Woke Church Chapter 4 - History and Black Pride

So finish chapter 4 in woke church and chapter 4 is about history

And this is a common thing and in these conversations They they the claim is that that that white

Christians in general and maybe not just white Christians Although that's often the implication But but Christians don't understand the racist history of the church in America, and I don't typically buy that argument

I think that especially the the stuff that that dr. Eric Mason goes into in this book is all pretty basic I think a lot of people do understand that the church participated in slavery and had a lot of questionable beliefs and we're very

Sort of passive in some ways in the in the in the civil rights era and things like that I don't think that's hidden.

I don't think that that's unknown I think that most people that engage in this conversation do know about that and The way that this is presented and and it's often even outright said in this book

And even right in the margin here He he'll say that the things that were going on then are going on today as well

There's a little section on the curse of ham and he says that the effects of it can be felt up to the present day

And that's all he says. He doesn't really explain what he means by that And you know, is it true that there are people that believe in the curse of ham today?

Yeah, probably but if you explain the curse of ham to ten evangelicals and you ask them if they believe that I'm willing to bet that probably nine or ten out of ten would say.

Oh, yeah, that's not biblical at all So so, you know, he doesn't say that that it's a grant that or anything like that In fact, he does say in this chapter that there has been progress made but he'll just go and say something like that Well, the effects are being being felt today things like that and he doesn't explain what he means

It kind of just leaves it up to your imagination what he means I find that very annoying and it's a common tactic to say

Well, the church was doing this back then and they're obviously still doing it today. I find that kind of annoying but overall it's it's not

Bad. I mean if you don't know the history of the church, this is a good starting point for you there's a lot more that could be said about What the

Christian Church in the United States participated in was passive about you can go on and on And that's not to say that that's just how the church's influence has been the church also was on the side of the abolitionists the church also was on the side of of Of Civil rights and things like that.

So we don't want to we don't want to only focus on the the bad We want to also focus on the good

But anyway, so chapter 4 about history not bad not terrible nothing new for me, but but that's fine

I mean, I don't think it's gonna be anything new for a lot of you out there It doesn't mean that we can't have another book talking about it

But anyway, um what I wanted to focus on in this chapter is Something that he says about black

Nationalist groups and he presents black nationalist groups as a hindrance to gospel

Work in the inner city, which it definitely is Because we've got the Nation of Islam.

Obviously not a Christian group. You've got Hebrew Israelites, obviously not a

Christian group. These are these are challenges in the inner city. He's absolutely right about that So he doesn't present these as good organizations to be completely fair However, he does present them as having something good to offer

Black people and let me just let me just read this from page 90 of woke

Church He says growing up in DC I can attest to the influence of the Nation of Islam in a middle of a broken black neighborhood

You would see freshly shaven black men wearing suits bow ties and promoting black dignity

I looked up to them and I wanted to be like them in many ways There were they were effective in helping blacks feel a sense of worth and dignity

They had a handshake and a greeting of peace that spoke of brotherhood Connection and respect one of their staples has been their commitment to developing and raising up black men

One of their senior leaders Malcolm X was known for his rhetorical genius and his love for his people

He argued that the black the Bible was being twisted to fit an agenda aimed at the continued enslavement of blacks

And so even that characterization of Malcolm X for example Promoting black dignity and he it says that he was known for loving people

We need to look at this not from a fleshly perspective But from a spiritual perspective from a from a scriptural perspective did

Malcolm X love people? That's the question Did Malcolm X love people and I think if you look at this from a biblical perspective

You would have to say that Malcolm X did not love people Malcolm X encouraged rebellion against God Malcolm X did this by appealing to the flesh

He appealed to your flesh black nationalism is a fleshly thing. It appeals to Sin, it appeals to a sinful desire that you already have in you just like white nationalism does white

Nationalism appeals to the flesh and so we can all in this conversation easily see how white nationalists would appeal to the flesh

But for some reason we have this rosy view of black nationalism in the woke movement

Malcolm X didn't love people. I use this example a lot I used to have some very close friends before I was a believer and we would go out and party together

We hung out with each other. We would help people we would help each other out if if if If you know someone needed it, you know

So we needed to borrow money or something like that We'd help each other out things like that. And the question is did I love those those people?

Did I love my friends and I would have to say from a scriptural perspective?

