not effectively equipping the church to know how to engage black ideologies. This isn't a lament about not equipping the church to engage with the Nation of Islam or black Hebrew Israelites and things like that.

And I gotta be honest with you. I think a lot of people just don't know about these groups. And I think it makes sense that they don't because these are groups that are typically in the inner city. I encountered them in New York when I lived there.

And so country bumpkins, you know, they don't really know about the black Hebrew Israelites or the Nation of Islam. They know a little bit about it, but they don't know a lot about it. And so you can lament this all day long, but the onus is on the people that are in that context.

The onus is on you. The onus is on other people in the cities to do that because there are other ideologies that we have to talk about here in Vermont. You know what I mean? There's different kinds of things.

It's basically liberalism here in Vermont that we have to counteract. And it's a little bit of Catholicism as well. That's the things that we need to focus on. So I'm not gonna focus on black Hebrew Israelites, even though others should, because my context just doesn't require it.

It just doesn't require it at all. So, you know, that's a fine lament, but that's on you and your other urban ministries, not just black people. It's on, you know, every person who does ministry in an urban context, that's on them.

So that's fine. Okay, this is the last lament. Giving up on white Christians who want to grow their racial IQ and contribute to healing, resolution, and restitution. Listen to this sentence. This is the first sentence.

I admit it, Dr. Eric Mason talking. There have been times when I've come close to giving up. I don't have time for lingering with those who are unconcerned or apathetic. What an amazing statement because here's how I translate this.

I think this is what he's talking about. He doesn't have time for people like me who are unconcerned and apathetic. Now, if you know me, the reason I'm in this conversation is because I am concerned. I just don't agree.

But Dr. Eric Mason doesn't have time for that. He wants to give, he's come close to giving up on that and he just doesn't have time for it. In fact, if you're talking to him from a white space, he can't hear you.

You know what I mean? Absolutely ridiculous kind of statements, but you know what? Whatever, he could talk to whoever he wants. But the point is, let's continue. Even in Jesus' ministry, he didn't waste valuable time with those who choose to live in their fruitless philosophies.

Fruitless, there's so many assumptions here. Honestly, unless this changes in the next couple chapters, my review of this book can be summed up in really a paragraph. This is a worthless book. And what I mean by worthless is that you're not going to gain any real knowledge here.

You're going to get a lot of assertions about what's going on, but you're never gonna get examples. You're never gonna get solutions on what to do about it. You're never gonna get any evidence, nothing like that.

And so if you wanna hear someone just spit assertions at you about how bad white people are and how bad the white church is, then maybe you should get this book. But you're never gonna get it proven. It's just gonna be one man's opinion and it's pretty much worthless.

And I would argue that until you show us the receipts, I just don't believe you and I just don't care about your criticisms. In fact, that's a biblical thing. The Bible says that you shouldn't even admit a charge against an elder without the evidence of two or more witnesses.

And that doesn't mean that just two people have to be saying it. They have to actually be witnesses to the event. Some people say, well, there's millions of people saying these things. Yeah, that's fine.

But I'm talking about specific sins, specific events we need evidence for. Or I'm just not gonna even entertain it. I'm not even going to entertain it. But I've heard evidence is a sign of white privilege as well.

So maybe that's just the reality. But anyway, he says this. He says, he says, we must continue to have our hearts and lives open enough to lovingly engage whites who want to grow their racial IQ. First of all, I don't know what racial IQ is and I don't really care to be honest.

But the reality is, is that what you were doing when you said the blacks were angloid on the inside? That's what you were doing. You were having your heart open. You have a heart for people, yeah. Oh, is that what you do when people ask you questions on Twitter and you just block them instantly?

Oh yeah, that's probably what you're doing, yeah. Dr. Eric Mason does not practice what he preaches. Dr. Eric Mason does not practice what he preaches. And that's what's so lamentable about this chapter.

I know about this situation with James White and he just flat out lies about it in this book. Again, I refer you to the dividing line to hear about that in more detail. He's lying. And in the one or two instances I know exactly what he's talking about, he's flat out lying.

And so all of these other claims that he's making without evidence, I think it's pretty safe to assume that he's making that up as well. Now, some of this could be a matter of interpretation and that's fine, but that's why we have to have the debate.

You know what I mean? You can't just be like, well, you're not interested in raising your racial IQ. So I'm not gonna talk to you. As long as you keep doing that, you're going to keep losing this debate.

It's just that simple. And you're gonna keep harming people. I just read a really great blog post from Edwin Ramirez. And, you know, I honestly, I just, I mean, I just recommend that you read it. Here it is.

It's confessions of a former social justice warrior. And this, you know, made me wanna cry tears of joy and also sadness, because he recognizes that when he was a social justice warrior, that it was just mental slavery.

It was mental slavery. He used to be very optimistic and he turned into just very pessimistic and looking for offense everywhere and microaggressions. And this philosophy will kill you. This will kill you.

If you continue down this road forever, the social justice road, it will kill you. There's nothing at the end of this road. There's nothing good at the end of this road. There's no freedom in it. There's no freedom in it.

And so Dr. Eric Mason pushing this stuff, this is dangerous stuff. I would recommend that you make sure to be a Berean about this. When he starts talking about white privilege and this and that and income inequalities and that, hold it up to the light of scripture.

Hold it up to the light of scripture. When he starts saying, we should need to have an ecumenical council to declare all these people race heretics, because they don't think that your ethnic identity has a place at the Lord's table.

Your unity in Christ is the primary thing there. When they say that's heresy, hold that up to the light of scripture. Hold that up to the light of scripture. It will not stand. The last sentence that I wanted to talk about in this chapter is on page 112.

He says, being biblically woke does mean that we hold the majority culture accountable for the racial injustice we are entrenched in. Being biblically woke means we hold the majority culture. Read that, white people.

We hold white people accountable for the racial injustice we are entrenched in. First of all, you gotta prove that racial injustice, because where's it at? Where's it at? But secondly, chapter and verse on that one.

Chapter and verse on that one. We gotta hold white people accountable for the problems that we find ourselves in. The income inequalities, the wealth inequalities, the murders in black communities, the crime in low-income communities, things like that.

Yeah, show me the chapter and verse on that where white people are accountable for that. Anyway, I hope this is helpful. We'll continue with our review later this week. We're gonna move on. We only have a few chapters left, I think.

Got four chapters left, four chapters left, and so we'll get into it. But I hope this was helpful. God bless.