I have always tried to be non racially biased, but all this rally around the Marxist radicals in BLM turns my stomach. We’re Martin Luther King alive I believe he would distance himself from this group. This group continually grabs at everything to drive a racial wedge between people. I’ve got no use for race baiters of any color. My mantra since kindergarten is “red and yellow, black and white all are precious in His sight.” I refuse to buy into this collective guilt trip that many are imposing on the rest of us. This continual carping has reached the level of pandering. The SDA Church has run into a ditch on the other side of road, trying to avoid the ditch on the wrong side of the road.
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let’s not overlook the reality that racists are often self-deceived…they truly believe they aren’t racist…
i actually believe that almost all mind-sets represent forms of self-deception…self-deception is insidious…there’s no chance it can be discovered by the self-deceived…and there’s next to no chance that the rare individual who isn’t deceived can make a meaningful impact on a self-deceived individual or group…it’s a largely hopeless problem…
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Martin Luther King, Jr. was also accused of being a Marxist radical, a communist.
Thank you for adding to my list of pretextual assertions: We should not say that black lives matter, because that saying causes a “collective guilt trip.”
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I think you summed it up rather well!
“Everyone is free to utter additional pretextual assertions that can be added to this list.”
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“We’re Martin Luther King alive I believe he would distance himself from this group.”
King was often accused of ‘communist’ ideas as a way to lessen his impact. Lets not rewrite history!
MLK - Marxist
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One big danger I see in the blm movement and influence in the church is that when they use the word “racism” they only mean white on minority racism” . However, as Christians, our issue should be with all racism. You state blacks aren’t the only group to suffer racism in the US…and to ask Hispanics. Well, I’m Hispanic and sda and I can say that I’ve never felt hated, less than, dismissed, discriminated against or the victim of racism in the US or the church. I’ve no bad run-ins with police. however I have heard MANY Hispanics in my church make blanket stereotype comments about , whites, Asians, blacks etc. is it any less offensive if the comment is coming from a minority? In God’s eyes I’d say definitely not. Speaking only of white racism will lead to minorities being racist against white people. I see it in my youth at church…they make statements like, white people are racist, white people hate us, white people think they’re better than us. To have this opinion of an entire group is prejudice…and they feel perfectly justified in saying them. The biggest problem I have with blm is that they use Some bad experiences to make people believe it’s the norm and the #1 problem in the country…when as Christians, I hope we know it’s not.
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Don’t forget the red onion with that matto and mayo sanish
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Even though I watched the video a few times, I still have not seen a Black person being executed or lynched. I saw a Black suspect refusing to cooperate with police in a lawful arrest. It so happens that Minnesota allows the type of restraint being used on Mr. Floyd in certain circumstances, even though many departments disallow it. It may turn out that what officer Chauvin did was legal and appropriate in the circumstances. The underlying health condition of Mr. Floyd, rather than Officer Chauvin’s methods, could well have been the problem.
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No, saying “Black lives matter” isn’t bullying. Insisting people say it, is. Of course black lives matter, but those particular words have become a political mantra that has nothing to do with black lives. The same thing happened with “hands up, don’t shoot” - which proved to be totally bogus. Both are a call to arms, to the point that no lives matter.
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George Floyd was an opportunity not to be missed - a gift from …(not heaven). A white, out of control cop ending up killing a black man - on camera.
There is more than one element in this society that doesn’t want the mayhem to end, at least not until November 4. And, compliance comes from plenty of out of work hooligans who finally got tired of playing the latest version of “Grand Theft Auto” in their basements, willing to take to the streets when the sun goes down, bash in the head of a couple of real cops, and finally - “make a difference”.
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Those who want to learn, know that the best way to learn, is to listen. Roy Adams shares some of his story here, for those who want to learn. Adams points to some recent history, for those who want to look. Adams uses Dickens’ portrayal of the “Circumlocution Office” that existed to maintain social injustice all for the sake of keeping things in the law and order status quo—for those who want to connect some dots.
If we believe in present truth, if we believe God made all humanity with a spark of His image, if we believe in justice for all, if we want Biblical living, if we want to be peacemakers, if we want to live integrated faith that seeks an abundant life for each child of God on Earth, then, I think, Adam’s final words sum it up:
“Black Lives Matter”? Or “All Lives Matter”? It’s the verbal Rorschach test of our times. “All Lives Matter” is a copout whose time has passed. “Black Lives Matter,” an idea whose time has come, is the sentence a racist will not say.
