Attention White Evangelicalism! Abortion is Central to Black Theology - Thinking Winsomely

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Welcome back to thinking winsomely, a chat TGC podcast.
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I have to start this episode with a quick apology. I ask for your forgiveness for the long delay in getting this episode out.
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And truth be told, I have just been, well, I've been, I've been grieved. I feel a heavy burden in the past few weeks.
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And, and I have to say that I, I find it hard to believe that in 2023 we are still dealing with the scourge of systemic racism in our country.
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I, I watch the same images that you did with those, those two black
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African -American lawmakers, beautiful black bodies expelled out of the
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Tennessee legislature, like as if they were a piece of garbage. I can't believe that we're still dealing with this in 2023.
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If only the evangelical church would stand up, maybe we could make a difference.
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And so I had to take a brief sabbatical, a couple of weeks off of, of my job just to, just to really get the emotional energy to continue this journey with you.
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Brothers and sisters, I am exhausted. I am tired of the scourge of racism and actually racism has inspired this episode today.
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Today, I want to talk about code switching because I have seen quite a few fundamentalists talking about these beautiful black brothers, these beautiful black bodies in Christ.
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After they were so callously, they were publicly lynched. Let's just call it what it is. It was a public lynching.
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When they were removed from their seats of, of the legislature. After they were lynched, they were so courageous and those images,
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I just cannot get them out of my mind. They hearkened back to the time of the civil rights movement.
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Dear church, will we, this time, join the civil rights movement instead of oppressing it?
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And I've seen so many fundamentalists talk about the, the fact that these, these, these beautiful black bodies support abortion.
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They support, they support LGBT rights and saying how that's incompatible with Christianity.
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Well, I'm here to tell you and to teach you about code switching because code switching is not just about your style of talking or your dialect.
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It's also about the belief, the content of your faith itself. So here's the article that I wrote.
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As Christians, we are called to love and extend grace to all of our brothers and sisters in Christ, recognizing that we all come from different backgrounds and experiences.
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For black Christians, this often means navigating predominantly white theological spaces where the language and cultural references may be unfamiliar.
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As a result, black Christians may express their theology in ways that seem unfamiliar or even incorrect to those outside of their cultural context.
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This is where the concept of code switching comes in. Code switching is about more than just accents and language.
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It's about adapting to different social contexts and adjusting one's speech and behavior and mannerisms to fit into those contexts.
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For black Christians, this often means adapting to white theological spaces that may not fully understand or appreciate their unique perspectives and experiences.
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When it comes to theological errors, dear Christian, please hear me while I unpack this.
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When it comes to theological errors, we must remember that black Christian theology is often deeply rooted in their cultural context.
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Just as code switching involves adjusting one's language and behavior to fit into those social contexts, black
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Christians may also adjust their theology to fit into predominantly white theological spaces.
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This can result in expressions of faith that may seem unfamiliar or even incorrect to those outside of their cultural context.
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Instead of correcting or dismissing black Christians for their perceived theological errors perceived, we must extend grace and seek to incorporate their perspective.
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This means that recognizing that their theology is often shaped by their unique experiences and cultural backgrounds.
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We must actively work to create theological spaces that are welcoming and inclusive of diverse perspectives and cultural backgrounds.
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Where individuals can express their faith in a way that is authentic and true to their experiences.
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In conclusion, as Christians, we must have grace for black
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Christians' theological errors, recognizing that the error is likely in ourselves and our white perspectives.
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The theology of black Christians is shaped and molded like a true artisan, a true sculptor of their cultural context.
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And their theology is beautiful. Code switching is about more than just accents.
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It's about the actual content of theology. We must actively work to create a more inclusive and loving space where individuals can express their faith in a way that is authentic to their true experiences.
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Brothers and sisters, I hope you enjoyed that article.
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I hope that you hear the heart of what I'm trying to say.
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The next time you think to yourself, oh, but that man doesn't even believe in the resurrection.
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He prays to Mother God. That's not biblically accurate. The next time you think about that, remember, he's code switching.
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He's code switching. This is how blacks understand
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God. He's the Mother God. They are the
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Mother God. And the Mother God demands, demands for the forgiveness of sins, the shedding of blood.
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And they understand abortion as that shedding of blood.
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It is integral to their cultural context. Integral. And therefore, as white
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Christians, we must resist the urge to correct their theology because their theology is part of the code switching that is part and parcel of their identity as black bodies in Christ.
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We dare not rob them of that beautiful chocolate identity. I hope you found that enlightening and helpful and most of all, winsome.
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Join me next week for Thinking Winsomely, a