No, I did not love my friends In fact, I hated my friends. I Encouraged them to to have illicit sex with with women

I encouraged them to drink until they were plastered and had do drugs and destroy themselves

I encouraged them to rebel against God and they encouraged me to rebel against God In fact, we were all in it together.

We were gonna do as much damage as we could do Together and we were encouraging each other in that that's not love man.

That's not love. You know, I just I just saw this article From living out.

I think I saw pulpit and pen post this if I'm not mistaken But but look at but look at this is about homosexual relationships

What's wrong about with a permanent faithful stable same -sex relationship and you know, some would say well at least they get to the right place

They say it's a sin against God, but that's not enough man. That's not enough Look at this.

It's look at this sentence It says we'd be crazy to deny the good and permanent stable faithful same -sex relationships

We'd be crazy to deny the good in permanent stable faithful same -sex relationships

Do you understand how nonsensical that sentence sentence is from a biblical perspective?

There is no good in Encouraging other to violate you There's no good in encouraging one another to sin against God to rebel against God and to injure each other spiritually physically

Emotionally all of that same -sex relationships do that to each other. It's not loving

I know that it's tempting to say well look what they're so in love with each other. It's not the case It's just not the case from a biblical perspective.

There's no way to understand this sentence We'd be crazy to deny the good in a permanent stable faithful same -sex sexual relation

There's nothing permanent stable or faithful about a same -sex sexual relationship Here's the point.

Here's the point. He quotes here from from Tony Evans as well. I don't read Tony Evans I don't know much about him.

You see I mean from what I understand. He's a faithful Christian. I have no idea But he says this he says He says yeah, he's talking again about about black nationalists

And he says it's unfortunate that my appreciation and legitimate pride in my race Was not provided to me by my study of Christian theology instead.

It came as a result of the civil rights movement It was not until the social revolution of that era that I like many of my contemporaries developed a new awareness

Appreciation and awakened self -consciousness of blackness He's lamenting the fact that when he read the

Bible and when he was taught Christianity he didn't get a pride in his race in his skin color and The reality is brothers and sisters

I mean That's not what Christianity is all about if you read the Bible and you understand good biblical theology

You won't come out of it with pride in your flesh in your skin color in your ethnicity in your tribe

What you will come out with is is an absolute gratefulness

Thankfulness of the fact that you are a new nation You're a new family in Christ all those other things don't really make a difference.

I don't have Puerto Rican pride I like being Puerto Rican. I like being Puerto Rican.

I like you know the culture I like the food. It's all awesome. The island is beautiful. I love my family.

I love how we hang out I love the things that we do together. That is so much fun So I'm glad that that God made me a

Puerto Rican. I think it's an advantageous to me in many ways but a pride in my race

That's not a Christian virtue to have a pride in your race And I think we easily see this if a white person said the same thing and he's like well

You know I did I never I never really had a pride in my race when I was a Christian But then when I found white nationalism

I found to be to be proud of my whiteness you would see that as what it is It's it's it's wrong.

It's twisted. It's not Christian, but here we have in the woke Church That kind of thing being talked of as a positive thing.

It's not a positive thing There's nothing wrong with being happy that you're black or Puerto Rican or white

There's nothing wrong with that But to say that well one of the problems with one of the problems with Christianity is that it doesn't develop a pride in your

Blackness or whiteness look black nationalism white nationalism a lot of ASA all that stuff

Appeals to the flesh. It's not something that we should be seeking to promote within Christian context

I mean dr. Eric Mason, and this says that the sociology of the black nationalists is actually good.

It's a good thing That's not true. The sociology of the Bible is a good thing. The sociology of the

Bible is a good thing That's the moral and ethical thing that we should be promoting not pride in your race.

That's counterproductive. That's counterproductive Here's the thing There's nothing wrong with cultivating an appreciation of your culture of your ethnicity.

That's all good but the thing is though that we have to have a pride almost or maybe even just a

Our identity in Christ Has to be so much more than our identity as a black person or a

Puerto Rican person that it almost looks like hatred You know what? I mean? God said you'll hate your mother.

You'll hate your son. You'll hate your father your father In comparison to how much you love Christ. Well, you know what?

I'll say Jesus didn't say this but I think it easily applies you if you love if you truly love