But as Adventists, we must say it . It’s an affirmation of the gospel. And it is present truth.
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I never warmed up the concept of “present truth”. Truth, in terms of Christian principles, it has been available to all humanity everywhere Christian Gospel is named. Connecting racial equality to present truth is saying racial equality wasn’t important in the past. That’s not true. Racial equality has been faught for ever since I can remember. There have been focal points in history when we’re reminded that evil still exists - one being Rodney King incident years ago. The difference now, is that it is politically advantageous. That is what makes it PRESENT.
Christianity is based on equality before God, and obviously, for God’s children. This can’t be a new concept for Christians as though this one incidence finally gives proof. What makes no sense is to suggest that by simply plugging into the mantra of “black lives matter” we are actually doing something about it.
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I’ve thought about the division between the proposition that 'Black lives matter" compared to the movement and possibly trademarked name “Black Lives Matter.” I can support the first and yet be opposed to the second. The BLM Global Network does not own a monopoly on the idea that Black lives are important. Actually, Jesus of Nazereth started a renewal movement that recognized and reasserted the value of marginalized people groups. His movement has been going on for 2000 years. I’m part of that one and won’t be switching to the various and multiple movements in vogue today. His methods don’t include screaming obscenities at people in out door cafes or burning federal buildings to compel them to meet his demands. Jesus has class.
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Donald Trump is an anti-Christ. He satisfies all of the biblical criteria of an anti-Christ. Most evangelicals and even most Seventh-day Adventists are too biblically illiterate to discern that he is an anti-Christ. Worse, they have already been deceived.
Most Seventh-day Adventists fantasize about the final test of martyrdom. In their minds, they lust for that glorious moment in which they will be given an opportunity to stand erect before the golden statute. They do not realize that this moment has already come and gone and that they have already bowed down and remain prostrate before Donald Trump, an agent of Satan and not merely a man but a principality of evil.
It is far more to difficult to recover to the Kingdom of God someone who has been deceived than to baptize that person in the first place. I don’t know what can be done to recover large swaths of evangelicals, including many Seventh-day Adventists, who have been deceived. Their eternal destiny may have already been adjudicated.
Think about how small and irrelevant the Seventh-day Adventist Church has become in the closing days of Earth’s history. Think about all of the seeing-eye dogs and walking canes we need to purchase for our administrators, pastors, and evangelists. Who is the Dietrich Bonhoeffer in our faith community right now? Think about the transformative witness throughout the entire world and resulting millions of baptisms that would have occurred if the Seventh-day Adventist Church had formally, publicly, and unequivocally identified Donald Trump as an anti-Christ.
The cosmos laughs through its tears at conventional Seventh-day Adventist eschatology and the blind in our midst for having failed during this critical moment.
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If racial inequality is only now being brought to a grand realization within the church, the church is in real trouble; and no amount of “beyond meat” burgers bought after sundown Sabbath is going to cut it in the end.
But I’d be careful “with what judgement we judge” since “man looks at the outward appearance,” while judgement is God’s, and is coupled with “the first shall be last, and the last shall be first”.
I have been laboring with an SDA pastor in Michigan–(he’s not at PMC)–who idolizes Donald Trump. He posted this picture on Facebook. This anti-Christ’s hold on this pastor has been fierce and unrelenting. I pray that this pastor might still be afforded an opportunity to repent.
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Christ commands us in Matthew 24:24 to form judgments and to formally identify anti-Christs so that others may be warned. The task is unpleasant but it is ours to undertake.
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Yoyito you said it quite well. All this angst focus on and perceived racism at every turn is only driving a wedge between people where there isn’t one. Racism has been dying out for years in the United States, but it’s been put on life supports and kept alive by those who benefit from blaming victimhood for their own failures.
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We are free to judge ideology and actions - not the persons. I don’t need to respect your religion, or your politics, but I have to respect you, and your right to hold whatever beliefs you want. Antichrist has shown up in every generation in one form or another; and we should fight against it.
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That’s not Harry Anderson, for sure.